Chapter 3 #2
I hesitated, wondering what to do. The floor wasn’t comfortable, but there had to be a reason she wasn’t in the bed. A glance at the quilt showed that it was free of dust, either cleaned by Anya or the house’s magic.
Safer , she’d said.
Her last bed hadn’t been safe at all.
“Maybe this time I won’t dream,” she whispered, closing her eyes.
I clenched my fists tightly, struggling against the urge to scream at what had been done to her. Anya’s cheeks were hollow, and the shadows under her eyes spoke of deep fatigue. If she was able to rest, even if it was on the floor, that was good.
“Sleep well,” I said softly. “If you get hungry again, you can ask the kitchen to give you food. The magic works like that.”
She didn’t reply.
I pulled the blanket off the bed, draped it over her, and left.
Back in the bedroom that was apparently now mine alone, I let out the scream that had been trapped in my chest, muffling it in my palm so Lara wouldn’t hear. My best friend was lying on a stone floor. And instead of watching over her, I had to attend this damned meeting.
I yanked open the wardrobe, wishing for armor rather than silk.
It didn’t offer that, but it did present an array of dresses with metal embellishments.
I chose one as red as the blood I wanted to spill on Anya’s behalf.
It was simple enough to put on without assistance, with a silver clasp that pulled the fabric in at the waist. The sleeves were long and tight, terminating in points that covered the backs of my hands and secured with rings around my middle fingers.
Small metal spikes marched in a line from collar to wrists.
A dress that threatened pain—though the back was shockingly low.
When I looked over my shoulder in the mirror, I could see the line of my spine down to my waist.
Caedo had wriggled up to curve around my neck. The dagger looked good with the rounded jewel settled into the hollow of my throat, but my back prickled to be so exposed. It wasn’t enough to be a beautiful creature; I wanted everyone at that meeting to know my teeth were sharp.
An idea came to me, and the dagger re-formed itself.
A wedge-shaped head settled below my collarbone, fangs bared, while the rest of the dagger stretched out to loop around my neck and trail down my spine in sinuous curves.
When it settled into place, it looked like a snake slithering over my shoulder, with the jewel from the hilt placed in the middle of its head.
“I like you like this,” I told Caedo. The spikes on my sleeves might prick if someone were to grab me, but if anyone touched my back, they would bleed far worse.
There wasn’t time to properly fix my hair, but there was oil in the attached bathing chamber that I dripped onto my curls before using my fingers to gently detangle them, starting at the ends.
I bound my hair back in a bun, then quickly applied cosmetics—a smoky gray shadow and black liner for my eyes, a crimson paint for my lips.
My cheeks were pale, the freckles standing out, but I didn’t bother with rouge.
The woman I wanted to be today wasn’t the type to blush.
Surveying myself in the mirror, I felt a jolt of unreality. This was my face, but it was also a stranger’s face. The dark shadow made my amber eyes look more vivid, while the crimson on my lips was reminiscent of blood. My skin glittered faintly.
I brushed my fingers over the jeweled snake head resting on my sternum.
“I don’t know what to expect,” I admitted to Caedo and the mirror.
“What to do.” Even with my new powers, I was at a disadvantage.
The other house heads had centuries of experience and strong opinions about who should rule.
They would expect me to capitulate to what they wanted.
Caedo thrummed against my skin. You’ll do whatever you have to.
Kallen’s eyes widened slightly when he took in my changed appearance, but he said nothing other than “Blood House attire suits you.”
We left the house behind, heading up a sloping corridor towards other parts of Mistei.
He hadn’t spoken since complimenting my dress, and the growing awkwardness felt like a tangible weight against my skin.
“You said the meeting would be with Hector and Drustan,” I said to break the silence, “but it clearly includes you as well.” It had been like that under Osric’s rule, too—Kallen had always been seated at the high table.
“Yes. It will be Hector, you, me, Drustan, and one of his allies—and possibly Oriana, if she deigns to accept the invitation.”
A shiver raced down my spine at Drustan’s name. The last time I’d seen the Fire prince, he’d been demanding my support after a night of betrayal and violence. The time before that, we’d been naked in each other’s arms.
“I’m not sure what Drustan expects to have changed overnight,” I said, trying to feign nonchalance.
Kallen’s sidelong glance said I hadn’t fooled him.
“Perhaps nothing has changed in the group members’ fundamental positions, but Drustan is correct that we need to resolve this soon.
Illusion will be scrambling to determine which of Osric’s relatives has the best claim to the throne.
Light might be split right now, but I suspect they’ll ultimately back Illusion.
The only way to stand against those two houses is to form an alliance ourselves, which means we need to come to an understanding. ”
Just like the old rebellion—Fire, Void, and Blood against Light and Illusion. Maybe this time Earth could be shaken out of its long-standing neutrality. Oriana had refused to take a side last night, but in the light of morning, she might realize the mistake she’d made.
“Did Osric have children?” I asked, wondering who his successor might be.
“A few over the centuries. Mostly accidental, and he murdered all of them as soon as they expressed a hint of ambition.” At my appalled look, Kallen shrugged. “If you’d met them, you wouldn’t consider it a loss.”
“Even so. He killed his own children .” That shouldn’t shock me when he’d done so many other awful things, but it did.
“Osric was as paranoid as he was powerful. He murdered his siblings for the same reason, and he never took a consort. Not that there’s much precedent for consorts seizing power after a house head’s death, but it’s happened a few times.”
I was woefully ignorant of the majority of Fae history—yet another way I was unqualified for this position. “Then who’s left to step into his place?”
“It’s rumored a few children may have been passed off as the offspring of other court members, but at this point the likeliest candidates are only distantly related to him. Cousins of cousins, things like that. They’ll choose based on a mix of bloodline claim and magical power.”
When the Fae lived forever, family trees became unreasonably complicated. Most faeries were less than a thousand years old—they were too fond of murdering one another—but that was still a long span of time for families to establish their bloodlines.
The path curved into familiar territory. A ramp on the left spiraled up to Fire House and the sitting room outside it where most of my affair with Drustan had been conducted. My pulse accelerated as we approached. The last place I wanted to see Drustan again was one where we’d been naked together.
Thankfully, we passed the ramp, and some of the tension in my chest loosened. “Where are we meeting?” I asked.
Again Kallen slid me a look. Did he know where I’d met the Fire prince for our assignations? How often I’d met him?
Of course he did, I thought bitterly. Kallen had eyes everywhere, and that was before one considered his ability to disappear into shadows.
“Drustan has chosen a room in neutral territory,” he said. “One he swears is known by few.”
“You said he’s bringing an ally. Who?”
“A faerie from Light House.”
“Gweneira?” Roland’s brother Lothar was dead, and she was the only other member of Light House I knew Drustan had been plotting with.
Kallen paused mid-step. “Did you meet with her? I was unaware.”
“No.”
He resumed his even pace. “Then you must have seen her with Drustan at some point. Perhaps while spying for me?”
I felt the bite of satisfaction at the annoyance in his voice. Kallen didn’t like not knowing things. “Perhaps.”
“And neglected to tell me.” He clicked his tongue. “I shouldn’t be surprised. I knew you were withholding information.”
That startled me. “You knew?”
His look said that was obvious. “Kenna, you did everything you could to avoid me, and when you couldn’t avoid me, you lied to me.”
Fear prickled over my skin, even though Kallen didn’t hold any leverage over me anymore. “If you knew that, why let me get away with it?”
He was silent for too long. “You provided a few grains of truth. It was still worth it.”
That wasn’t a real answer. He’d had all the power in that situation.
In addition to blackmail material, he’d had strength, connections, wealth, magic, and a deadly reputation.
He could have made our arrangement far more worthwhile by applying even a fraction of that power—which meant he’d chosen not to.
We turned into a narrow hallway leading to a library.
A tapestry hung halfway down the corridor, and Kallen stopped before it.
He looked over his shoulder, then held his free hand up, fingers slightly curved.
The shadows thickened where the walls met the floor, then crept over the ground in a thin layer, painting the stone a darker gray. A ward of some kind?
He brushed the fabric aside, revealing a plain wooden door. “Ready?” he asked.
I wasn’t, but I nodded anyway.
Kallen knocked on the door in a syncopated pattern, then opened it. My heart pounded like the wings of a bird startled into flight. I took a deep breath, pushed my shoulders back, and walked inside to face Drustan, Hector, and the impossible choice I was expected to make.