Chapter 15 Auria
Itwisted the hooked lock pick around the smaller straight one and wedged the locking mechanism while I stared at the nearest torch burning in a sconce on the stone wall. The torch was not consumed, so the fire must have been magic.
So much magic in this place.
I lifted the pin inside the lock and smiled when it clicked open. Dedalus’s door was mine. I opened it slowly, hoping it would not creak, and then slipped inside. I left it cracked so Rat could warn me if anyone came down the hall.
I didn’t know how long the fae nobles usually reveled in their dinner, but Brielle and her friends made it sound like a long and horribly boring event every night. If I wanted to look through Dedalus’s room for signs of subterfuge, this would be my best chance.
Darkness would have made it impossible to see, but moonlight from a big, open window splashed across the entire room.
I blinked for a few seconds, letting my eyes adjust to the dimmer light, and turned around the room.
At a glance, it was tidy and unassuming.
Just what I’d expect a guest room to look like in a castle like this.
The furniture was simple, but appropriate for a wealthy fae: a bed, a dresser, a small table with a chair, and a settee large enough to hold three people.
A door on the far side of the room probably led to another water closet like the one in my room.
A water closet. Visitors would not go in there, so that would be the perfect place to start.
I opened the door and froze. The little room was completely black. My heartbeat lunged for the ceiling, and my breath caught. I could not go into that dark space. The blackness would suffocate me.
Besides, if a visitor needed to relieve himself, he would visit this terrifying corner. And light it up with magic.
I closed the door and turned around. Not because it was dark. No. Because I wouldn’t find any secrets in the water closet.
But where would Dedalus hide incriminating evidence?
I’d tucked all of my little treasures under the mattress in my room. Maybe he’d done the same?
I slid my hand under the mattress as far as I could reach and dragged my arm along the side of the bed. I reached a corner and pivoted, starting to check the next side—
But then the shadows moved.
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t scream. Couldn’t run.
Magic shadows gathered and swirled around me, surrounding me in a layer of terror. I couldn’t see anything now—shadows blocked the moonlight. They didn’t touch me, but they walled me off from the rest of the room like a cage.
Memories flashed through my mind, filling the darkness with pain and screams and cruel laughter.
And magic, burning through my chest like a fire poker.
Not real. No fear. I am not captive. I tried to ground myself in my current reality, but… I was captive. Shadows surrounded me as thoroughly as prison walls.
No. I ripped my arm out from under the mattress. Not prison. My lungs jumped from not working to panting over time.
I’d seen these shadows before. And Bylur had saved me from them.
I screamed his name, but my trembling body made it come out as a hoarse whisper. “Bylur!”
“You would call for me?” He was here already. But his voice was not the gentle, cautious tone I remembered speaking to me in the dungeon. It was harsh and angry.
But it was here. My mind latched onto that fact, and cried out in a broken, halting struggle. “Bylur. The shadows. I— Help—” I squeezed my eyes closed and covered them with my hands. “I won’t look at you.”
Seconds passed by—moments that felt like eternities—while I hid in my own self-induced darkness. Was he chasing away the shadows? Using some fae magic to counter their dark fury?
Finally, he sighed and said, “You can open your eyes.”
I ripped my hands away from my eyes. The dim moonlight shone so bright and cheerful, bringing so much relief to my heart, that I had to swallow back tears.
Bylur stood at the window, facing outside, his hands gripping the stones on the sides of the window.
He looked like a king. Moonlight rimmed his body, making his back more imposing than ever.
“Why are you in Dedalus’s room?” He growled the words with an undercurrent of fury that reminded me of his bear voice.
But he’d also saved me from the strange shadows of this place. Twice. I might not trust anyone, but he deserved honesty. “I think Dedalus might be one of the people working against you.”
His tone shifted from angry to weary. “Why would you think that?”
I gripped my skirts, wrinkling the fine fabric, nerves firing up all over again. When I’d decided to sneak in here, I’d worried about Dedalus catching me. I never thought that Bylur would be upset. But now—
Now, I worried.
Still, he’d agreed to keep me safe and happy, and he’d made good on that so far. And he needed to know how awful Dedalus was. “I met him at the dress shop when I was there with Brielle.”
I relaxed my hands as I launched into the story, shifting them from clenching my skirts to tracing my ring. Talking always made me relax.
Bylur stiffened when I told about Dedalus grabbing Brielle first and then me, but his body went absolutely rigid when I said Bylur didn’t trust Dedalus.
Shadows swirled around him. Did they respond to emotions? Bylur’s tight voice cut into my thoughts. “Why would you say that?”
I threw an exasperated arm into the air. “He was threatening us! It was the only thing I could think of to make him go away!”
He tightened his hold on the stone framing the window. “Disgusting behavior, for sure, but not uncommon for fae. He could not have hurt Brielle, but you… Stars, Auria, if you had just called out, my soldiers would have come running to help you.”
There was a lot to unpack in that, but before I had time to explain some of the problems with soldiers, he kept going. “I may not trust anyone, but Dedalus has been a political ally to me for decades. And now that is threatened.”
Because of what I said. He didn’t say it out loud, but it hung unsaid like a blanket suffocating us both.
The silence was too much. “I’m sorry. I… I don’t know what else to say.”
He blew out a gusty breath and turned his head toward the heavens. “You lie so easily. I never know if I can believe you or if you’re just saying words to placate the dangers you perceive around you.”
That stung. Right in my chest.
And then he made it worse. He turned his shoulder toward me, stopped, and faced outside again. “I refuse to be a danger to you. You do not have to lie to me.”
How did I fix this? I’d messed up his politics without even knowing them and made his marriage a confusion of lies and trust.
His marriage. I rolled my eyes at myself. It was my marriage too. Even if we weren’t in it for love, we needed to be able to work with each other. I stepped closer to his back, carefully dodging the shadows that swirled on the floor.
I reached for his shoulder, but stopped just before I touched it. Was he the sort of person who would feel better at being touched? Or would it feel like an invasion of his space?
This wasn’t a time to be afraid. I’d messed up, and I had to try to fix it.
I bit my lip and reached up to set a hand on his shoulder.
“I won’t lie to you. Ever. At least, not ever again.
” My mouth was doing its thing now, so I just let it go.
“If I have lied to you already, I don’t remember, but I want to do better.
I’m here to break your curse, but I don’t want to create more stress for you.
I don’t know how to fix what I said to Dedalus, but I’ll—”
I stopped myself. I did not give my mouth permission to say what almost slipped out.
But when I paused, Bylur set a hand on top of mine and squeezed it carefully.
That gesture cracked something in me. Whatever walls I’d used to protect myself for the last fourteen years were not fair to keep between us.
Not when I was benefitting so much from this arrangement while he kept having to accommodate me and clean up my mistakes.
I squeezed him back. “I’ll do whatever you would like. Tell me what would fix it, and I’ll do it.”
The door behind us slammed open. I startled and felt Bylur turning under my hand, so I scrunched my eyes closed, but his hands landed on my shoulders in an instant. He slowly turned me around and kept his hands on my shoulders. Just behind my ear, he whispered, “Open your eyes.”
Dedalus stood in the doorway, radiating anger like the sun radiates heat.
How had Rat not warned us? The monstrous fae marched up to us, completely ignoring me, and stared above my head at Bylur.
“I will be leaving, Your Highness.” He sneered the last two words in a mocking title. “I hope your council rots in chaos.”
“Dedalus—” Bylur began, but Dedalus cut him off.
“There is nothing you can say that will change my mind. You obviously came here to search my room. That tells me exactly how much you value my alliance.” He turned around and stormed to the door.
My heart pounded. This was my fault. I couldn’t let him walk away.
But he was terrible. And angry. And strong. And—
And out the door.
No.
“Wait!” I cried, running after him. I stopped in the doorway, two feet away from the terrifying fae.
He turned and faced me.
“What.” The word was a question, but his voice was flat and hard.
And why was he so huge? I stepped backward without even thinking about it and bit my lip.
Bylur’s hands landed on my shoulders again. He was right behind me. I would be safe. “The truth, Auria,” he said softly. “The truth might help.”
I nodded and met Dedalus’s dark, angry eyes. No fear. I took a deep breath. “I lied to you.”
His eyebrows popped up so high it looked painful.
“It’s a human thing,” I said, groaning at myself as the words came out. “Not that all humans lie, I’m just trying to explain, humans can lie. And when I’m scared I tend to talk a lot and sometimes lie or say anything I can think of to make me less afraid.”
His brows lowered so he looked angry again. Bylur rubbed his thumb on my shoulder, a silent encouragement to keep going.
So I did. “In your case—” I waved at Dedalus.
“I wanted you to go away, so I was trying to think of anything that would upset you more than Brielle and me, so you would ignore us and leave. Bylur had never spoken your name to me. I knew absolutely nothing of his feelings about you. But I did know he was concerned about someone trying to undermine his efforts here, so I said that he suspected you, even though I was completely making it up at the time.”
Dedalus stepped closer to us, looming over me, and I fell back against Bylur’s chest. A very sturdy, solid chest. He squeezed my shoulders and stood me back up on my own feet. Shadows surrounded us, swirling above our heads and to our sides, but Bylur kept his hands on me.
And Dedalus stepped back, glaring over my head at Bylur again. “Then why are you in my room?”
Bylur rubbed my shoulder with his thumbs again. Right. I waved a nervous hand at Dedalus, drawing his gaze back down to me. “That was me again.”
He folded his arms and stared at me, with only slightly less venom than before.
I blew out a quick breath. “You were absolutely horrible to me in the dress shop, and… and I’ve seen you a few times since, from a distance, and you always look so upset at everyone here.
I didn’t know Bylur actually counted you as an ally until a few minutes ago when he explained it.
I thought you were mad about being here, so you were probably trying to undermine Bylur, so I thought I would sneak in here and get some evidence, and tell him about you later tonight. ”
“It turns out,” Bylur said evenly, “Dedalus has looked angry for the last hundred and forty years. It is no indicator of his loyalties.”
I hung my head and shrugged. “I’m sorry.” But this wasn’t about me. I lifted my gaze back up to Dedalus’s. “Please don’t let my mistakes ruin whatever sort of friendship you two had. I will figure things out. I just… haven’t yet.”
Dedalus still looked like he wanted to punch me, but he shifted his attention to Bylur. “That explains her. What were you doing in my room with her?”
Bylur’s even tone was incredible, like a balancing point on a weird see-saw where my run-on mouth and Dedalus’s perma-anger were the far ends. “After our conversation, I came looking for her to ask what had happened that made you question my confidence in you. I found her here.”
A moment of silence passed before Dedalus answered. “Why would you bring a lying human into Kalshana?”
I clenched my teeth. Dedalus was horrible, but Bylur needed his support, and I’d threatened that.
I did not expect Bylur to defend me, but his answer warmed my whole soul.
“I do not owe you an explanation for why I married her. You might hate humans, but owning her mistakes just now took more bravery than I have seen in any fae in over a hundred years. It is the sort of thing you used to respect a person for.”
Dedalus faced me again as if I were a puzzle that had refused to solve itself for him.
“That is true,” he finally said, “if a human qualifies as a person.” My jaw fell, but I didn’t say anything because he kept talking to Bylur.
“Given the facts, I will continue to support your council. I haven’t been able to figure out your mole either, but people are getting tired of the process.
If you don’t make it happen soon, claiming the throne might be the only way to avoid more chaos and death. ”
He stepped to the side, and Bylur gently nudged me past him.
As soon as we were beyond Dedalus’s reach, I spun to look at him one last time. “Dedalus?”
He turned his narrowed eyes on me.
“You obviously don’t think much of humans, so this will probably mean nothing to you, but I want to say it anyway.” My heart started racing. Why did my mouth have so many opinions tonight? “Thank you for listening to me. I— I appreciate it.”
And then I turned and ran away.