Chapter Twenty-Five
THE GOWN MALACHI HAD DELIVERED TO HER ROOM was another sheer dress.
It was woven from a sumptuous fabric that shimmered when the light struck it from the right angle.
The garment’s hue was black this time, except for the clusters of dark purple silk flowers that would lie over her breasts and the garland of purple flowers that would circle her waist, draping so it concealed intimate regions between her legs once she put the gown on.
It was backless and would cling to her like a second skin if its sleek cut was anything to go by.
Its strapless neckline was a deep V that would plunge between her breasts, leaving her Marking exposed for anyone to glimpse.
The latter Kadeesha was certain was intentional on Malachi’s part, given his earlier assertion that the Markings further served their shared purpose.
A newly assigned lady-in-waiting—a female who’d announced herself as Lady Keeya, daughter of Lord Prime Tareek—had carried it to her room.
The female currently still held the gown up for Kadeesha to inspect.
She’d also produced a note that she’d handed over to Kadeesha upon entering.
The dark blue stationery held Malachi’s bold cursive script that commanded she wear his gift.
He’d even signed the bottom with his royal seal. How kingly of him.
She thought about sending the sneering lady-in-waiting and the dress she clutched away with a return message to Malachi that reminded him nothing had changed—he still didn’t really own her now, nor would he ever.
But the dress was gorgeous. It’d been stitched with her favorite flowers—the four-petaled violets of paradise that only bloomed at night under a full moon.
It couldn’t have been a coincidence. It was clearly a manipulation to coax her into wearing the revealing dress.
Although … how in the hell Malachi had discovered the information, she didn’t know.
She didn’t think too hard, either, on why he’d expended the energy at all to find out the detail about her and make use of it in such a manner.
There was also the diadem that Lady Keeya held, another supposed gift.
It was similar to the crown Malachi wore during formal affairs, a majestic ode to skilled craftsmanship that had precious onyx stones and diamonds inlaid in a glittering silver base.
Additionally, there were three large teardrop amethysts clustered in the center.
She’d almost swallowed her tongue when she’d first seen the diadem.
She knew with certainty that no Apollyon crown had previously been adorned with the gems that were customarily a part of jewelry smithed within the Aether Court.
Amethysts—a trio, to be exact—had shone in Kadeesha’s former tiara, in her father’s crown, and in the diadem of every Aether monarch before Sylas.
The amethysts resting beside the onyx stones, an emblem of the Apollyon Court, in the crown before Kadeesha were symbolic.
That much she knew. However, she didn’t have a clue what it symbolized for Malachi, what precise message he meant to send to those who beheld her wear it, or when the hell he’d had a diadem from the Apollyon treasury modified.
Unable to take her mind off her dozens of swirling questions, she bypassed grabbing the gown from Lady Keeya and reached out and touched the beautiful crown with unsteady fingers.
The female made a sound of disgust that wormed under Kadeesha’s skin.
She cut her eyes at the woman. The distraction caused by Kadeesha’s flare of anger was almost enough to make her miss the faint whiff of Deathbane.
While the petals of violets of paradise were relatively innocuous, the flowering plant’s leaves produced toxins that were lethal immediately if ingested, and that killed a bit more slowly—over a handful of hours versus seconds—if they came into prolonged contact with the skin.
She knew this because the hauntingly beautiful violets weren’t her favorite bloom by coincidence.
Yashira had maintained an entire garden of them, along with growing other various toxic flora, in the Aether Palace.
Officially, Sylas permitted her the hobby so he could make use of it for his own needs.
Many who’d displeased her father had often died by some manner of ghastly poison.
It was yet another reason that Sylas overlooked Yashira using her precious plants for her own purposes too.
Yashira’s skills and discretion were too valuable to not have at his beck and call, and she’d taken full advantage of the leniency it afforded her during their entire relationship.
Once Yashira learned that Kadeesha had taken a fancy to the violets, she’d started placing ever-fresh bouquets in her rooms. It was a tradition that began when Kadeesha was all of five or six, and Yashira had kept it up right until all hell broke loose at Kadeesha’s wedding.
Yashira had always carefully pruned away any leaves or auxiliary buds from the bouquets because of their toxic effects.
Plus, she’d made Kadeesha sniff and commit to memory the odors of hundreds of poisons—both commonplace and rare—over the years, insisting it was a matter of necessity and safety given she was the Aether Court’s archprincess and prophesied high queen.
“I’ll hang the gown in the wardrobe until you’re ready to put it on,” her new lady-in-waiting offered a bit too hastily.
“You introduced yourself as Lady Keeya, a daughter of cardinal bloodline Tareek, the daughter of its lord prime to be exact, yes?” Kadeesha asked instead of answering the female’s question. She’d let her squirm at needing to stay in contact with the gown for a longer time.
“I did, Lady Mercier,” Keeya said daintily, her shift in attitude no doubt born of an urgent desire to be rid of the dress.
Kadeesha tightened the belt on the black silk robe she wore and then motioned toward the bed. “You can place the gown there.”
The woman’s face brightened with relief. Another damning mark against her.
As Kadeesha followed behind her, exiting the sitting room and walking into the bedroom, she briefly thought about the reason Malachi had needed to hand Arrenia—another treacherous bitch involved in schemes to kill her—over to Leisha and not Kadeesha herself.
She scowled, disliking that she was sympathetically thinking of Malachi at all and how her next actions might adversely impact him.
She wasn’t supposed to give a damn if something she did led to smearing his reputation among his nobles and thus undermining his claim to the Apollyon throne.
Matter of fact, she should’ve been eager to do so.
The shrewd play here was to actively work toward proving the prophecy about him bringing ruin to his court true.
The more internal political chaos Malachi had to manage, the more his focus might be pulled away from seizing rule of her court.
She used that last truth to smother any misplaced empathy toward Malachi as Lady Keeya dropped the dress onto the bed as if it was a writhing snake.
She laid the diadem beside it. Kadeesha didn’t give her time to turn around.
She reached out and grabbed the female by the back of her neck and shoved Lady Keeya’s face into the poisoned gown, smothering her screams. Keeya clawed at Kadeesha’s hand as Kadeesha pinned her face to the dress while the attendant thrashed around wildly in a futile attempt to escape Kadeesha’s hold.
Kadeesha let a full minute tick by before she let her up.
Then she drove Lady Keeya’s face into the polished oak post at the foot of bed.
Bone crunched and she wailed. Kadeesha spun her around, grabbing her by the sweetheart neckline of her yellow gown.
Kadeesha called a spinning ball of aether flames to existence within the palm of her free hand.
She brought it an inch away from Lady Keeya’s face.
The female who’d just delivered poison to her door screamed and shouted for help.
“Be silent, or I will give you something to truly scream about,” Kadeesha hissed.
She brought the aether ball closer to Lady Keeya’s tender skin, so its heat licked at her cheek.
Lady Keeya shrieked, but she must’ve seen the truth of the violence Kadeesha would render blazing within her furious stare because the shrieks abruptly turned to quieter sobs.
“Who gave you the poisoned gown and told you to carry it to me?” Kadeesha asked.
The female’s russet-brown eyes widened. She frenziedly shook her head. “I—I don’t—”
“Do not lie. I smell the Deathbane on it,” Kadeesha warned. “And you’re as nervous as a mouse in a fox’s den.” She moved the aether ball closer to the female’s face so she understood the consequences of not telling the truth.