18. Tempest
18
TEMPEST
A fter bathing and tumbling around with Vexxion on the flooferdar blankets, proving that perhaps we both owned the bed, he dressed me in an appropriate gown.
“I have to go,” he snarled as he stood near the door, his sultry gaze gliding along my body in a weighted caress.
“I can flit to Brenna’s on my own.”
“Before you do, I need to show you this.” He crossed the room and took my hand, leading me to a tall wooden cabinet with two paned glass doors on the top and three drawers below. Opening the top drawer, he pointed to bulging cloth sacks the size of big fists. “Spelled to all but you.”
I lifted one, marveling at the weight. It clinked when I shifted it to my other hand.
“Enough wealth to support you for a very long time,” he said.
“I don’t need money. ”
“You might.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. No, the shadows I saw there flickered, masking what I needed to see.
“Tell me.” My voice croaked, but I didn’t care. “I want to know.”
“I will when I can. Trust me?”
Always this question. “I do. I love you, Vexxion.”
“Yes. Yes, you do.” Stark desperation came through his voice, and my eyes burned with tears I would not shed while he was here with me. “I love you just as much.” He cupped my face and kissed me, his mouth as gentle as his hands. As I panted with reawakened need, he backed up a step. After stroking his knuckles across my cheek, he flitted to the king.
Drask soared in through the open window and landed on my shoulder. When he rubbed his head on my cheek, something scraped my skin.
“What do you have, little one?” I asked, plucking him off my shoulder to hold him in my outstretched hand.
He extended his head toward me, offering something white and circular, the size of my thumbnail.
“A bone coin.” Dread unfurled along my spine, and a shiver tracked through me as I took it from him. “Did you kill a Liege or find this somewhere?” How could something like this be lying around?
He cocked his head first one way then the other, watching me.
I wasn’t sure I wanted the coin. Most riders collected them after killing a Liege. I’d never agreed they were tokens of luck, though I’d taken them from the Lieges I killed. My other three must be among my belongings Vexxion packed before we left his estate.
The leathers I’d worn to travel to the castle had been cleaned and hung in the closet. Finding my three bone coins still in the pocket, I added the fourth. Since I was nearly late, I’d figure out what to do with them later. Bury them or burn them, but I wouldn’t collect them any longer.
I flitted to the door outside Brenna’s suite with Drask bobbing on my shoulder. One of the guards let me inside, where I found Delaine and Reyla hadn’t yet arrived.
Brenna sat on her bed, tears trickling down her ruddy cheeks.
I stood in the doorway, wondering if I should make a noise to announce my arrival or wait in the living area to enter with the others.
She looked up and her gaze met mine, deciding this for me. “Tempest.”
“Are you well?”
“I . . . am not.”
“I’m sorry.
“So am I.”
I stepped toward her. “Can I get you anything, my lady?” I still wasn’t sure what to call her. I’d do this job because it was assigned to me, then train in between as much as I could, but in all honesty, I was here to kill her future husband and flee the castle. She might call for my head once I did it. I liked my head. I intended to keep it.
“No.” She wiped her cheeks. “There’s nothing anyone can do for me now. ”
Why now in particular?
“Would you like to bathe? I could get the tub ready.”
“Yes. Do that for me.”
She slid off the bed and followed me into the bathing area, watching as I started the water and added a perfume that not only filled the room with a sweet scent, it created bubbles across the surface.
Should I light candles? Find her a rose? Vexxion pampered me all the time, while this woman . . . She must think the king adored her. If I told her what might soon happen, would she believe me? If I could tell her something that would make her run, I could save her life and delay this long enough to give me more time to build the skills I’d need to kill him.
“Do you want to bathe with your hair up or do you want me to wash it?” I asked.
“Up.”
I bound it with a strand of fabric, making sure I didn’t miss any tendrils.
“What’s that?” I pointed to a swirling mark on her wrist I just now noticed. I’d swear it wasn’t there earlier.
Lifting her hand, she shifted her wrist in the sunlight, staring at the mark. “I don’t know. I probably laid on my arm wrong when I napped.”
It looked more like a deliberate pattern to me than a crease from her clothing, but what did I know?
“Why is that crow with you all the time?” she asked, her hand twitching back down to her side.
“I found him wounded near the border fortress where I grew up. ”
“That’s right. You were a rider. A dragon trainer.” She shuddered. “Honestly, I’m not eager to get close to dragons, though I flew on one to reach Bledmire Castle. They’re so big. They blast fire. And Madrood, Ivenrail’s dragon, is the scariest one of all. He watches me.”
“Stay away from him.”
“Oh, I intend to.” She peered at Drask as the bath continued to fill. “You nursed this crow back to good health?”
“Yes, and when I freed him, he decided to stay with me rather than leave. He’s a friend, a pet. He won’t hurt you.”
She huffed. “I should see if the king will let me have a chall. Then I’ll have a pet too.”
This wasn’t a competition, but sure. “I bet he will.”
A snarl ripped up her throat, and her face darkened. “He’s going to collar me on our wedding night,” she snarled.
“Really?”
Drask flew off my shoulder and landed on the side of the tub, eying the water. I’d have to make sure he didn’t dive in while she was bathing, something he’d done every now and then with me.
I went around to Brenna’s back and started undoing the numerous buttons marching down the back of her day gown. I was sure Delaine knew spells she’d use to do this rather than having to physically release each one herself, but I was a Nullen with only a bit of magical training, not a fae bitch with endless power. “Why does he want to collar you?” Actually, why would he tell her he was going to do it?
She turned with her gown gaping forward, though still covering her breasts, and traced her fingertip along the welt jutting out from my neck in a circle. “Did it hurt?”
How was I supposed to answer that?
“It didn’t.” Delaine arrived, sashaying into the bathing area. “It tickles, doesn’t it, Tempest?” She sent me a snide smile. “I’m sure you laughed with joy when the controller collared you like an unruly chall.”
There was the bitch I’d interacted with at the fortress.
I wasn’t surprised to find her here. I knew she wasn’t cut out to be a rider even if she was good at killing dregs. Was the story of her rejecting her parents’ arranged marriage real, or was it as fake as this fae woman?
Even more important, did she possess the same skill with magic as her sister? She’d seek revenge for the role she suspected I’d played in Selitta’s disappearance.
“It was horrible,” I said with a shudder.
Brenna gaped over her shoulder at us, her mouth widening with terror. “I won’t let him do it. I’ll tell him I refuse.”
He wouldn’t listen. He’d force it.
“It’s not that bad,” Delaine snarled, shooting me a glare. “Tempest is weak. A puny Nullen, while you, my queen, are strong and much more capable of withstanding something as silly as collaring.”
“I’m also Nullen,” Brenna said.
“Oh, yes, of course. I assume that’s why he’ll collar you. You wouldn’t be allowed to remain here without one.”
I’d bet anything that Delaine knew that Brenna was the Lydel heir, though Brenna appeared unaware.
If her father knew, he might’ve taken more care before gifting her to Ivenrail. Unless that was the whole point. My king would see Brenna as a wonderful trade for the power he’d gain from the arrangement.
Everyone was using her.
Delaine dragged her gaze to the floor before feeding Brenna a bright smile. “Surely you know that the king would never do something cruel to you? He adores you.”
“You’re right.” Brenna sent me a look I couldn’t define. “I’m sure Ivenrail would never do such a thing to me if it might cause me pain.”
Draining her would be worse, but I doubted she’d believe me if I pointed that out.
“Claiming. Awakening. Access,” I said. “Remember.” And that was all I was going to say.
“That doesn’t apply to our queen,” Delaine snapped.
I nailed her with my eyes. “Didn’t she just state she was a Nullen like me?”
“I am,” Brenna said. “That’s why he said he needs to do it. As Delaine said, I can’t remain here uncollared.”
As good an excuse as any.
The Nullen king was as power hungry as Ivenrail, and Brenna wasn’t his true heir. Now that he had a new queen, he must plan to replace Brenna with a new heir.
Brenna’s gown dropped to the floor, and, with our help, she stepped out of her undergarments. Taking my hand to steady herself, she climbed into the tub, sinking down into the water.
Delaine lifted the gown with magic, snatching it from the air with her finger and thumb as it dangled in front of her. She tossed it toward me and followed the gesture by stepping close to me. “I know you killed Selitta,” she hissed.
“Oh, really?” I asked, making sure my voice only held humor. “With what? I’m Nullen. I don’t possess the magic needed to sever even one hair on Selitta’s head.”
“You did it, and you’ll pay,” she said.
“With what blade?”
None of us were allowed to wear them around royalty, not even the high advisor’s daughter.
“I won’t need one.” A flick of her finger, and my skin felt scalded, as if I’d plunged into a vat of bubbling oil.
Brenna, oblivious to the interaction, extended a dripping hand. “Hand me the soap. Better yet, wash my back for me. My feet too.”
While I gulped and sputtered and tried to summon enough power to soothe the magical burns, Delaine nonchalantly took the soap and stooped down behind Brenna. “Yes, my queen. I’ll be happy to massage your back after I wash it.”
“You’re so kind, Delaine. Thank you.”
Delaine sent me a slick smile. “I’m toying with you,” she whispered.
“That’s enough, Delaine,” Brenna snapped. “You’re rubbing my back too hard. I’ve changed my mind. I’ll wash my own feet. Leave me. I want to soak a bit. I’ll call out when I’m ready for you to return to dry me.”
Like when I met up with Selitta in the forest, I couldn’t move. At least I could breathe.
Drask squawked and flew up from the edge of the tub, landing on my shoulder. He fluttered his body, his wing smacking my ear.
Delaine grabbed my arm as she passed, dragging me from the bathing area.
My heart pounded in my throat, and only my ragged breathing told me that I still lived.
Delaine neatly tugged on the bathing area door, leaving it open only a crack so we could hear Brenna when she called out. Then she leaned close to me. “I’m a chall, and you’re a fluffy little marscapole. I’m going to play with you until I’m ready to make the kill.”