14. Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fourteen:
~Keida~
The Knight Commander had no idea who approved of Peony Bernstein’s movement.
One day she was a knight captain on the furthest reaches of the kingdom, and at the crack of dawn, she arrived with little fanfare.
While I wasn’t a hundred percent sure I believed the Knight Commander, I didn’t have the right to accuse him.
Besides, even if he did it on a whim, that wasn’t my place.
My jurisdiction started and ended at the cathedral doors.
Unless Peony committed a heinous crime, I had no power to send her packing.
Leonardo was the advisor to the queen, his word carried weight with the full force of the Order behind him.
I was merely the Lunar Cleric, and thus, was only capable of pushing so much.
Especially when I couldn’t explain myself.
Ah, yes, you see I saw a vision where she vague hinted at harming the Hierophant Rex’s daughter. No, she hasn’t actually hurt Melrose, but my vision from the goddess of winter said she could hurt her.
I did not desire to be laughed out of the Knight Commander’s domain, so I cut my losses and headed back to the cathedral.
That’s when I heard that not only had Peony Bernstein showed up unannounced, so had Cardinal Janus.
My previous mentor and a man I once considered a confidant.
Melrose’s godfather. The coincidence was just too eerie.
Besides, not a single other Cardinal reached out, either by raven or by scry, to inquire about Leonardo’s disappearance. It didn’t sit right with me.
“Janus, how is your newest protégé?” I peeked up from my plate.
Janus stayed in one of the guest suites.
They were sectioned off for weddings, ceremonies, or in the current case, visiting officials.
It was a large room with a four-poster bed, circular dining table, a desk, washing basin, and a window with a cushioned seat.
It was a little dusty around the edges, but I could spot where a few initiatives rushed inside to dust off the majority of the room.
“Oh, I haven’t picked one. After you, I do not know if I could ever train anyone else better.” He sat back in his high back chair, raising a wine glass to me.
Melrose raised her own glass to her lips, clearing her throat politely. “Oh? Was Keida that easy to train?”
“A natural at magic. Stubborn as an ox and pedantic, actually.” Janus quirked a challenging brow at me. I scowled right back at him.
“If my mentor was less inclined to flights of fancy, I may have been more manageable,” I retorted.
Sitting back in my chair to mimic Janus’ relaxed nature, I eyed him intently.
What are you hiding. In the six years I’d been a part of the Cathedral, Janus hardly left The Guard Tower.
That’s what they called my old temple, Temple Vesmuth.
A stone building so far north, it was practically a part of the mountain.
The winters were blistering, but the natural heated pools from the heart of the mountain made them worth the journey.
Especially if one is desperate. I was found on the steps of The Guard Tower by Janus when I was a child with no memory and no name other than the embellishment on my blanket.
My wings hadn’t even grown in yet when he brought me into the order.
Do not make me rue this evening, Janus. The thing that itched my mind the most was knowing Leonardo suspected something was wrong, that there were traitors in the order.
It can’t be you, if it was you, it’ll break their hearts.
I swirled my wine absentmindedly, watching him and Melrose discuss everything from the weather to yesterday’s ceremonies.
I only half listened. Keeping my ears perked for anything that might need my input, however, my attention stayed on the man across from me.
Like he were a puzzle that needed solving.
“Well, I am positively stuffed, so I will be turning in for the night. Long journey and all. Melrose, will you come see me after breakfast? I’d love to have you walk me through the gardens.”
I choked on my tongue a little as I sat up straight. “The gardens?”
“Are they not wonderful this time of year?” Janus cocked his head to the side.
“They are,” Melrose smiled sweetly, bringing both our attentions to her. “And I know how much you enjoy your botany. Plus, the palace gardens just received their blessing, so they’ll be bustling with new growth by tomorrow. I’d love for us to walk them.”
“Perfect!” Janus clapped his hands together. “I do hope you’ve brushed up on your vocabulary since the last time we took a walk.”
“We will find out won’t we?” Melrose wheezed as she climbed to her feet. “I’ll have someone come for the plates and to heat the sheets. Do not want my sensitive godfather’s toes to get frost bite.”
“You rotten little brat! That was one time!” he roared, climbing to his feet with raucous laughter. He swatted at her with his napkin that she easily evaded with a twirl.
“And you’re a whiney little princess.” She waggled her eyebrows at him playfully. Hands to her hips, she tried and failed to stifle her laughter. “Do not worry, Papa complains if his stockpile of snacks is empty. Keeps them on him still like a chipmunk in winter.”
Janus threw back his head. It even brought a little smile to my lips as he put a hand to her shoulder and squeezed.
The pair of them laughing so easily, so comfortably.
Family. A thing I never truly felt like I had.
Even my bunkmates back at The Guard Tower were held at arm’s length.
I was a part of a unit, then I was training under the Cardinal, which was one of the most isolating things in all of existence.
Other clerics were either rooting for my downfall or refusing to be in my way, which may or may not have been entirely Janus’ fault.
Then I arrived at The Cathedral.
“Good night, Janus,” Melrose bowed to Janus, backing out of the room. “May Our Lady watch over your dreams.”
“And yours, my child.”
Janus bowed only an inch with his hands pressed in prayer in front of himself.
I returned the gesture and quietly followed Melrose out into the hall.
Before she could even ask for anyone to help with the dishes, two initiates rushed out of the shadows of the hall and ducked into the room to clean up their mess.
I slipped a hand into the crook of her arm and led her away.
Candles lit up the hallway, giving them a romantic, haunted feel as we wound around the other suite into the spiral staircase.
There were only two rooms upstairs. My quarters were near the bunkroom, barely a step above the other clerics in the Cathedral.
A design choice I didn’t disagree with…except for when I intended to drag a certain satyr into bed with me.
The walls of my chambers did not have any sense of privacy.
Sometimes, when I moved about my bed, I could still hear other clerics muttering in their sleep or stumbling into the bathroom.
However, up the winding, spiral stairs into the second floor of the cathedral, it was eerily quiet.
From the second-floor balcony, I could see across the rafters and spot all the birds’ nests and old candles melted down to their base, cementing them in place.
I rounded the bend of the balcony toward the two master rooms tucked away at the top of the building and entered Melrose’s chambers.
One would imagine it was extravagant, but in fact, it was rather humble.
Her four-poster bed was massive, and the floating wisps enchanted to hover in the curtains were a bit much.
However, her clothes were contained in a large boudoir, her wash basin was closed off from the room by a sheer curtain, and her window led out to a small roof balcony.
Just enough room to lean over the railing dramatically and stare at the moon.
I imagined her out there often, hair billowing behind her, face illuminated in Our Lady’s light, dramatic and ethereal as always.
“You’ve never…been in my room before,” Melrose teased breathlessly.
“There has certainly never been an opportunity.” I twisted to face her as she locked the door behind her.
“Oh, there was every opportunity,” she retorted, bumping her hip to mine as she sauntered across the room. “You were just not willing to take it.”
I didn’t have a counter point. She got me there.
I simply followed her like a moth to a flame, to the edge of the bed.
Her soiled clothes were collected in a wicker basket.
Melrose gave me her back, tucking her long mane over a shoulder with one hand, and the other tugged playfully at the strings to her bodice.
Despite knowing for a fact she could get herself out of this without help from me. Children of the Hierophant Rex weren’t like princes and princesses. Melrose didn’t have ladies in waiting, she didn’t have handmaidens or butlers. So, while she was spoiled, she was sensibly spoiled rotten.
I stepped up behind her, relishing how she shivered while my fingers brushed down the back of her dress. Taking my time with every rivet, I circled every bunch in the fabric where she cinched herself in and followed it all to the small of her back.
“What’s changed? What’s made me worth the wrath of the Hierophant Rex, I wonder?” she murmured to herself as I tugged on the ribbon.
There was a part of me that wanted to be honest. Fully honest about how she was always worth risking Leonardo’s wrath, I was merely a fool.
But, the look she tossed over her shoulder as the tension in the dress went lax, it told me this was no time for heartfelt truths.
My lips curled cruelly up on my face as I grabbed ahold of her dress.
With a sharp tug, it gave way, falling down to the floor.
She gasped, but I cut it short with a sharp twirl.
I tangled up her hooves in the pooled fabric and forced her to face me.