Chapter 13 Mari #2
It wasn’t a bed so much as a throne pretending to be something you slept in. Or perhaps something to be worshipped in.
Deep velvet the color of midnight oceans during storms, the color bleeding softer in places, slipping to indigo, and even a light purple.
The mattress was piled with huge soft cushions that looked like they’d swallow you whole if you dared throw yourself into them. The headboard rose to the ceiling, all intricate curves, gilded and shimmering lightly. All of it was sized up, for a very large Fallen male, no doubt. Not me.
This couldn’t be for me.
I actually glanced behind me, half-expecting someone to laugh and say there’d been a mistake. “Why this room?”
I didn’t know if I wanted the answer or not.
“Holy fucking shit.” Tulli stepped into the room, jaw swinging.
A laugh escaped me, but it was strangled. “Yeah, holy fucking shit indeed.”
“It’s like three times bigger than ours,” Feather said, “Not that I’m complaining!”
“I know you aren’t.” Her hand slipped into mine and calm flowed, easing some of the irrational fear that had gripped me.
Because rooms like this weren’t given. They were inherited. Won. Stolen. Built on centuries of power and secrets. Not handed over with a simple, “This one’s yours.” Even if it was temporary.
It felt more…intimate I supposed. Like a room you gave someone you wanted to impress.
But Demon did not want to impress me. Did he?
I stepped further inside anyway, carefully, like the carpet might object to my boots. Even the air felt expensive. Still. Waiting.
For a moment, I didn’t touch anything. Didn’t breathe too deeply. Just stood there, feeling small and more than a little out of place, wondering what kind of story I’d just walked into…and whether I was meant to survive it.
Or maybe Demon wanted more than he’d said?
I might have stood there longer yet, but a voice I didn’t recognize cut through the shock.
“And who might you be?”
I turned to see a stunning dark-haired Fallen female behind us.
Her skirts were a similar color to the deep blues of the room, one of the first Fallen women I’d seen wear something outside of the standard black.
Her waist was cinched so tight that I wondered how she breathed around the thick black belt and heavy gold buckle.
Harald took that moment to come skidding into the room. “Briar Queen, the king wishes to speak with you. Right away.”
The Fallen woman’s eyes narrowed and her mouth pinched, though she smoothed her expression quickly, I saw it. Marked it. Knew that she was going to be a problem.
“He wishes advice again?” I drawled as I brushed off my skirts, as if the female hadn’t even spoken.
“Advice?” She all but growled the word. “Why would my intended need advice from…a whore?”
“F-forgive me, Lady Priscilla. I did not see you there.” Harald sounded like he’d been strangled.
“Oh posh and poppy cocks! Where are the snacks, someone said there would be snacks?”
We all turned to see an ancient woman limping into the room, her wild white hair sticking up in all directions, her long skirts filthy…but when the female fallen sniffed and cursed under her breath, I could not leave.
“There is food there, if you’re hungry.” I pointed to the spread on the large table, the food barely registering when I’d first walked into the room.
“Excellent!” The old woman rubbed her hands together and headed for the food.
“That Gabby, he’s far more interesting than I even realized you know?
Which is rare for an Oracle not to know how interesting a soul is or isn’t.
” She grabbed what looked like a stuffed date of some sort and popped it into her mouth.
Oracle.
She was the Oracle?
Feather dipped into a low curtsy, and Tulli followed suit. To be on the safe side I did the same. “You honor us.”
“She’s full of shit,” the female fallen snorted. “You bow to a fraud.”
I held the curtsy, out of spite if nothing else. “Whether you believe it or not, I will not dismiss the fact that our king has her here as a guest, does he not?”
“Do not speak to me, whore.”
There was a splat and I looked up in time to see a tomato sliding down Priscilla’s face.
“Don’t speak to her like that, you little brat!” Myrr plopped herself down in a chair. “You’ll be lucky to be half the woman she is.” She motioned in my general direction.
Was she serious?
Priscilla spun and left the room, though if the way she’d been looking at the Oracle was an indication, this wasn’t over…
“I’m sorry, I do not know your name, but you had best be careful. Just because she is female does not make her any less dangerous.”
“Myrr is my name, and I am very well aware of that, young Marinnia.”
Feather and Tulli gasped and I stood there, stock still as if the use of my name had frozen me. “How—”
“I am the Oracle, and you…you are going to help Gabby find the girl he’s looking for. Not only that, she’s going to need you to help her find her inner strength. It’s of the utmost importance.”
I looked at her. “But I’m just—”
She cut me off with a wave of her hand. “Just what exactly? A woman who learned how to survive in a world where most humans shrivel up and die? Don’t look at me like that. You neither, Tulli.”
Tulli ducked her head.
I sighed and then felt an urge to go and find the male who’d tied himself to me. Anger snapped and crackled through me and just the thought of not going had me breaking out in a sweat. Which would not do.
“I have to go, if you’ll excuse me. The royal demon calls on me.”
Myrr laughed as I strode from the room, waving a drumstick in my general direction. “Say hello to Gabby for me and tell him I am looking forward to the chocolate cake tonight!”