46. Tempest
46
TEMPEST
U pset about Delaine, Brenna opted to remain in her rooms to compose herself. “You may leave, my ladies. I’ll see myself to the dining room once I’m ready. Please return later to help me undress.” Something she rarely asked us to do, though it was within our duties. On deadened feet, she walked into the bedroom and shut the door. Her soft cries echoed within the room.
“We need to talk, but there’s something I need to look into first,” Reyla said.
“What’s that?” I didn’t want her snooping into anything, but I couldn’t exactly forbid her when I had a hidden reason for being here.
Her lips curled up slyly, but no malice lurked in her eyes. “You’re not the only one with secrets.”
I braced her forearms. “Tell me you’ll be careful. The castle is swarming with fae lords and ladies. They’ve come for the wedding, and they’re universally mean. You have almost no magic to protect yourself.”
She held up her finger. “This suggests otherwise.” Her smile fell quickly. “I saw Brodine but only from a distance. He’s not . . .” Tears filled her eyes.
I hugged her, whispering by her hair. “I haven’t given up on him yet, just like I didn’t give up on you.”
“You’re going to make me sob, but I think that’s alright.” We hugged a bit before she leaned back in my arms. “Were you involved with . . .” Her shoulder jerked toward the door.
Stepping away from her, I shrugged, not willing to name anything without Vexxion’s threads wrapped solidly around me to keep others from overhearing.
“Just promise me you’ll be careful,” I said. “Don’t go where a Nullen isn’t normally allowed.” No sneaking into rooms to steal books, in other words. Actually, I wanted to tell her to go to her room and stay there until this was over, but how could I ask her to do that when I wasn’t going to do so myself?
“You be careful too. I was shocked to see Delaine here. Since then, I’ve been looking around. She was the high advisor’s daughter.”
“Selitta was too.”
“Selitta?”
She must not remember the other woman’s name, so I carefully refreshed her memory.
“Two daughters lost in such a short time.” Taking my hands, her fingers tightened on mine. “We need to watch out at all times.”
I jerked out a nod .
“I’ll find you when I have something to share,” she said. Easing around me, she strode toward the door.
“I love you, Reyla,” I called after her.
Turning, she shot me a smile that stabbed through me, because it showed me my friend was going to be alright if we could survive tomorrow. “Love you too, Tempest. It’s good to know we both have a friend inside this wretched place.”
Once she’d left, I flitted to my suite’s sitting area. Drask hadn’t returned, but that wasn’t unusual for my feathered friend. I dressed in leathers quickly.
I took the back staircase down, coming upon three fae lords, something I’d never seen in the servant’s areas. I kept my eyes trained on the floor, but I could feel their predatory gazes slithering down my spine after I passed. I was grateful to reach the bottom and slip into the back hall leading to the rear door without one of them stopping me.
Someone called out from farther down the hall, and when I turned, he lifted his hand, striding my way with a slimy smile on his face. Nope, not letting this fae guy try to lure me.
I bolted through the rear door and outside, slamming into someone standing on the outer platform.
Kerune latched onto me, steadying me with a too-tight grip on my upper arms. “There you are.”
“Yes, here I am.” I wrenched away from him, backing until I ran into the stone building. A spiked edge stabbed my hip, but I ignored the flash of pain.
“You didn’t answer my question.” His voice slithered like a serpent’s, his tone sucking all the warmth from the air .
“I don’t plan to.” I flitted, landing inside the shed where we kept the tools we used to clean dragon stalls.
Would he follow?
My breathing rasped around me as my heart pummeled my ribcage. I swiped hair off my face and hated how my fingers shook as I undid the bottom of my braid and added the loose strands of hair before securing it once more.
I remained near the row of carts for what felt like forever, waiting to see if he’d follow to finish off what Delaine started.
Bad place to hide if he does, my brain aiming for self-preservation shouted.
I rushed to the shed door and squeaked it open, peering around but not finding Kerune outside. With my small knife lying across my sleeve, the reassuring hilt nestled in my palm, I stepped out of the shed and strode over to the aerie, ducking inside the cool, welcoming darkness.
As always, the scent of dragons and the soft murmur of sand beneath my boots reassured me as I walked down the hall. My tension eased, and I wiggled my spine to shake off any unease that lingered.
When I bumped into someone, I was able to hold back my yelp. I didn’t gut them either, though I flipped the blade around in preparation for such a move.
“Tempest,” Airia said, shifting to the side to lean against the wall beside the row of saddles. “Phew.” She swiped her hand across her forehead. “You spooked me.”
I slid the knife into the sheath on my thigh, trying to make the movement appear casual. “You startled me too. It’s dark in here.” Scary out there .
“Yeah.” Her gaze traveled to the entrance. “I like how cool it is here even when it’s hot outside. I feel more relaxed here than anywhere else.”
“I feel the same. I’ve always been around dragons, and when I’m not near them, I swear I can feel the pull of the closest aerie. It calls in my mind, telling me to come visit.”
“Is that why you come here? I heard more about you.”
“Such as?” I asked.
“That you’re more than a plain old Nullen collared for periodic draining—to the controller, that is.”
My skin prickled, and I peered around, though we appeared to be the only ones inside the aerie other than dragons shuffling their claws across the sand within their stalls. “Who’s spreading gossip?”
“Will.”
Since he was Delaine’s collared Nullen and on my watch-out-for list, this was hardly surprising. How much had Delaine shared with him?
“What else did he say?” I asked.
“The usual slick stuff guys spout about women.”
“Too bad he’s like so many of them when it comes to things like that. They just love to gossip about us.”
“They sure do.”
I wasn’t sure what I should do about this, if anything. I could tell Will to keep his mouth shut, but I was sure Delaine had pushed him into acting this way. He might stop now that she was dead.
“I guess I should get to work,” I said.
She nodded .
I started down the hall, aiming for Glim’s pen. I’d groom him and work my way toward the front, ending with Madrood. “Will seemed nice when I first met him,” I said over my shoulder. “But I guess you can never tell with some people.”
“Well, Will was nice most of the time.”
I turned back, though I couldn’t see her face with the light from the entrance behind her. “What does that mean?”
“He’s dead.”
I blinked, my jaw dropping. “What happened to him?”
She crept closer, peering toward the entrance and lowering her voice to a whisper. “You heard they found Lady Delaine’s body at the base of the cliffs not long ago. Someone had stabbed her in her chest. They’re not sure if she died from that or the fall, but I guess it doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, I heard about that.”
“Since she died, so did he.”
“I’m not connecting the two events.”
Her head tilted. “I can’t believe you don’t know this. Doesn’t the controller tell you anything ?”
“Just tell me.”
“When a fae lord or lady dies, whoever they collared dies along with them.” She backed away from me, shaking her head and releasing a long sigh. “At least it was quick. He was standing about where you are one moment, and then the next, he lay flat on his back, not breathing. We thought someone had poisoned him or something, but then we heard about Lady Delaine. She was the high advisor’s daughter. Her fiancé arrived for the king’s wedding not long ago. They must be horribly upset. ”
“Yes, I’m sure they are. So terrible.”
“Right? I mean, Lady Delaine wasn’t anyone I’d choose to collar me. I heard she could be nasty at times, though I never saw her act that way with Will. I guess this means you need to take good care of the controller. If he dies, so do you.”
Why hadn’t Vexxion told me?
Airia pivoted and strode toward the entrance, still speaking softly. “I hope my lord lives for a very long time.”
My breathing stuttered. As she left, I leaned against the wall, trying not to slide down onto my butt on the sandy floor.
One mental blow after another barraged me.
If we didn’t get the collar off Brodine before I killed the king, I’d murder my friend along with him.
I’d stabbed Delaine and shoved her off the cliff, but she’d deserved it. I had no regrets there.
But when I killed her, I’d also killed Will.