Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
ASTER
I toyed with the thin mask between my thumb and forefinger. Drawing it beneath my nose, I inhaled and let my eyes flutter shut. It smelled vaguely of lavender and the fresh spring water from Verdantis’ heartlands.
Behind the darkness of my eyes, I recalled the caramel glower that burned through me. It brought the subtlest smile to my lips, warmth bubbling in my chest at the sight of her fury. I rarely toyed with my prey—specifically that of a doe trapped in the claws of my torment—but she made it too easy.
When the thumping of papers drew me from the reverie, I opened my eyes to catch sight of my younger sister, Erynna. She gave me a sickly-sweet smile before opening her palm, wagging her fingers playfully. I inhaled once more, lowered the mask into her hands, and accepted the papers.
“Brother, have I told you how positively brilliant you look doing nothing ? Truly, you’re stepping into your role as king with the ease Father could only hope for.”
“There is no such vacancy yet,” I muttered and flipped the page. My sister was a princess by birth, but by trade she was a spy. One of the best in all of Verdantis, if I was being forthright. It was a skill she had to learn if she stood a chance at our father’s old ways. She was not heir, and even if I died, she never would be. He made sure of it.
So, to stay in the know, she had to find other means of collecting information. I valued her for it as a child—but now, as grown adults, her knowledge was a matter of life and death. We’d caught many rats beneath our boots, some within our castle walls.
Today, however, we were hunting down a gem. “She wouldn’t tell me her name,” I whispered, sticking my finger on the page so I wouldn’t lose my spot as I flicked my focus to the mask. “That is all I have to go off of—oh, and that she managed to find her way into the banquet.”
I just hoped her true name had more allure than Lady Tillington.
Erynna folded it politely into a square. “My dogs will get right on it,” she sang, a certain ringing joy lingering behind her tone. I furrowed a brow and returned to the list. “That list you’ll have the pleasure of sifting through—” she tapped a finger on the edge of my desk, near the stack of parchment, “—outlines all of the lords of title in Avendatis who have enough known wealth to purchase such an artifact from the late Lord DeBurne.”
I hummed. “And for the unknown wealth?”
“Those names can’t be put on paper, Aster. But trust. I have my means of getting that information.”
I sighed and grappled my fingers through my hair, letting my head weigh into the butt of my palm. “And tell me, sister, what do you possibly expect me to do with such an extensive list? Sniff out the names and see which ones smell the most guilty?”
Erynna breathed out a laugh as she paced a trail into the hardwood floors of my study. The fireplace crackled behind her, casting a soft, amber glow against her raven curls. Erynna would make a prize of a queen consort—cunning, smart, and powerful—but she was not one for tradition. I wouldn’t be surprised if she up and left to travel the four corners of Aerilunis to escape the peril of court.
I had no such luxury.
“You’ll do exactly what you need to do, with that corpse rotting away in the cellar,” she said. My brows arched, and I drew my gaze back up to her. Erynna paused and glanced at me, the sickest little smirk curling onto her red lips. “It’s rude to not pay respects to a mourning family, is it not?”
“It would be,” I said with a curt nod. I peered back at the papers, eyes scanning over what little information I had. “Get whatever information you have on the girl. When I have leverage, I’ll call on her again.”
“Like a true gentleman, brother!” Erynna cheered before collapsing into the fainting couch, drawing her forearm over her eyes as if she’d fainted from excitement. “I must be honest, Aster. I thought you’d die a rake and nothing more.”
I choked on a laugh and set down the paper, tapping my fingers against the wooden tabletop to grab her attention again. “I have another favor to ask of you, Erynna.”
Her act faded, and as her face fell to the side to regard me, her midnight strands tumbled across the edge of her loveseat. Her body was not tarnished like mine—there were no shadows dancing across her pale skin—but there was often this aura that surrounded her. Infinite intrigue that personified our magic. That gave it a face, a voice, a name. Erynna faced a much sweeter fate than me, even if she was stripped of most power because of her gender. “If it weren’t for your favors, I would be all but useless in this fortress.”
“I need two, technically.”
A grin warped her brutal face. The shadows fell against her smooth features, igniting the depths of a scar that crossed her brow. Erynna was lethal—but so was I. We understood the darkness in ways that prevented us from parting. Mine was in blood. Hers was in heart.
“Once you find out her name, I need you to find out why she tailed me into the Afterdark for Lord DeBurne’s execution.”
She sat up, her smile turning into a pout. “Why she tailed you?” she asked. “You’re not so concerned about how she got the information in the first place?”
“Something tells me that once we have our why, the how will fall right into place.” Then it was my turn to sneer. “My second ask is for you to dispose of that body.”
With a scowl, she shook her head. “I’m no gravedigger.”
“Good thing for you I do not have plans to dig any graves.”
Her face lightened. “Hiding it in plain sight, I see?”
“Indeed.”