Chapter 21
Gabe
Isat beside Marinnia’s bed and just watched her breathe.
It was a stupid fucking thing to be relieved about the rise and fall of someone’s chest, but after the amount of her blood that had seeped into that stone floor tonight?
I was willing to cling to stupid things.
Her room was exactly as it had been when I’d selected it for her, only now it smelled medicinal, like whatever herbs that had been crushed into a paste to treat her wounds.
The lamplight was low, which was good. The less I could see of the needle Zanthe, the castle healer, was piercing into Mari’s skin over and over again, the better.
I didn’t know the demon female at all, but she looked far too old and frail to be trusted with anything so precious…
“And you’re certain she’s going to be alright?” I asked for the third time in the past half an hour.
To the healer’s credit, she was as patient this time as she had been all the others when she answered.
“She’s stitched as well as she can be stitched, Your Majesty.
” She straightened with a quiet groan, pressing a gnarled hand to the small of her back.
“The cut was deep, but clean. Unlike yours, I might add.”
I was a demon. I’d heal without stitches, but Mari…
I looked at the jagged line of black thread that started mid-thigh and spread all the way to Marinnia’s hip, and wanted very badly to find Vinny, drag him back from hell and kill him all over again. I wanted to howl at the thought that I’d let him hurt her.
“She lost a great deal of blood,” Zanthe continued. “That will weaken her for another day or two. Perhaps longer, if she insists on being difficult.”
A snort escaped me before I could help it. “Then we should prepare for a month. There are none more difficult than this one”
The healer’s thin lips twitched. “In either case, she will live, so long as the wound stays clean and fever doesn’t set in. I’m going to fetch more ointment. I’d like to put a proper layer on before I wrap it.”
I nodded, but my gaze never left Marinnia’s face. “And the burns on her arm?”
The old healer followed my line of sight to Marinnia’s gauze-covered forearm. Shazeera had gotten her good with a gout of flames, and her cloak had been blackened and charred.
The healer frowned, removing the gauzy covering to reveal the back of Mari’s forearm and wrist. I leaned in closer, letting out a whoosh of breath.
I’d expected flesh cooked through…blisters that left the kind of deep scarring that would impede her movement for a lifetime. Instead, her skin was intact. Pink, healthy, like nothing had happened.
What the actual fuck?
“I can’t explain it. There was soot, yes. I could even smell the burnt cloth, but it was like her skin had been shielded. Very strange…”
Strange didn’t begin to cover it.
I knew what I’d fucking seen. Shazeera had leveled her with a flash of fire, straight in the face, and Mari had used her forearm to block it. No way a person walked away from that unscathed.
“Maybe this Briar Queen is harder to break than she looks. Have to admire it…” The old healer blinked like she’d forgotten who she was speaking to. “Apologies, Your Majesty. Just an old woman prattling on. I’ll fetch the ointment.”
She shuffled off, closing the door softly behind her.
And for the first time since I’d carried her into this room with hot blood soaking through my shirt and her breath warm and thready against my neck, I was alone with Mari.
That had been too fucking close.
“Fucking hell.”
I leaned forward, bracing my forearms on my knees, and stared at her face, her true face, soaking it in.
A few inches higher and that blade could have opened her belly. One second later and I might not have reached her in time at all.
I rubbed at the sudden tightness in my chest and looked at her again, because apparently, I was incapable of doing anything else.
Without the hood…without the careful tilt of her mouth that was neither as full as Innia’s or thin as the Briar Queen, she was both women and neither.
In hindsight, it seemed so obvious. If I thought it through at all, I’d have realized that Mari and Innia were like different blades crafted from the same forge.
One stunning in its beauty, with swooping filigree and a pearl-hilt.
The other, serviceable, free of ornamentation, but somehow compelling. Both just as deadly.
It was only now that I remembered seeing Innia the night of my coronation. I’d caught her about to drug that asshole demon Aristotle. I’d assumed to take him to one of the alcoves so she could rob him, but now I had to wonder. Had he hurt one of her Doves, perhaps?
I made a mental note to ask her once she was awake, not that it mattered to me. If she believed he deserved it, I was certain she was right.
My hand moved before I could think better of it and I traced the freckles scattered across the bridge of her nose with my fingertip.
Gods help me, she was beautiful. Not a Dove.
Not a madame, or a spy, or a woman clever enough to lie to my face while making me want to strip every secret out of her one kiss at a time.
She was also a fucking warrior. She had fought beside me.
Steel in hand, eyes bright with that wild, furious refusal to bow to anyone or anything.
Any man would count himself lucky to call a woman like that his queen.
The thought triggered another and my jaw locked so hard, it hurt.
Fucking Priscilla.
She’d thrown Mari to the wolves without a second thought.
If the bitch had any sense, she’d make sure she obeyed my order to remain in her quarters until Mav and whatever wolves he’d brought with him were apprehended and I could send her to Sixthell with her piece of shit father.
I did not know what I would do if I had to look at her face right now, and I preferred not to find out.
“Your Majesty.”
I looked up sharply.
Zanthe stood in the doorway with a squat jar in one hand and piece of linen in the other. “I need to apply this and dress the wound.”
I rose slowly, the aches and pains from the battle finally catching up with me now that the adrenaline had worn off. “Will she wake soon?”
“I’m hoping not. I gave her a sleeping draught so she wouldn’t have to feel the stitching, so she should be out for another couple of hours. It’s best for her body to rest.”
And still, I wanted to stay, which was ridiculous. I had a kingdom splitting at the seams, and a genetically altered wolf–potentially even an entire pack of them–hunting in my territory. That wasn’t even counting the bitch of a dark goddess whose name I refused to utter trying to ruin the world.
Still, I stood there, staring down at Marinnia, grateful as fuck she hadn’t died trying to protect me. Finally, I forced my feet to move.
“If she takes a turn, send for me, no matter what.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
I left before I could think better of it. By the time I reached my study, it felt colder than usual despite the fire blazing in the hearth.
“Get it the fuck together, man.”
First things first, I needed to get in touch with the others topside and fill them in on what was going on down here. I could only hope their search for the other keys was going more smoothly than mine…
I planted both hands on the desk and activated the Prism. Raven’s face flared into view first, blurred for a moment, then sharpened. The sky behind him looks weird, bright light in one direction, too dark in the other, as if the heavens had been split into two.
Not good.
“About fucking time,” he said with a smirk.
“Nice to see you too.”
“I figured you were having so much fun playing king down there, you forgot we had a job to do.” His expression shifted and he leaned in close enough for me to see the stubble on his jaw. “Hell, man. You look like shit.”
“Appreciate it.”
Diana stepped into frame beside him, her eyes full of concern. “What happened?”
I speared a hand through my shorn hair and let out a snarl.
“Where do I start? I think Maverick is here with his faction of rebels and they’re killing humans.
I’m not sure if he’s just twisted or if he’s in search of the same key I am.
I was challenged for the throne and had to fight with a human female at my side.
Needless to say, as I’m still here, we won. ”
Raven’s brows lifted. “That simple, is it?”
“No,” I said flatly. “I assure you it was not, but I’m too tired to go into more detail.”
Diana’s eyes narrowed. “And what of Mav? Were you able to catch him?”
“In the wind.”
“Fuck,” Raven muttered.
I sank into the chair behind the desk and leaned back, wincing as every battered bone and muscle throbbed. “Tell me you’ve got better news than I gave you.”
Raven barked out a laugh. “You wish.”
“We’re trying.” Diana shot him a dirty look before continuing.
“But the weather topside is worsening by the day. Storms forming where they shouldn’t be.
Flooding. Winds unlike anything we’ve seen before.
The human realm…” She paused, that had me sitting up straight on the edge of my seat.
Diana rarely pulled her punches. “They’ve lost the entire eastern seaboard. ”
I went still, trying to let the words sink in. “Lost?”
“Gone,” Raven confirmed. “Millions dead. Cities underwater. Power failures. Evacuations where they can manage them, mayhem where they can’t.”
For a second all I could think about was ships sinking and the screams of the humans aboard. Water filling streets.
The churches.
The schools...
I clenched my aching jaw and pressed on. “And Cleona?”
Raven’s face turned to stone. “Still got her head up her ass. She hasn’t agreed that the Fae will help us yet.”
“Rabia has allowed us into Angel Territory,” Diana added, “and we’ve begun searching. As soon as we’ve found our key here, we will strong arm Cleona. I’ve already got a plan in place.”
“And Mav?” I asked. “Any word on how many he’s got on his side still or what their ultimate goal is?”
Diana and Raven exchanged a look and I knew the answer.
“When he left with his faction, he covered his tracks well. Dominic and Sienna have been on the hunt since you left, but so far, no leads.”
The deck seemed so stacked against us at this point, it was almost hard to see a way we could prevail.
“If I find the key here and you’re still empty-handed there, I’ll come.”
Diana tipped her head. “Appreciate it.”
The Prism dimmed just as someone knocked and the connection vanished.
“Enter,” I called.
The door opened and Myrr waddled in like it wasn’t the middle of the night. She took one look at me and clapped her hands together. “Oh, Gabby! You did so good. And your queen—feck me sideways, turned out to be a firecracker!”
I frowned. “Firecracker? You mean conniving little witch. That woman will never be my queen.”
Myrr blinked her cloudy eye at me. “Not Priscilla, you boiled turnip. I meant Marinnia.”
I wasn’t about to give her the satisfaction of a response, so I changed the subject. “I need a favor. Can you try to see if you can’t get…something on the key? Even a hint of where she might be? We’re running out of time.”
“Not sure. The visions…they don’t usually come to me when I force them.” She scrunched her face and then patted her belly. “And besides, oracling is hungry work, Gabby. I think a snack would help.”
My demon kingdom for some patience…
“All the human staff has already been sent above for safety. The kitchens are empty, woman.”
“A terrible shame,” she said. “Still. You have arms and legs, and it’s hard for me to reach stuff on account of my petite stature. A little help, hmmm?”
At four foot something, she wasn’t wrong, and ten minutes later, I found myself walking to the kitchens with her at my side, singing a filthy tavern song under her breath.
“Do we have jam, you think?”
There was no jam. There was bread though, and fresh churned butter. I set her up at one of the wide kitchen tables with half a loaf and a butter knife. She sat across from me, legs folded crisscross on the chair like a child, loaf in one hand.
She bit off a honking bite considering how few teeth she had and then shut her eyes, bliss written all over her face.
I waited.
She chewed, holding the bread like it contained the secrets of the universe.
Her wrinkled face strained, forehead furrowing, lips pursed tight.
I watched because I had nothing better to do and because if there was even the smallest chance that she could see something useful, I’d sit through whatever theatrics she needed me to.
“Aha,” she whispered.
I leaned forward, pulse humming.
“Yes,” she breathed. “Yes, I think I feel something. It’s…it’s…”
Her eyes flew open as she ripped a fart loud enough to echo off the copper fucking pots.
“What the fuck!”
Myrr pressed a hand to her chest, blinking wildly.
“Sorry about that, Gabby. I tried to force a vision, but the bowels aren’t as young as they used to be and when I strain…
well, you get it.” She unfolded her legs and slid off the chair with a wince.
“I better go make sure that fart didn’t come with anything extra on the side, if you know what I mean.
But I swear, if anything comes to me, you’ll be the first to know, ay? ”
Maybe it was because I was exhausted. Maybe it was because if I didn’t let off some pressure, I’d punch a hole through the nearest wall. But I started to laugh.
“Get out of here, old woman.”
She patted my shoulder on the way past and tottered toward the door. “Sleep at some point, Gabby. You look peaky.”
She barely stepped out when the kitchen doors flew open again. This time, it was Luc.
I stared at him, afraid to even ask. “What now?”
“It’s tradition, I’m afraid.” Luc spread his arms. “The men want to celebrate your victory. One or two drinks, for morale?”
I glanced at the clock and realized, if Zanthe was right, Mari would be sleeping for at least another hour, and I certainly wouldn’t be getting any rest until I spoke to her.
What the hell, why not?
“Who’s buying?”