41. Tempest
41
TEMPEST
S hrieking, Delaine clutched her face.
Brenna cried out and gaped at Reyla.
Reyla stomped over to Delaine and smacked her arm. “Shut the fuck up, you bitch.” Pivoting, she sashayed over to stand beside me.
I remained motionless, staring at her with my jaw ajar.
“Are you alright?” Reyla—my Reyla—asked, her eyes soft with concern.
I burst into tears. “Reyla?” I wailed. “Reyla?”
“Aw.” Reyla wrapped her arms around me, whispering by my ear. “It’s okay. I’m here. Delaine didn’t hurt you, did she?”
I leaned back in her embrace. “You’re back?”
“I am,” she said in a low voice, for my ears alone. “I’m going to maintain the ruse that I’m still whatever I was before.”
I suspected she’d already given it away .
Her fingertips rose to stroke Drask’s back, and he preened as if he was responsible for her transformation.
“Oh my.” Brenna rushed to Delaine and carefully pulled her hands away from her face. Her gasp rang out. “That looks nasty.”
“Nasty. Nasty?” Rage boiled in Delaine’s voice. She stomped over to the mirror and peered at her reflection. “You burned me, you bitch!” Turning, she rushed toward Reyla, her fist swinging out.
Reyla stepped away from me. Her hand snapped up, latching onto Delaine’s wrist, halting it before Delaine made impact. A quick sweep of her leg, and Delaine’s body was ripped out from beneath her. She fell hard on the floor.
Reyla had always been better at hand-to-hand combat than Delaine. But we’d grown up at the fortress, wrangling with each other on a regular basis. We’d trained all the time. Delaine was a latecomer, and it was clear from the start that she’d been pampered. She tried in all her classes; I’d give that to her. And our instructors had molded her into a decent enough fighter. But it was clear to anyone who watched her for more than a moment that she wasn’t a product of a lifetime in the fortress.
“Ladies. Ladies.” Brenna placed herself between Reyla and Delaine. She held her hand out to Delaine to help her up while glaring at Reyla. “You. Leave my suite this instant. Ladies do not behave in such a demeaning manner.”
Reyla swallowed hard, and her gaze met mine.
I nudged my head toward the door, hoping she read the promise in my eyes. I’d look for her soon, and we would talk.
She gave me a tiny nod before striding to the door with a stiff spine that deflated when she reached out for the handle. I suspected by the time she reached the hallway, her eyes would appear dull again. She’d slink through the castle like a ghost, ensuring everyone believed she was still a drained Nullen.
“You should dismiss her permanently,” Delaine wailed, striding over to join me and Brenna. “Look what she did. Look what she did!” She pointed at her nose that beamed bright red and was puffy already.
“I’m sure the swelling will go down,” I said. “The bright color will fade. Kerune won’t even notice.”
“You.” Delaine’s hands rose, and she stalked toward me.
“Delaine.” Brenna gasped. “What are you doing? Have all my ladies gone wild?” She flicked her hands toward us both. “Leave my presence, both of you. You’ve been at each other from the moment you arrived this morning. I don’t want to see you back here until you’re prepared to behave in a polite manner toward each other.”
That was fine by me. I was no lady’s maid. Give me a blade in my hand, a dragon beneath me, and the thirst for blood in my heart, and I was a happy woman.
I dipped a curtsy Brenna’s way. “Would you like me to return later to help you dress in a day gown?”
Drask bobbed forward along with me, my cute guy.
“I can do it myself,” she said stiffly. “I’m not completely useless.”
“I can’t believe you’re sending us away,” Delaine cried. Were her tears fake or generated because of the pain in her nose? I didn’t care. If I didn’t have to serve Brenna, I could work in the aerie. I had more value than lying beneath Vexxion, thank you very much, Delaine.
“Very well,” I said sweetly, dipping a smile toward Delaine. “I’ll see you prior to dinner, then, my lady?” I tossed the last out to Brenna just in case.
“Yes,” Brenna said. “Evening gowns are much too complex for me to don on my own, let alone managing my bath, make-up, and hair. Please, do not bring back that bird with you when you come, Tempest. It’s a menace.”
He was a sweet boy, but I was so happy to have Reyla back, I could let this go.
With that, I left, scurrying down the hall to avoid the wrath of Delaine. If she chased me, I didn’t see her as I made my way through the back halls of the castle to Reyla’s door. She shared a room with three other collared Nullen women who worked in the castle.
When I knocked, she didn’t answer. I cracked the door open, but she wasn’t inside. Turning, I leaned against the wall and sighed. Where was she?
Well, I was going to find her, because my Reyla was back, and I needed to hug her again.
Now all we had to do was work on Brodine, and we could be a family again.
My eyes burning with tears, I bumped away from the wall. Drask bobbed along on my shoulder as I started down the hall again, weaving my way through the servant area, pausing periodically to listen for Reyla’s voice.
I couldn’t stop grinning.
And, because I was so happy, I stopped at paintings and released more creatures. Taking my cue from the pixies I’d freed in Ivenrail’s bedroom, I created mirror images of each I drew from the frames, leaving their fakes to mask the fact that the original had been released.
A troll-like person writhing alone on a craggy peak at the top of a steep hill slipped out after I cast my spell.
“Thank-ee,” he quipped. He stared up at me. “A favor for thee as thanks I give.”
Please, no more favors.
Before I could speak, he flicked his finger my way. Something odd jolted through me.
“What . . .” I wasn’t sure if I should thank him or not.
“Call when ye have need,” he said. “I, Cristalon, will help ye.”
What help could a troll whose head only came to my knees provide? However, I nodded thanks. I understood giving a favor for a favor.
When he couldn’t stop staring at my pendant, I cupped it in my fingers.
“Where did ye get such a thing?” he finally asked.
“My . . .” What was I supposed to call him? My lover? The king’s controller? He was so much more than a friend. “The man I love gave this to me.” That felt right.
“Wear it in good health then.” Before I could say anything else, he started spinning in place. His feet cut into the tiles, and he slid down into the hole, disappearing from view.
With Drask fluttering his wings and tilting his head this way and that, I stooped down, my mouth ajar for the second time today. The floor repaired itself and was soon seamless, as if nothing had happened.
As I walked down the hall, I clutched my pabrilleen pendant, sliding it back and forth on its chain. After completing my rounds of the first floor, releasing more creatures, I took the stairs to the next level. Fae lords had suites here, as they did on the two levels above.
Where was Reyla?
Finally, I gave up looking for her. I’d see her again this afternoon when it was time to get Brenna ready for dinner, and I hoped my Reyla was still with me and that she hadn’t slipped back into the ether.
Changed into my leathers, I left Drask in the room and took the back staircase to access each floor again, encircling it before moving downward, still hoping to come across her or Brodine.
I was passing the last suite on the second level when I heard a soft cry beyond the door. I paused as the sound was repeated. Maybe it was a couple having fun inside or maybe . . .
Damn me and my curiosity.
Approaching the door, I gently knocked. I had no interest in walking in on two fae in bed together, but I hated to think someone could be hurt inside and had no one to help.
No one answered my knock. I was turning away when they cried out another time. With a sigh, I gently turned the door handle. I’d poke my head inside. Nothing else.
Like the suite I shared with Vexxion, this one opened into a sitting area. Sunlight streamed in from the windows on the far wall, rays dancing on the soft carpet patterned with ornate swirls. Tapestries hung on the walls showing mythical hunt scenes. Fortunately, no one moved within the images.
The odd thing I noticed right away was the layer of dust coating everything. I’d thought all the rooms were booked for the wedding. Maybe this one was being renovated or had an issue that kept the staff from assigning it to anyone.
Since the dust suggested no one was here, I backed up to leave.
“Please,” someone said from farther inside. “Help.”
Someone could’ve entered the bedroom and fallen.
With a knife in my hand, I stepped inside and shut the door. I’d look around. If I found an injured person, I’d help them, then go to the aerie.
“Hello?” I whispered. Fear prickled across my skin, though I had no reason to be afraid. An injured person wasn’t going to attack me. And if someone did, I’d defend myself with both magic and the might of my blade.
Predictably, no one answered, so I repeated the call in a louder voice.
Still nothing.
I had a few minutes to check this out. After that, I would scoot from the room and keep going until I reached the aerie. Or flit there; an even better idea.
I strolled around the sitting area, expecting to find a fae lady lying on the rug in front of the sofa or . . . No idea. My footsteps sounded overly loud, and each creak of the floorboards made me jump.
A matching set of three cream sofas had been placed to form a half-moon, partly facing each other, each posed with black plush pillows. Nothing rested on the low table in the middle of the crescent. A requisite fireplace had been built into the outer wall, nestled in the middle of the bank of windows. I spied no ashes beneath the grate and no logs waiting to be lit. I doubted anyone had used it for a very long time. Ivy had started to grow up through the hearthstones. Leave it to a plant to find a way to survive inside this grim castle.
Two heavy, ornately carved wooden chairs with cream upholstery flanked the fireplace with a side table between them where someone long ago must’ve placed a drink, because a pale ring peeked through the dust.
Grime coated every surface. I could understand not bothering to maintain a room no one used, but with the king’s wedding tomorrow, surely, they’d need to open this room as well. Why leave it in such disarray?
On the right, a golden harp stood silently beside towering bookshelves empty of even one tome. Air movement from who knows where fluttered against papers lying on a big wooden desk on the left wall facing the hall. I walked over and studied them, but the printing was in a language I couldn’t read.
“Hello?” I called without receiving a reply.
This was silly. There was no one here. The sound must’ve echoed from a different location and my ears told me it came from inside this suite.
I’d turned to leave when someone whimpered out again.
Holding my breath, I stood in place, the hilt of my knife biting into my palm, before releasing a sigh.
The sound must’ve come from the bedroom on my right.
Still worried I’d walk in on something I’d rather not; I moved stealthily to the door and placed my ear against it. When I didn’t hear even a rustle from inside, I cracked the panel open. I was greeted with more dust-covered furniture and even a few cobwebs networking the ceiling. No one appeared to be inside the room unless they were lying beneath the bed. I stepped inside and shut the door, moving away from the panel. My heart thrummed at an irregular pace, and my breathing puffed mist through the air as if the temperature had suddenly dropped.
Like the sitting room, the bedroom had been forgotten.
A four-poster bed stood to my right, shrouded by a once-bright red canopy now faded to irregular pink and fringed with neglect. Side tables flanked it, their surfaces layered with dust I was tempted to run my fingertip through like a naughty child. Dust shimmered in the sunbeams while thicker cobwebs draped across the corners.
Sucking down my urge to turn and leave, I moved around the room, the floorboards creaking beneath my boots. Unease twinged across my nerves, making them quiver while I took in one picture after another hanging on the walls. More creatures, though none of them moved. They were never real to begin with, or the creatures had given up and faded away to nothing. How long could anyone cavort for another’s pleasure before their body and mind gave out?
Bits of color glimmered through the grime on each picture, but I kept my wandering fingers away.
“Here,” someone whispered from my right, the sound more of a feeling than something picked up by my ears.
I was reminded of how the Liege lured me into his cave, how he’d wallowed in my blood, how he’d told me about the king. He’d set me on this course as if he was playing his own Wraithweave game and I was one of the players on the board. From what I’d discovered here inside the castle, the Lieges were Ivenrail’s devoted minions. Why had the one in the cave shared information that should’ve been kept secret? Not only that, but information that could bring about their downfall since they were so tightly woven with the king.
Unless the Liege felt the need for me to stop Ivenrail outweighed the benefits they received from his reign.
As for the cry I’d heard here, I knew what I’d find. I approached a picture hanging on the wall to the left of the bed.
A woman stood inside the frame as if posing for a portrait, turned sideways, her eyes staring at the wall in front of her. She wore a pale green gown and matching jewels adorned her earlobes and encircled her neck. Her graying hair had been swept up in an intricate arrangement on the back of her head. Her arms lay crossed on her lap, her hands lying limply at her sides.
She turned my way, and her gaze met mine. I sensed intelligence there. Humor.
And profound fear.
Aunt Vera from the first bone dream stared out at me from the frame.
What stunned me the most was her hand on my side of the picture.
Her ring finger was missing.