45. Tempest
45
TEMPEST
I woke later that day to sunshine slanting across the room and Vexxion gone. He’d held me for hours, and while I was still shaky from what happened, I felt . . . cleansed? I wasn’t sure that was the right word for it, but I was going to cling to it for now. No need to explore other word choices, including distressed, shocked, or, strangely enough, guilty.
Why did I feel guilty for defending myself?
You did what you had to, Vexxion said, slipping into my mind. What we all have to do to survive.
I didn’t ask how I could get through this. How I’d deal with the fact that I’d directed the blow that killed another person. Not this time.
Vexxion had not stormed in to stand in front of me and save me.
Madrood hadn’t tossed me to the side to deal with the threat on his own.
I’d taken care of the problem myself.
And that felt good.
Lifting my hands, I stared at them, but they looked the same as they had earlier. Perhaps the only change would be viewed in my eyes, because my soul felt as if someone had taken a rake to it and clawed away before dragging the tines across my flesh one last time.
I left a bit of willwort for you in the glass beside the bed, he said.
I frowned at the milky liquid half filling a small glass. What’s willwort?
A plant. It helps with pain. It’ll make you sleepy, though, and in a high enough dose, it could be toxic, though this is nowhere enough for that.
Thank you. I didn’t want it, though. A little pain never bothered me.
I slid from the bed and stood beside it, marveling at how the outside of my body had nearly healed. I wasn’t going to examine the inside closely.
So when I entered the bathing chamber, finding a steaming tub, lit candles, and a perfect black and silver rose, I did not glance toward the mirror. Did not meet my own eyes.
I climbed into the tub and bathed before drying and donning the dress Vexxion had left on the chair.
As I was stuffing my feet into my shoes, Drask flew in to land on my shoulder, straining his head toward my face with something held in his beak.
“Ah, so nice of you to bring me a petal from one of Vexxion’s roses.” I took it from him. Someone once told me that when a crow brought petals, that meant they saw the person as a flock member. “I’m honored.” I walked carefully into the bedroom, my left leg barely hitching, and placed the petal on the table beside the bed. “I’ll press it later. Treasure it always.”
He rubbed his face against my cheek.
From the start, this bird’s delicate trust had bridged our different worlds. He understood me, and I understood him.
“As much as I want to take you, you can’t come with me this afternoon,” I said, gently lifting him off my shoulder and placing him on his perch. He pecked at the window to go outside. “I’ll let you out, but don’t come find me. Brenna said no bird.”
When he cawed, I lifted the windowpane, and he shot through the opening. I stared down, stunned at what I saw, though I wasn’t sure why I should feel that way.
Fae dressed in ornate, colorful clothing flitted onto the long walkway easing around the building, the bridge, and some even landed outside the front door, though I had to press my nose against the glass to see that. Excited chatter filled the air, rising even to this level of the castle.
More guests arriving for the wedding. I’d have to be careful when I moved through the halls.
I left the window open and flitted to the corridor outside Brenna’s room, giving the stoic guards a smile. One allowed me entrance, and I swept inside to find Reyla standing alone in the sitting area, beside the fireplace. She stared at the floor but heard me arrive. Her eyes—my friend’s wonderful, bright, full-of-life eyes—met mine .
I rushed over and smacked into her, nearly toppling us both to the floor.
“You’re still here,” I whispered by her ear.
“Everything’s a blur.” She leaned back, bracing my forearms. “But yeah. I’m here. I have been since I smacked that bitch this morning. You need to fill me in on what’s been happening, because I’m not sure where I am or where I’ve been for what feels like forever. The last thing I remember was being pinned to a chair in a cave and Zayde coming at me holding strips of thorny vines.” A shudder tore through her. “I was claimed, right? I vaguely remember it.” Her fingers dragged across her neck, creating a pink mark shaped like a hangman’s noose. “I can feel those vines twisting beneath my skin.” Her gaze blown with panic met mine. “How do I get rid of them?”
“We’re working on a solution for that. I hate my collar too.” I took her hand and led her to one of the many sofas. We sat, and I filled her in on the basics, though in words that anyone could overhear. I didn’t talk about Vexxion or the king draining Nullens. I just mentioned that the collar allowed access and that someone had taken too much power from her, leaving her the way she’d been for the past week.
“You’re not telling me everything.” She held my face, making me meet her eyes, something I didn’t want to do. She was the same person from prior to the Claiming while I’d changed. There was no turning back from that.
“I can’t. Not yet, but I will,” I said. “When we can be sure we’re alone.”
“Delaine? Tempest?” Brenna called out. “I’m ready to rise, yet my ladies-in-waiting are not here to attend to me.” The wry tone in her voice made it easy to get up off the sofa and stride to her bedroom door with Reyla following.
“We’re here,” I announced. “I’ll draw your bath while Reyla helps you select a gown for dinner.”
“Thank you.” Brenna reclined on pillows in her bed with the covers tucked up to her chin. See? She’d already forgotten that she’d sent Reyla away forever. “Where’s Delaine?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “But Reyla is here, and she’s improved from her illness.”
Brenna’s sharp gaze poked Reyla where she stood in the open doorway. “You look different. Tidier. More alert.”
“I feel much better,” Reyla said, striding all the way into the room. “What color gown shall it be for dinner, my lady?” The look she sent me told me we’d talk later.
I couldn’t tell her everything without endangering her, but I’d share all I could. She was my friend. She deserved to hear as much as I dared tell her.
“Yellow, I believe.” Brenna fluffed her hair. “I look best in that color, don’t you think?”
“Adorable.” I walked into the bathing area and turned on the faucet over the tub, adding herbs and the scented oil Brenna loved.
We helped her bathe and dress, then did her hair and make-up. She was preparing to leave for dinner when someone knocked on the door.
“Who could that be?” she asked, frowning that way.
We walked into the living area.
“I saw guests arriving for the wedding from my window not long ago,” I said. “Maybe some have come to pay their respects to their future queen?”
Brenna’s smile trembled, and she stiffened her spine. “That must be it.” She strolled over to sit in one of the high-back, stern chairs flanking the fireplace. “Allow them entry.”
Reyla went to the door and cracked it open, but stepped back fast when it was thrust inward hard enough it hit the far wall with a bang.
Kerune strode into the room, stopping in the middle of the sitting area, peering around.
“Ah, welcome.” Brenna rose and walked toward him, extending her hand for him to take. “Delaine shared your identity with me earlier. It’s nice to meet you, Kerune.”
Ignoring her hand, he glared at me. “What did you do?”
“Me?” I fluttered my hand at my throat while reaching into my pocket for the small blade I’d tucked there earlier. Sheaths worked well during battle and when I wore leathers. Damned skirts made them hard to reach.
With the knife tucked along my forearm, only the tip showing, I eased closer to Brenna, more to protect her than myself.
“Why are you here?” Brenna asked, her head tilting, her welcoming smile fading. “And where is your fiancée? Delaine was supposed to attend to me this afternoon. Without these lovely ladies, I’d still be lying in bed wearing my day dress instead of ready to meet with my intended husband, the king , for dinner shortly.”
“Delaine’s dead.” The words jerked up his throat and were punctuated by our gasps. Only mine was faked.
“What do you mean?” Real tears appeared in Brenna’s eyes, but Delaine had rarely shown her true side, and Brenna adored us most of the time. She was lonely and we were her only company outside of the king and those organizing the wedding—plus the odd visits from Zayde.
“Her body was found at the base of the cliffs,” he said shortly, his attention remaining on me.
My mind guards remained high and impenetrable as I stared back at him stoically. “That’s terrible. Perhaps she fell?”
“With a blade buried to the hilt in her chest?” He advanced on me, flames licking through his eyes, his hands lifting.
I wasn’t sure what he planned to do, though I’d already drawn power and prepared myself for almost anything.
Brenna stepped between us. “I don’t take kindly to you coming here and approaching one of my ladies in such an aggressive manner. I don’t care who you are. I’m going to speak to my fiancé about you as soon as I see him.”
Backing away, Kerune swept his arm out and bowed, a stiff smile rising on his chiseled face. “I do apologize, my lady. I’m unnerved, terribly upset about Delaine.”
“Yes, yes, so am I. Leave my presence.” I was reminded again that this woman had been raised in a royal household and trained to behave as if she might one day rule our territory. Her Lydel blood proved she could handle almost anything if I could keep the king from draining her power. “Do not return again until you can behave in an appropriate manner.” A true sob shook her shoulders. “I must mourn the loss of my lady-in-waiting, and I don’t need you here as witness.”
His gaze raked across me again, and I didn’t need to be able to foresee the future to know that I’d have to watch my back at all times. He suspected I was involved in Delaine’s death, which meant he must be privy to the plan to kill me.
This man would not stop until he found full vengeance.
He’d make me pay for taking Delaine’s life, and my death would not come swiftly.
I added Kerune to my growing list of enemies.