CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
The aggravating, punctilious man very nearly sprinted down the halls in his haste to lead us to Maverick’s study. And he all but threw open the heavy double doors to reveal the man himself sitting at his desk, feet propped up on its surface.
“As requested, I have brought you Eloise Fennhaven and Kodhan Dreadmourne, Your Majesty,” he announced, bowing low.
Maverick didn’t do a single thing to acknowledge his presence. Rather, he pretended his servant didn’t exist at all. Red-faced, the servant sputtered a handful of barely coherent excuses before scurrying away.
“The new Starlight Champions. I thought it was time for a proper visit.” Maverick was dressed in his usual black, but today, burgundy lined the cuffs of his vest. His onyx eyes branded me with their intensity. They flickered instantly to my lips. He blinked once. Twice.
I reined in my retort. We were not alone.
And I would not risk my luck by running my mouth while Kodhan was here. My head wouldn’t roll. Kodhan’s, on the other hand, might.
But as I looked away from him, wanting to avoid his scrutiny, my attention snagged on something leaning against the wall by the exit. And stayed stuck there.
“Ah yes. That.”
The painting. The one I’d finished posing for earlier. I recognized it by the frame—the ornate gold curves decorated with delicate diamonds—just like the castle, and the way my right iris had finally been colored correctly. Except I wasn’t the only one in it anymore.
Kodhan whistled. “Exceptional quality, I must say.”
My eyes swiveled to him in shock. Then back to the painting again, unable to stray away from it for too long.
The artist had added Kodhan into the portrait.
The portrait that Maverick explicitly requested for himself.
Stars above.
It made sense now, what Kodhan had said to Henri before he left. Why he’d draped his arm across the back of my chair. That was exactly how he’d been painted.
I bit into the inside of my cheek. Hard. Tasted blood as I wished I could disappear into the floor. Wished I could let out the laugh that would most definitely have sent my head rolling. My hand quickly lifted to cover my mouth.
“Exceptional quality that has gone to waste. It will be fed into a hearth by the end of the day.”
“I’m sure Henri would fall into an early grave if he heard his work was going to be destroyed.”
“Henri will be too busy focusing on repairing his mistake.”
“What mistake?”
Do. Not. Laugh.
Maverick’s desk groaned under the weight of his feet. “I did not ask for both Starlight Champions to be painted.”
“I did.”
This time, I coughed into my palm.
Kodhan’s attention shifted my way for all but a moment before going back to Maverick. The curl of his lips was small, a hint of a beginning into existence. It was gone when I blinked.
The crackle of barely contained, gods-given magic sent my teeth vibrating. “And why, pray, would you do that?”
“Why have only one Starlight Champion painted when there are two? No one had come to my doorstep asking to paint me. I figured Henri had simply forgotten. He seemed quite eager when I suggested the correction.”
Maverick’s voice was a low warning. “I ask. And it is done. If my Second has failed to properly nail that fact into your head while he hid you in those mountains, then I will gladly do it myself.”
“Understood.”
“Another painting will be made. Tomorrow.”
“I don’t think it will.”
Do you have a stars-damned death wish? I almost hissed at Kodhan.
He continued, “Henri is travelling. I admired his work, so I sent him to the Dreadmourne estate to paint a collection of pieces for my mother. Surely, my father has told you about her love for paint.”
Silence. The fire in the hearth guttered out, then sputtered back to life. I couldn’t tell who’d caused it.
“It’s just a painting,” I finally spit out. “Who cares? Ten others have been made already. I’m sure one of them will suffice.”
Then, Maverick exhaled. A crack formed where the sole of his shoe rested on his desk.
Finally, his glare shifted away from Kodhan.
When his eyes settled back onto me, his wrath faded into mild annoyance.
But I knew that wouldn’t be the end of it.
Far from it. “I’m sure you’re right. All this attention must be different than what you’re used to, isn’t it? ”
Different, yes. But I hated it. It wasn’t because I was now a Starlight Champion that I wanted to mingle with the people who had whispered behind my back my entire life.
He shrugged, as though my silence was an answer in itself. “You would do well to check your funds. You’ve made me a lot of money by winning, you know. Your share has already been deposited.”
“You bet money on whether or not she’d live?” Disgust curled Kodhan’s face into a sneer.
“I wasn’t under the impression that your bets were monetary,” I cut in before Kodhan’s hot temper could get the best of him. “Not that it’s uncommon.” Bets were always made during the Starlight Trials. “I just didn’t expect you to contribute.”
“I bet money on her victory,” he corrected, pointedly.
Then said to me, “And you’ll be glad I did, when you see how much you’ve earned.
” He dropped his feet and stood, casually striding around his desk towards the gargantuan hearth.
It sputtered again. “I am the only person who placed a bet in your favor.” He slid his hands into his pockets.
Over his shoulder, he added, “Except for my Second.” His eyes narrowed on Kodhan in a way that had me wishing I’d brought more than the one dagger strapped underneath my loosely fitted pants.
I’d abandoned the dress, just in case. And it looked like I’d been right to do so.
“Your own father bet on someone else’s victory. Would you not consider that insulting?”
Kodhan, to his credit, did not rise to the bait. He relaxed his own posture, clasping his arms behind his back as he forced both feet shoulder width apart. “My father’s judgement has always been well-placed.”
A careful yet loaded statement.
Maverick’s smile would have sent lesser men running. But Kodhan was not a lesser man.
He smiled back.
Maverick dragged his eyes away from Kodhan, barely reeling in that terrifying smile before setting them back on me. “Have you thought about my offer?”
I wanted to yell and yell at him until the walls were embedded with the echo of my voice. I wanted to plunge a dagger into his gut. I wanted to turn his study into nothing more than cinders.
Kodhan pivoted to look at me. “What offer?”
I couldn’t even look at him in return. Wasn’t ready to face the guilt waiting to claim me for not telling him.
“It doesn’t matter,” I replied through gritted teeth.
Entirely satisfied with himself, Maverick smirked. “Come now, Eloise. Lying does not become you.”
“What offer?” Kodhan repeated, a tinge of urgency lacing his tone. He glared at Maverick like he was seconds away from turning his insides to ash. The hearth brightened. Kodhan’s magic permeated the air, so thick with the smell of smoke I fought the urge to gag.
Maverick’s rose in kind. The painting clattered against the wall, courtesy of the tremor that shook the very foundations of the castle.
“Are we here because you’re sending us beyond the Veil?” I deflected quickly, placing myself between the two of them.
“Straight to business, then?” Maverick shook his head in a mockery of disappointment.
Stepped away from the hearth to approach me instead.
“I’d hoped you would at least have a drink, considering you barely touched yours the last time we met.
” He reached to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, hand lingering to brush the length of my jaw.
His thumb stroked across my lower lip. My swollen lower lip.
“Though I suppose we were far too busy to drink, weren’t we? ”
Heat blazed at my back. I feared my clothes would singe right off my body.
Swallowing hard, I shrugged away from his touch. “That’s enough. I’ve already spent the last few days trapped in your games. And this one, I care especially little for. Either send us to the temple or dismiss us both.”
Coward, the shadows hissed, deep within the hearth. Face the fire-wielder. Tell him that nothing happened.
But I couldn’t. Because that wasn’t entirely true.
Maverick and I hadn’t done anything physical. But my heart spoke of something different.
The muddled, bleeding thing.
Maverick only reveled in the expression Kodhan wore behind me. “You cannot run from the truth, Eloise.”
“I am simply doing what you asked of me.”
That, he could not argue with. He frowned. “Fine.”
The crackling energy in the room intensified as Maverick stepped back and lifted a hand.
Kodhan immediately moved, pulling me behind him this time. Flames were already licking up his hands.
Maverick barely noted it. He curled his fingers, then swung his arm out in a precise arc.
Cleaved into the very fabric of the world, ripping a tear in the space between his desk and the hearth.
It widened into an arch of writing black mist, almost as tall as the ceiling. Pure darkness beckoned beyond.
“Once you step through, you would do well to head east. That is where the temple rests. I will not waste my breath explaining what horrors you will encounter if you decide to trek elsewhere. East is your only safe passage.” He stepped away from the ominous mist and held up both palms. Twin silver bells appeared, their handles no longer than my pinky finger, engraved with undecipherable markings.
“Ring these when you’re ready to return.
It will let me know when to summon what is required to allow you back inside the Veil. ”
Stepping around Kodhan, I hesitantly plucked both bells out of Maverick’s hands.
So that was how the other Starlight Champions travelled beyond the Veil.
I’d never known the specifics. I’d never known his magic could allow him to do that.
But then again, it was like the orb we’d chased during Strength, wasn’t it?
“What is it?”
“Let’s call it a gate.”
There truly were no limits to his magic, I thought. This was proof of it.
Carefully, and ever so slowly, I slid the second bell into Kodhan’s pocket, nearly hissing at the heat he emanated. “And if I don’t ring the bell?” Instantly, I felt Kodhan’s attention on the crown of my head.
“Then you will die.”
I expected as much. Nodding, I pocketed my own bell.
“You are to cross first, Eloise.” Maverick gestured to the gate.
“Absolutely not,” Kodhan growled.
“This is not up for consideration.” Maverick’s mask of composure slipped, giving way to cold wrath and agitation. “You will wait here until she has both feet on the other side,” he snarled. “Then you will follow.”
“It’s alright.” Finally, I lifted my gaze to Kodhan’s. “I’ll wait for you.” My shoulders rolled back as I steeled my spine. “You will ensure your gate drops Kodhan in the same place as it drops me. No tricks, Maverick.”
Maverick paused. The smile that emerged upon his face reminded me so much of the one he wore on the balcony that my next breath stuttered. “Clever girl.”
“No tricks. Swear it.”
“I swear on my life. I will ensure the gate drops you both in the same area.”
“Exactly the same place,” I rectified, pointing an expectant finger at him.
“The gate will drop you both in the exact same place,” he offered, reaching as if to grab hold of my hand, but I lowered it before he could.
Kodhan placed his own hand on the small of my back. “I’ll be right behind you,” he said tersely. A coil of heat-less fire wound up and around my arm, only to disappear over my shoulder.
Don’t hesitate, Gideon’s voice floated around my head.
Maverick could choose to close his gate at any moment. And I was running on borrowed time.
I nodded to him. And without another word, I stepped through the gate.