Chapter 16
Sidney
Magic seared across my skin each time my body reshaped into Ilyana and then fell away to reveal my natural form. I bit down on a scream, jaw clenched so tight it ached, and waited for the magic to stop faltering like a dying candle.
Inside the ringing of my ears came a familiar voice. “Hello again, Sidney Redgrove. Why haven’t you returned to me yet?”
“Sorry, Adelaide,” I croaked.
Zane’s dark brows drew in at the words. When a heavy thud sounded on the other side of the door, he glared over his shoulder. “Why don’t you acquire some bloody patience, Mathias? We’re coming!”
“Not too proud to apologize? I knew I liked you,” the witch whispered. My abused nerve endings crawled at the sensation of her breath on the side of my face. I slowly turned my head, but there was no one behind me.
“I just got finished fighting for my life and couldn’t come to you sooner.
Am I out of time?” Though my surroundings seemed perfectly benign, her presence needled me.
Like a dozen insects skittering down my spine, each leg a pinprick of dread.
My skin erupted in goosebumps, nerves flaring beneath the surface as the wrongness settled in, sharp and deliberate.
She giggled, high and girlish. The smell of freshly turned soil filled the air, damp and rich, chased by a sweet rot that curled in my throat. A hint of decay reminded me of the woman I was dealing with. Her witch magic bridged the space between us, precise and uninvited.
“Oh, no. I felt you touch the bracelet and thought you might need a reminder. Your disguise will fade out in the first hours past daybreak.”
“Then I’ll definitely be heading your way when the sun rises. No matter what.” I fought to keep my breath steady as the scent deepened, twining around my head.
Zane’s gaze lingered on me with quiet concern. If he sensed anything wrong, he didn’t say. His eyes, still mostly brown despite the change, tracked my every move. Though in the low light of a magical element above us, they had an orange gleam.
“I’d best see you while the sun is still in the sky.
Else I’ll send Ilyana’s soul to the Dark Mother early and allow the worms their feast. See you soon.
” This time, Adelaide murmured in my other ear.
I bunched my hands into fists, biting down on my lip to keep from startling.
Fresh pain bloomed in the corner of my mouth from the sudden growth of a fang piercing my skin.
I probed the already healing wound with my tongue as I inspected my hands. Ilyana’s porcelain skin tone was back. Her elegant pianist’s hands flexed at my command.
“See you soon,” I echoed in her aristocratic voice.
The witch didn’t say goodbye. The scent of a fresh grave dissolved, and in its place came the damp must of old cloth and a hint of Zane’s cedarwood cologne.
I sagged with relief and rubbed warmth back into my arms. What I wouldn’t do for a bath right now. I itched to cleanse away the lingering sensations Adelaide’s presence left on me. I went to don my armor as quickly as possible.
Zane helped me secure the leather into place. “What just happened?”
“Tell you later.” I feared that speaking of the witch might draw her attention again.
I’d rather reveal myself and fight Mathias to the death rather than invite Terrigana’s hand of frost and rot to rest on my shoulder again.
The regent was a problem I could stab, unlike the forces Adelaide represented.
Focus and observe. I shook my head sharply. Analyze and adapt.
My worries returned to the forefront of my mind, and dread coursed through my veins. I had bigger problems. The trial, Finn…the Flask. It was entirely likely the artifact was about to render me a pile of ashes, as it should’ve done the moment it’d dubbed me “chaos bringer.”
I had only just found Zane. How bitter a fate it would be to lose him again as a result of my choices.
I grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to bend down for another kiss.
He was still the man I loved, tall and solid, with strong features and a faithful smile that now seemed faded at the edges.
Vampirism hadn’t stolen the bronze cast to his skin yet.
It was his birthright, made deeper by his love of the sun.
I ran my fingers through the tousle of his dark hair and poured months of loss and worry into the meeting of our lips. Zane’s big hands roamed lightly over my body. We ignored Mathias as he banged on the door again, savoring our last moments of privacy.
“Something to remember me by, if the Flask kills me,” I murmured.
Fiery amber flashed in his gaze. “It won’t.”
I tilted my face toward the ground so he wouldn’t see my expression. I doubted he’d spoken with the artifact and had its venom seep into his mind. And I envied that, truly. It was another entity I couldn’t eliminate with a dagger.
My eye twitched as I faced the door and my waiting judgment. How many lives had I taken in the last three days to suddenly see stabbing as a first resort? It all blurred together as exhaustion weighed on my limbs.
Zane bypassed the crates of rations, his focus locking on a small, lead-lined coffer labeled Teas. He pried it open, his fingers plucking a wax-sealed container from the velvet interior.
“What is that?” I asked.
“Something for later,” he replied.
He twisted the metal wheel to unlock the door and revealed Mathias on the other side.
The regent’s jaw tightened, then released.
By his next breath, his expression became as smooth as glass.
I didn’t even try to match him, sure that even Ilyana would let her shoulders sag with fatigue in the same circumstances.
“There you are.” His gaze swept over me, a flicker of disappointment tightening his mouth. “Come, Lady Ilyana.” He turned, striding off with clipped steps.
I glanced at Zane, who rolled his eyes. He walked with me down a smoothly cut tunnel, arms awkwardly swinging by his side. I didn’t reach for him. That I wanted to cling to him was an entirely human impulse, and I was already in enough danger without putting my disguise under any more scrutiny.
“First, you must be presentable for the council,” Mathias narrated. “I’ll afford you a few minutes to scrub the labyrinth from your skin and change into something fresher.”
“Wouldn’t want to offend the council with my odor,” I muttered.
We emerged into a familiar hallway, part of the queen’s wing of the mansion.
Mathias had chosen a path already littered with fragments of my past life.
My lip curled as we passed a life-sized portrait of Nemea, the last of a line of paintings depicting queens come and gone.
If I survived tonight and became queen, I’d burn it in the graveyard of her rose garden.
Anxiety churned what little remained in my belly, threatening to empty it out.
Finn. When had I last thought of him? Not once since Zane's lips met mine. He’d all but saved me in the labyrinth and held me when I needed him most. Some pseudo-Beloved I was, letting myself get swept up in the all-encompassing presence of Zane.
Had Mathias put him before the Flask of Dominion already?
Was I about to step in his ashes on my way to my own execution?
Strong fingers squeezed mine, jolting me from my thoughts. “Hey.” That’s all Zane had to say to bring clarity back to our surroundings. That crease of worry hadn’t left the space between his brows.
“I’m okay,” I lied quietly.
“You will be.” He smiled. It became bittersweet as he flashed pearly white fangs.
I stood a little straighter. I still needed to get a cure in his veins. The Flask couldn’t kill me now. There was so much I’d leave unfinished.
Mathias walked us straight to my quarters. He held Zane back from joining me inside with a hand on my betrothed’s arm. “Explain to me how you know—”
The door closed, cutting off the demand. I drew a cold bath and hurried through cleaning away the worst of the dirt and dried blood on my skin. To the hells with the council. I didn’t want to offend Zane’s newly enhanced senses with my odor.
I had the opportunity to change into one of Ilyana’s lavish outfits but chose leather instead. This was one more fight to win, after all.
When I emerged, Zane and Mathias had finished their conversation. A muscle jumped in the regent’s clamped jaw, while Zane flashed his usual warm smile at me before turning to murmur a quiet instruction to a nearby servant.
“Better,” Mathias commented. His gaze ran up and down my form. My belly clenched at the heat in his appraisal before he shuttered it and clenched his fists at his sides. He went back into motion, leading us straight to the great hall.
Several heads turned as we stepped inside the large room.
Its rafters were empty. Instead, the vampires stood behind the table that held the Flask of Dominion on its black velvet cushion.
I tensed at the assembled, judgmental stares of the Sanguine Council.
They were most of the bloodsuckers I hated most, with Lady Lorelei and Head Priest Bruvor at the front, flanking one of Nemea’s surviving kings. I nearly sneered at them.
Next to the table stood Finn, his arms secured behind his back. His eyes, dry and reddened from blood thirst, still lit up a fraction when they fell upon me. I swallowed a lump in my throat.
He’s okay. For now. I didn’t allow myself to feel relieved yet.
Mostly overlooked, Butters crouched on the second level’s railing. The orange tabby peered down with wide eyes, tail tucked close to his body as if he understood the danger his master was in.
“Come to join us, have you?” Lady Lorelei’s cutting comment was aimed at Zane, who parted from my side to stand with the rest of the council. He replied in an undertone. Whatever he’d said had the vampiress jolt in offense. Lord Valerius’s shoulders shook with silent laughter.