Chapter 36 #2
“She’s evil given flesh,” I murmured, and Cassius looked at me sharply.
“You mean Magdor?” he asked, almost reaching out for me again before stopping himself.
I nodded, fear trickling through me as I watched her call down to my master as if she was amused by his showboating, though I could tell she wasn’t.
She smiled but there was no warmth in it.
The way she looked at him was assessing, calculating, like she was weighing him up and hunting for weaknesses.
A jewelled beetle crawled from the skeletal eye socket of her true form, rounding the back of her skull and disappearing once more, making my spine stiffen as I continued to watch her, expecting some foul act at any moment.
“What do you know about her?” Cassius asked, his voice filled with intensity.
“She hides her true face from the world,” I breathed, rattled through to my core. “She cheats death and is death.”
“Why haven’t you spoken of this before?” he demanded, and I cocked my head at him.
“I tried to tell you when we arrived at the palace, but you kept hushing me. I assumed your hushing meant you didn’t care to hear what I had to say on the matter.”
Cassius’s lips parted and I could tell he was thinking back to the day we had arrived as he swiped a hand down his face, seeming frustrated. “You could have told me about it after we were in our chambers.”
“When we returned to our chambers you just did that pacing thing while looking all grumpy about life,” I reminded him with a shrug. “And then I found that pond-”
“It was a bath that had been filled with milk and petals and-”
“It was delicious,” I pointed out and he huffed a breath.
“Forget about that now. Just explain what you said about her hiding her face and being death. What does that mean?” he asked urgently like I had the answers he had been desperately hunting for. But all I could tell him was what I saw.
“She’s evil,” I replied, eyeing the creature who was wearing the face of an empress, wondering why he couldn’t see what I could, while that coldness grew inside me again. “Evil given flesh and death given life. Any sane Fae should fear her.”
Cassius seemed to want more from me, but I didn’t know what else I could add to elaborate on it. There was a foul and twisted magic taking place in the body of the empress, but I knew only what my eyes were telling me and what my gut felt about her.
“What is she?” he asked, but I shook my head, having no more answers for him. “Kyra,” he begged.
“I’m sorry, sullen man. That’s all there is,” I said apologetically, and he nodded, though creases formed on his brow as he fell into thought.
Lord Kalaviv’s entourage moved away from us as he headed out of the ring. Anger and shame lined his features as he accepted his defeat and the fact that he was already at a clear disadvantage in the competition to claim the princess’s hand in marriage.
A wild cheer went up as people cried out from the crowd that Master’s current position meant he was first in line for the hand of the princess, though everyone here knew that could change before the day was out and the remaining brawls had taken place.
Still, he would be rewarded for his win somehow, Cassius had said so while the fighting was going on and his seventeen points made it more likely he would remain in the competition once the eliminations began.
We headed towards the stage as my master finally turned away from it and strode towards us. I gave him a wide smile as I ran forward to meet him, excitement at his win buzzing through my veins like a vat of angry bees.
“You were amazing!” I said excitedly, almost launching myself at him before remembering I couldn’t touch him and stopping myself at the last moment, my feet skidding on the grass and my arms wheeling in an attempt to prevent myself from falling.
Smooth.
I smiled widely, applauding him as he lifted his chin and gave Cassius a look that seemed to be waiting for his praise too.
“You won,” Cassius said, his tone making it unclear whether that had been intended as praise or a simple statement of fact.
My skin prickled at the feeling of someone’s eyes on me and I glanced up, noticing the princess’s gaze travelling over me in an assessing way.
I blinked at her in surprise, almost lifting my hand to wave before biting my lip, wondering if that was the right move or not.
Her face was void of emotion like she had donned a careful mask and I couldn’t tell if her intentions towards me were friendly or not from the simple act of her stare.
Scale it back, you’re embarrassing yourself.
“Thank you, little goddess,” Master said, his pet-name for me making me feel all hot and flushed as I blinked up at him, my attention instantly stolen by him once more. “We knew I was amazing before I beat that posturing bastard though,” he added with a roguish smile.
“You’re right, beating him wasn’t that impressive really,” I agreed, nodding seriously as I tried to ignore the feeling of the princess’s eyes on me, wondering if she could see the truth of me or if she had some other reason to look.
“I didn’t say that,” he protested.
“Yes, anyone could have beaten him,” I said quickly. “Even a new-born babe. Perhaps you’ll go up against some real competition in the next round and have a chance to do something actually impressive.”
Congratulations, you went from over-the-top adoration to just plain insulting him. Perhaps you should point out the fact that you think he’d look better with both of his eyes on the right side of his face and just seal in his disgust with you.
I decided not to reply to myself as both Cassius and Master were giving me the she's-lost-her-mind looks again, but I was beginning to think I was wrong about that idea anyway. No one else had two eyes on one side of their face, and Master’s eyes were actually quite nice just the way they were.
They were dark and deep, and his long lashes made me want to watch him blink and blink and blink…
You’re a total lost cause. Watching people blink is not a hobby.
“It’s better than not watching people blink,” I pointed out, though thankfully Master and Cassius had started talking between themselves and they weren’t listening to my ramblings anymore.
They were discussing the finer points of the fight as Master moved towards a servant who held a pitcher of ice-cold water ready for him beneath a silk awning.
I probably should have been the one to fetch him that glass come to think of it, but he didn’t seem to mind the fact that I wasn’t a very good maid.
Actually, I didn’t think I’d done a single maidly duty since becoming his maid.
Perhaps I needed to work harder on my disguise.
Then again, I wasn’t entirely certain that I remembered what maids were supposed to do, and he hadn’t exactly voiced any complaints, so perhaps I was concerning myself over nothing.
He drank the contents of one glass then took hold of the entire pitcher and poured the water remaining in it over his head, sighing happily as he flicked his wet hair back out of his eyes while water cascaded down his chest and soaked into the fabric of his white britches, making them cling to his body in a way that I was fairly certain was indecent.
Cassius looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel as more of the noble ladies pointed and swooned dramatically and I wondered if he was feeling jealous again. Poor Cassius.
The princess was looking over at Master once more as the water ran down his chest and I noticed a lot of the noble ladies in the crowd doing the same, pointing him out and fanning themselves as Master grinned at the attention, not seeming to mind it at all.
My gaze caught on the way the water dripped over the ink on his chest and I was struck with the desire to lick him. I’d bet he’d taste like all the best bad things, blood and sin and sand and man.
Do it then.
“I still can’t touch him,” I muttered, though I was still staring and wondering about the way he’d taste.
“I think the princess isn’t your biggest fan.” Cassius pointed out the rosette pinned to Master’s chest with something of a smirk pulling at his lips.
Master raised his chin with a scoff. “She likes me just fine, mate. She knows I like it rough.”
What did he like rough? The sea? Or was it the sky that got all whirly and angry when the wind blew?
Cassius didn’t seem to like whatever it was that Master was implying though as he squared up to him, his hand going to the sword at his hip.
“I will not continue to warn you about your vulgarity regarding the princess,” Cassius hissed in a low voice just for my Master and me. I wasn’t entirely sure it even was for me too, but I was right there, leaning in to listen and shifting closer to the owner of my soul.
“Oh, what will you do? Behead me in front of all the nobles?” Master breathed, laughing at him and Cassius reluctantly dropped his hand, though his jaw kept ticking furiously.
“Phew,” I sighed. “I thought I was going to have to kill you for a moment there, Cass,” I said.
“Kill me?” he questioned, his eyes darting to me like he suddenly remembered I was an all-powerful being.
“Yes.” I nodded seriously. “I saw it all in my mind, kind of like a premonition but more like a fantasy because it was really just my own thoughts. You were going to draw your sword then Master would have told me to save him, and I was going to reach right into your gut and pull your intestines out.”
“What?” Cassius balked as Master laughed loudly.
“All of them,” I confirmed with a sad nod. “And you have a lot of intestines so it would have taken me a long time just pulling and pulling and pulling while you cried at my feet. It was a terrible thing, sullen man. Truly horrific.”
Cassius said nothing for several seconds, his lips parted on a reply which didn’t seem to want to form on his tongue before he looked to Master instead of me.
“And you’re still certain she’s harmless?” he grunted.