CHAPTER 39
Bristol looked around the table, everyone in their finery, their mouths hanging open like gaping fish.
This was supposed to be a formal dinner, but she hadn’t had time to change.
Should she apologize? She was too shaken to sort out the small from the big things.
Her skin still crawled from the feeling of Mick’s hands all over her.
She had been certain she was going to die when he nightjumped again and she was trapped in that netherworld.
Her lungs were on the edge of collapse when she finally felt fresh air on her face and found herself back in the knife shop, able to suck in hoarse breaths again.
Mick had to hold her up until the dizziness was gone.
Changing for a formal dinner was the last thing on her mind when she finally made it back to the palace.
Tyghan was frozen in place, his eyes bright and wild. “You were with Kormick?”
“Yes, in town. He found me when I was in a little shop. One minute I was looking at a knife, and the next I was in some kind of cellar with no way out. A nightjump.” She paused, her breath shuddering.
“Mick knows that Cael escaped. He’s looking for him.
But I turned it back on him, saying I had no idea where he was and accused him of making a stupid mistake, letting Cael get away. ”
Bristol heard herself going on and on in a long rattling breath, trying to remember every word that was said—except for the parts when Mick talked about their relationship and what he wanted to do with her in the cellar bed.
“I played up my anger, and I think he bought my story. He took me back to the shop and let me go. He’s going to search the wilds for a dead body. ”
“What about—”
Cael cut in before Tyghan could finish. “Mick? Kormick has a pet name? And he came to you of all people?” His eyes narrowed as he leaned forward in his chair. “Just how do you know Mick?”
The sickening innuendo in his tone punched the air, and Bristol’s veins went molten. She thought Mick had pushed her to the edge, but Cael shoved her over it. She’d had enough.
She took a step toward him, and Cael saw the threat.
He stood to meet her. “In spite of what my brother may have said about me being helpless, I am quite capable, and I should warn you, I have full control of my powers again. I asked a simple question, that’s all, how you are on such friendly terms with a king who is trying to destroy us. ”
Tyghan waved his hand. “Cael, stay out of this and sit down.”
But Bristol stepped closer, her hands trembling. “An affair! I had an affair with him. Is that what you want to hear? One that I deeply regret, almost as much as I regret saving your ass.”
Cael’s hands went up in defense. “I meant nothing salacious by it, I promise. I was surprised, that’s all. Please, sit down. Join us. Someone pour her a drink.”
A flurry of words and activity rushed in to fill the awkwardness, but Bristol only heard it as a dull roar. She looked down at her soiled, torn dress. Tonight is formal. Dress in your best. “I need to go change.” A way out. A place to breathe.
“No, no,” Cael said. “Please—”
But Bristol was already bolting for the door, Tyghan on her heels.
“Slow down,” Tyghan said, keeping his voice calm as he trailed behind her. “It’s not a race. You’ve been through a scare. We’ll get you cleaned up, and I’ll have dinner brought to the room.”
Her paced picked up. “No. I just need to get out of these clothes, and then we’ll go back.”
“Bristol.” Tyghan grabbed her arm. “Slow down. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. A few scrapes. That’s all.” Her steps slowed, and she looked sideways at him. “I overreacted, didn’t I?”
He winced. “Maybe a little. Cael’s been away for months and is hearing all this news for the first time. Remember when you saw Kormick in the Timbercrest ballroom for the first time? How shocked you were? How you felt?”
“You’re right,” she said. “I just—” She finally stopped walking and faced him. “We kissed, Tyghan.”
His jaw clenched. “Kormick? He kissed you?”
She shook her head. “No. We kissed. I kissed him back.” She reached out, like she was dizzy, and braced herself against the wall.
“I understand now what he’s doing to my mother.
He did it to me when we were in Bowskeep, and then again, just now in that cellar.
I heard the warning in my head, my instincts were there and ready to act, but then a strange warmth flooded into me.
It drowned out my fears, my logic. He muffled every worry in my head. ”
Tyghan nodded as if he understood what Kormick had done. “He can flood your head with energies from his own body, ones that drown out your own thoughts. The effect is short-lived, but can last long enough to gain favor or information.”
“Like a drug? Is that something only a demigod can do?”
He nodded.
Her eyes drilled into him, her pupils pinpoints. “Can you do that?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never tried. It’s against the statutes of Elphame. The mind and will are sacred.”
She rubbed her temple. “I’m still foggy. Though that might be from the nightjump. I nearly suffocated. It was long, like he was trying to punish me. He took me back to the gift shop and warned me to leave like I promised, or there would be consequences.”
Tyghan’s brow furrowed. “Like you promised?”
She explained about her concocted story of wanting to get out of Elphame but needing to follow one last lead in Bogshollow—an ogre who claimed to know something about her father. “So after five days, I’ll have to lie low too.”
By the time they got to her room, her fogginess was gone, which made her stress ease.
While she washed her face, Tyghan pulled a fresh dress from her wardrobe—the aqua dress she was wearing when, in front of everyone at the palace, he had asked her to dance.
The dress that had fallen unceremoniously to the floor the first night they had made love.
“This one acceptable?” he asked.
“My favorite,” she answered. “Always will be.”
His eyes gently creased. “Mine too.”
As she dressed, he noted the shopping bag she had tossed onto her chaise. “Find any steals?”
“Steals?”
“That’s what I’m told you call shopping deals.”
She laughed. “You’ve been talking to Avery and Rose.” She turned so he could weave the laces on the back of her dress. “Yes, as matter of fact, I did—a lovely little flute for my sister Cat. I still need to find a wedding gift for Melizan and Cosette.”
“That’s all they were talking about tonight—the wedding. What do you think about it?”
“I think the timing is unexpected,” she said. “Swift might be a better word. But they’re clearly in love, so why not?”
“Right. Why not?” He pulled the laces tighter.
“Hey, easy back there.”
“Sorry.” He let the laces out a bit, and kissed her shoulder. “They were telling me about marriage traditions in the mortal world while we waited for you. There are some strange ones—throwing flowers and taking showers.”
Bristol laughed. “Giving showers,” she corrected him.
He tied off her laces and turned her to face him. “And traditions like getting down on one knee.”
There was something in his face, an earnestness that hadn’t been there seconds ago. “I’m not sure exactly how it’s done but maybe—”
“No, Tyghan. No.” She backed away, shaking her head, but he held on to her hands.
“Why not? You said it yourself. We clearly love each other.”
“Yes. We do.” She took a step closer. “I love you, Tyghan. More than I can even explain. Sometimes it almost hurts, how much I love you. But Melizan and Cosette are rushing their wedding along because they think they might die. And that is fine for them. But that’s not how I want to marry you.
I want to marry because we have a lifetime ahead of us.
Because we’re going to build something together, have adventures and babies and dreams together.
I want to marry you, Tyghan, not because we’re going to die but because we’re going to live. ”
His eyes turned dark. “Things happen that we can’t predict, Bristol. People die in battles like these.”
“Then you better not die, Your Majesty. I don’t plan to.”
He nodded, his teeth scraping over his lower lip.
“All right,” he finally said, then fell to one knee.
“Bristol Keats. I don’t want to marry you today, or tomorrow, or even next week, but when this is all over, I want you to be my wife.
And I want to be your husband. Because I want to share dreams and adventures and babies and pizza with you.
In the meantime, I’ll study up on the proper way to ask you to marry me so I get it exactly right, because I want you to know I would do anything for you. ”
His unproposal twisted her heart in two. She cupped his face between her hands. Yes, we are going to have a long life together. Some things she felt to her core. Tyghan was her destiny.
Music vibrated in the air when they returned to the dining room.
It was Rose, playing the piano in the corner.
Bristol had almost forgotten that Rose was an acclaimed concert pianist. Her fingers danced effortlessly over the keys, and a serene smile lit her face, her chin tilted to one side, as if she was soaring along with every note, a current of air elevating her to someplace far away.
The piece was “Für Elise,” at times very simple, and other times quite complicated. Just like life.
Everyone was transfixed, and Bristol and Tyghan slipped quietly into their seats. Cael angled a silent apologetic nod toward Bristol, and she offered one in return.
Bristol’s breath stilled as she watched Rose.
It was like she was seeing two sides of her at once—the soft-spoken young woman and the majestic hawk—both sides coming together in a beautiful way.
Finally, her fingers slowed, her hands rising dramatically from the keys, and she played the last few notes.
Then she bowed her head in the silence, like she was honoring the composer.
Cael was the first to rise to his feet, as they all applauded her.
Rose shyly accepted everyone’s praise and joined them at the table just as servers descended on the room with the delayed dinner.
But then Ivy hurried in. She went straight to Bristol and handed her a sealed envelope. “I’m told it’s urgent.”
Dishes stopped rattling. Chatter quieted.
Bristol tore open the message and read it.
“Well?” Tyghan said.
“It’s from the Lumessa. She’s ready to see me. Now.”