Chapter 17 Mari
Mari
He dropped me off on the balcony to my room, despite how much I argued about my girls back in the Dove District.
“They will be here,” he said, “I instructed Rufus to have them brought back when I heard of the murder.”
As Demon moved to leave, he paused and turned back to me, his hand catching the side of my face under my hood, his palm covering most of my cheek, his fingers working up into my hairline.
I couldn’t have moved if I wanted to, staring up into those deep cobalt eyes.
“While I do enjoy watching you spit the word demon at me…I again give you leave to call me by my name should you choose.”
Before I could find anything to say, he was gone, dropping from the balcony.
I touched a hand to my face where he’d touched me.
“That was…unexpected.”
I spun to see Tulli just inside the doorway, grinning at me. “You and the king, huh? Of course, it makes sense. You are the most beautiful Dove of all.”
“Hush.” I motioned for her to come inside, dizzy with relief at seeing her alive and well. “He’s not…he’s only seen me as the Briar Queen. But right now, we have larger issues than whether or not the king believes he is taken with me for the moment.”
Feather joined us and made sure the door was shut behind her. She tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear and pulled the other side forward to cover her scars. “I don’t think she meant that the king was just taken with you, Mari.”
I flipped my hood back, showing my plain face, but choosing not to acknowledge her words as I slipped the ring off, my face morphing back to its true shape.
“He agrees that it was a werewolf that killed Franny. I have a sense that maybe the person doing the earlier killing is the same. Just maybe not in wolf form before, but now, he can’t control it as well. Like he’s…”
“Escalating.” Tulli nodded. “That makes sense. Just like Jack.”
“Just like Jack,” Feather whispered back.
“But the good news is, I found our way out.” I pushed down the wave of guilt that rolled through me. The cavern that Demon…Gabe…had shown me was a straight shot up to the world above, to the worm holes in the desert. It would still be a journey, but no one else would know to look for us there.
“What do we do next?” Feather asked softly. “If the killer is escalating and getting so bold as to kill during the day, how can we possibly stop him?”
Her question was solid and I didn’t have an answer. “We will find a way, we always do. Right?”
Tulli nodded first, Feather was slower to agree.
“Franny was on the list we gave to the king,” she pulled more of her hair forward, fidgeting with the ends of it.
I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes. “I know. I…I can only hope it was a coincidence.”
“Have you given him the names from Kami’s house yet?” Tulli motioned at me and I turned so she could help me out of the heavy gray dress. I shivered as I slipped into something that Innia would wear, a flowing loose pale pink dress that looked like it was made of apple blossoms.
“Mari?” Feather prompted me as I stood in front of the box of rings. I pulled out a citrine stone and slid it over my finger, the strands of my hair shifting to pale blonde, and my eyes dipping into shades of green.
“No. I didn’t give it to him yet. I…I don’t meet him until the dinner bells chime. You know that.”
“But are you going to give him the list then?”
I looked up into the mirror, seeing a stranger look back at me. How long since I’d not worn a single ring? It was always on with one, off with another.
“I have to, Feather.”
“You don’t. If you know a way out, we could go now. I have a bad feeling, Mari.”
Her and me both. But I knew things they did not.
And as much as I despised demons on the whole, I believed what their king had told me.
There was a much bigger threat at play here.
If I could help him find this woman that could save the world, I needed to try, or escaping would do us no good. We’d be dead anyway.
“I made a vow, Feather. I have to turn the list in and see this through for just a little longer.”
I turned to see Feather swaying on her feet. Tulli and I rushed to her side, catching her before she could fall. “Here, put her on the bed.”
We picked her up easily, all the training we normally did to keep our bodies fit and firm had not been lost in the few short days we’d been in the castle. Feather started to cry as we laid her down.
I curled up on one side of her, and Tulli on the other.
Tulli sang softly, and I just held onto them. They were sisters of my heart, and I had to get them out of here, I just had to—but like Feather, there was a feeling growing in me that we were spiraling toward something that we had no control over.
And that fucking terrified me.
The next day was blessedly silent—though it could easily be because demons and humans alike were hesitant to leave their homes.
Madames had been convinced by the latest, gruesome death that they were better off closing, and the tensions surrounding the political climate were high.
I’d have loved to take advantage of the relative quiet, but it felt more like the kind that happened before the worst of storms that I remembered from my childhood topside.
And this one was going to be a typhoon.
Despite all that, and Feather’s concerns, I forced myself to continue interviewing my way through the other Houses, and she and Tulli insisted on joining me. Only this time, six castle guards accompanied us.
I hated to say, I was glad for them.
Until I heard something at the House of Iris that had me truly concerned.
There was no time to wait for the king to call on me after the fifth dinner bell. And there was no time for me to change clothing from Innia to the Briar Queen.
We needed to make a move.
Now.
As we approached the castle gates, the guards dispersed, leaving only Harald to walk us the rest of the way back. Poor dear was committed to the job as he slunk along beside us, eyes darting this way and that as if the killer might be lurking around every corner.
Once we reached the courtyard, I turned to him with a smile. “You’re free to return to your duties. We’re going to take our time. Thank you, Harald.”
He frowned and then finally nodded. “So long as you stay inside the castle walls, ma’am.”
I had figured those were his instructions. We weren’t prisoners, after all. He headed off, and I let him get ahead of us before following behind, heart hammering with each step.
Feather and Tulli walked swiftly alongside me, and to anyone who knew them, they would see the grim fear resting in Tulli, and the absolute terror in Feather’s eyes.
“Feather, Tulli. I need you to go and get Jastani…this is our chance.”
“But what about—”
I shook my head, my guts churning. This was no small decision, but I had no choice.
“You said we’d stop the killer before we left,” Feather whispered as we reached the juncture that would take me to the king, and them to the rooms we’d been given.
“I know. And I am…gutted. But war is coming, Feather. And we all know what will happen to us if Lord Vin…” I couldn’t even say it. If Demon…Gabriel was killed and Lord Vin was to take the throne, there would be a massacre. I couldn’t leave my Doves behind to face that. Not any of them.
“You want to take all of them?” Tulli said, hope in her eyes. “We don’t have enough…”
“I think we can, with what I learned.” With the cavern that Gabe had shown me. “Go, hurry.”
The decision to take my entire house of Doves was reckless, foolish…
but a battle like this, a Dael’Torin…The only Fallen that could have challenged Malach would have been Vin and now, according to my sources at House Iris, he was coming to the castle with a full-blown army and a challenge that Gabe would not be able to deny.
At the doors to the library there were two guards. The younger one had been with Harald the day that we’d been escorted to the castle.
“Innia, he has company.” He dipped his head, blushing, his eyes sliding across the top of my cleavage, which I’d left exposed today.
The deep green material was comfortable and offset the riot of red curls and bright green eyes that the ring I wore gave me.
A smattering of freckles, along with Feather’s steady hand for my makeup, and there was no one who would ever put me alongside the plain-looking Briar Queen and say they were the same person.
“This can’t wait,” I didn’t pause, but let myself in, swinging the door wide to see Priscilla with her hand on Gabriel’s…I raised an eyebrow, ignoring the spurt of…no, not jealousy.
I was not jealous.
Fuck, I was jealous. “Apologies, Your Majesty.” I dipped into a low curtsy, making sure my cleavage was on full display as I took a deep breath. “The Briar Queen sent me ahead of her, the message is too important—”
“Get out!” Priscilla snapped. “He has no need of a whore.”
I couldn’t resist. “Of course not, he has you.”
Remaining where I was, head bowed, either of them could have cut my head off for my insolence.
Clutching my skirts tighter, I didn’t move. “The Briar Queen—”
“She is not a queen!” Priscilla grabbed my arm and yanked me up so hard I felt something tear in my shoulder. Holding me high, she stared up at me. “She is no queen, but I will be.”
The urge to kick her in the cooch, which was just the height where my feet were dangling, had me glaring down at her. “She is more queen now than you will ever be, and she didn’t even have to fuck a king to get the title.”
Priscilla’s eyes went wide and then her hand tightened, and she flung me toward the fireplace.
Shit.
Only I didn’t hit. Gabe caught me mid-air, one hand to my lower back, the other on my wrist, stopping my trajectory.
“Do not throw my toys around, Priscilla. The nobles won’t appreciate even more of them being broken.”
She let out an ugly hiss and stomped out of the library. Gabe set me back on my feet.