Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
O saria’s palace walls spread out before us and for the first time in my life I was about to breach them as easily as slipping between the thighs of a well-paid whore.
I’d dreamed of doing such a thing most nights for years, but I’d never really thought it would happen.
No thief who’d set foot inside the palace had ever been seen again.
It was about the only place in the kingdom that I was concerned I wouldn’t have been able to rob.
No matter how many times I’d dreamed of doing so, or how many times I’d tried to gain the information I would need to orchestrate it, I’d always come up against those same hurdles.
The palace was too well guarded, impenetrable, an impossible dream. But now the crown might just have been within reach, and I wouldn’t even have to steal it – I could place it upon my pretty head and keep it sat there for good.
Perhaps I should have been thanking divine intervention or some long-forgotten god for this twist in my fate, but I wasn’t. The only creature I was crediting for my current position was the girl currently riding to my left, and I wouldn’t be letting her go no matter what.
Cassius exchanged a loaded look with me, and I gave him a confident smile. This was just a long game and I’d run enough hustles in my time not to be afraid of it. Confidence was key. If we believed that we were supposed to be here, then everyone else would believe it too.
Kyra was looking around at the outer gardens, her golden eyes sparkling with intrigue. She was holding it together and keeping whatever she felt off of her features, though she still muttered to herself from time to time.
Her black hair fell down her spine in a cascading wave and my gaze lingered on the motion of it as she swayed side to side on the camel’s back.
The camel slowed a little, falling into step beside mine and she gazed up at me with a smile gracing her lips.
My attention lingered on her mouth for a few seconds before I forced myself to look away.
She was utterly stunning in her true form, her lips just made for kissing and her curves created for worshipping.
If she hadn’t been a magical creature, I undoubtedly would have pursued her tirelessly, but I wasn’t entirely sure there was enough humanity left in her for that.
She might have looked like a beautiful woman on the outside, but beneath her flesh there only seemed to be magic now.
She was a shell for her power, and it seemed like what remained of the girl she’d once been had long since been tainted by it.
Not to mention the fact that she kept insisting she found me ugly – which was a fucking joke if ever I heard one, but it also wasn’t exactly an encouraging sign so far as her interest in me went.
Besides, I had a princess waiting for me.
Supposedly the most beautiful woman in The Twelve Kingdoms, though I somehow doubted that.
There was a hell of a lot of women in The Twelve Kingdoms and the chances of the most beautiful one of all just happening to be the princess seemed rather unlikely to me.
But Cassius certainly seemed enraptured by what he’d seen of her, so I was sure she’d do just fine.
Cassius urged his beast forward and the camel honked in irritation as he drew ahead of us to announce my arrival at the final gate.
I couldn’t help but smile at the idea of it; one of The Forty being welcomed into the palace with open arms simply because I was wearing fancy clothes and carried bags of wealth with me.
They had no idea who they were welcoming through their golden gates, and I was counting on them never figuring it out either.
“May I present Count Drake Nazari of Carubai, here to take place in the pageant,” Cassius called, and the gates swung open before us.
I’d never had a family name before and the novelty of it almost made me laugh.
Nazari had been the name of a man who had tried to cheat me in a game of cards once.
I’d caught him out then beat him bloody before taking everything from him right down to the clothes on his back.
I hadn’t even wanted his fucking clothes and I’d tossed them in a pig pen on the outskirts of town, but I’d promised to take everything from him in payment for him trying to cheat me before leaving him bloody and naked in the street. And now I’d taken his name too.
They just let a wolf in with the sheep and they haven’t even realised it.
We proceeded beyond the towering white walls and my heart thundered to a victorious rhythm as we stepped over that final threshold.
We’d done it. We were in. Fuck me, this was actually happening.
We headed into a wide courtyard with grey cobblestones lining it, white columns dividing the space with pink roses climbing up to adorn them.
I looked up at the pale walls of the palace, my gaze rising to the gold, domed rooftops which crowned it, fighting hard against the grin which wanted to rule over my face.
“You’re cutting it fine, Count Nazari,” a guard said as he hurried forward to greet me. “The other suitors have already started presenting their pageant fees, I’m not sure if you’ll make it in time to-”
“Nonsense,” I replied dismissively, sliding from the camel’s back and landing before him with my shoulders drawn back like I thought I ruled the damn world. Which I wasn’t actually that far from doing if I managed to pull off this con. “Have your men help my guard carry it in.”
I waved a hand in Cassius’s direction as he started to order several guards to remove the chests which contained the treasure we were presenting to the emperor from the backs of the camels.
It was somewhat gutting to have to let it all go, but Kyra had assured me that she would fill an entire room with gold for me in compensation once we’d pulled this off, and I had to maintain the illusion that this amount of money meant nothing to me.
“Of course, your grace,” the guard murmured, easily cowed by my superior tone.
I couldn’t help but get a kick from that little show of power.
It felt all too natural for me to be in charge like that – I swear I’d practically been born for this shit.
“And I’ll have some servants bring your things to your rooms. Will your companions need accommodation in the servants’ quarters, or will they be housed with you? ”
I was tempted to send Cassius to the servants’ quarters just for the hell of it but as my gaze travelled over Kyra, I thought better of it.
I wanted to keep her close in case I needed any more magic from her.
Besides, I didn’t like the way some of the guards were looking at her, and I wasn’t sure she was equipped to be fighting off their advances in her current mental state.
With each day that passed she seemed a little more present, a little less stunned by the world and yet she was still so impossibly unpredictable that I would constantly worry about what she might say or do if I didn’t keep her close.
“I’ll house them with me,” I said firmly.
Kyra slid from her camel and gazed up at the palace as she waited for us to move on.
She looked more like a noble lady than a maid in her deep purple dress with her stunning looks and captivating aura, but I hadn’t had the heart to ask her to scale it back a bit.
She looked too fucking good, and she was clearly enjoying being free of that coin a whole hell of a lot too, so I figured it didn’t really matter.
Count Nazari clearly liked his maid to dress well.
Who could argue with that if I said it was so?
I stepped closer to her, and she turned her golden eyes to me with a smile drawing up her full lips.
“Ready?” she breathed, low enough for only me to hear it.
“Let’s go win me a princess,” I agreed with a firm nod.
The guard led the way across the courtyard and through a huge, arched doorway.
Cassius and Kyra fell into step behind me, and I resisted the urge to glance back at them, knowing a noble wouldn’t worry about the help keeping up.
We proceeded through long hallways with pale walls and cream tiles lining the floor to keep the heat of the desert at bay.
I enjoyed the feeling of the cool air on my flesh as we drew deeper into the building, and I silently memorised every turn we took.
If this whole thing went to hell, then I was sure as shit going to rob the place before I had to run.
Our footsteps thumped over the tiles, and I worked to keep my face impassive while I took in the lavish décor of the palace from the priceless tapestries and paintings which clung to the walls, to the busks, vases and other sculptures which had each been set on its own pedestal within recessed archways lining the halls.
The palace was designed to impress, and it did so with an effortless kind of beauty and impossible sort of wealth which had me wanting to hold my breath as I looked upon it all.
We finally reached a heavy wooden door inlaid with gold carvings of the old gods and the guard threw it open before us, making sure I didn’t even have to face the inconvenience of pausing in my stride.