Chapter 27 – Neve
Chapter 27
NEVE
I sprawled across the bed Vale and I had disheveled. The bed that still smelled of him and me and acts of passion that made my heart race.
The book I’d been pretending to read fell from my hands. Try as I might, the story didn’t hold my interest, not when a spicier one that I’d love to reenact with Vale had been playing in my mind. Wishing to feel closer to him, I reclined and scooted over to his pillow. I breathed in the sandalwood and snow scent and my toes curled.
Fates, I was in so much trouble.
I’d known there was a risk when I’d seduced Vale, known I already liked him too much for our tryst to be considered ‘just fun.’ What I couldn’t have predicted was how utterly perfect we’d be together.
How good he’d made me feel. How I’d brought him pleasure too and loved every second of it. How much I’d miss him the moment he left.
I set the book on the bedside table and looked around Vale’s suite. My room too, for as long as I stayed in the Winter Court.
How long would that be? Probably a shorter amount of time than I wished . . .
Before, the question had seemed absurd, but with Prince Gervais dead, only Lord Aldéric, my old master, would recognize me for the blood slave I had been. To my knowledge, Lord Aldéric had never been to Winter’s Realm. It was possible, though not probable, that my past might never come to light.
Of course, there were still the vampire assassins. Whether the Blood Court believed me to be a normal fae turned princess, or they learned my true past, they would still send someone to avenge their fallen prince.
The truth was that if I had a real choice, if my decisions didn’t put myself and those I cared for in danger, I’d choose to stay here. To be with Vale. To search the land of my blood, the place that felt so right, even if I’d barely seen any of it. And maybe, if I was lucky, meet my long-lost family.
A sigh left my lips as I sat up and searched the room again, desperate for something else to consume my mind. Something that wouldn’t root out so many emotions—some of them conflicting.
If only Vale was here to distract me.
I chewed on my bottom lip, my gaze going to the door as if to will him through it. When he didn’t appear, I decided I’d ask the Clawsguard on duty if he’d heard anything.
I walked to the door and opened it to find a guard I didn’t recognize. The dark circles under his eyes spoke of exhaustion. He’d probably been one of the guards at the theater, or maybe searching the city all night for rebels.
“Have you heard from Prince Vale?” I asked, hopeful.
“Nothing yet, Princess Neve,” the guard replied, his face softening. “I’m sure he’s fine and will be back soon, though. Do you require anything?”
“No, nothing. Thank you.” I closed the door and began to make my way back into the bedchamber when I passed the place where the invisible door to the hidden part of the castle was.
I paused, turned to the wall, and feeling ridiculous but willing to try anything to keep my mind occupied, I spoke to the wall. “I have time to kill and no one else is here. Perhaps you’ll let me in today?”
The wall remained a boring wall. No glowing. No handle appearing from nowhere. Nothing.
Suddenly, annoyance rose inside me, and I glared at the wall. “You know, it would be great if I didn’t have to fear for my life to enter. I might need a distraction, so how about you open up and . . .” I trailed off as a memory from Luccan’s house bubbled to the surface.
Luccan made gateways, portals that worked within this realm but didn’t connect us to others like the human world. What was this hidden door, if not a very short gateway? I held up my palm.
Did it need a blood offering? Would it recognize my blood as someone it had let through before? A safe person, I supposed.
I had nothing but time and a burning curiosity to learn if I was on to something. I darted into Vale’s personal armory and plucked a dagger from the wall. The blade sliced shallowly across my shoulder, making me cringe before I returned to the wall.
Barely daring to breathe, I pressed my palm into my shoulder, wetting it before swiping that blood against the wall.
It glowed, and my heart raced with anticipation. It had worked!
Elated, I waited for the door to materialize before letting myself into the hidden part of the palace for the third time.
Like always, this area was quiet, as if it mourned a past it clung to. I shut the door behind me and drew a line of blood on the paint. Though I suspected that someone, at some point, came back here and cleaned, it was unlikely they’d stumble upon my marking while I explored.
I had no destination in mind, no goal. And yet, I found myself going the same way as last time: to Queen Revna’s rooms.
Perhaps I’d read more of her diary. Even gazing upon her jewels again would be fun. I had yet to learn if the brooch was, in fact, a phoenix opal.
I should ask Vale to take me to the library tomorrow. He wouldn’t min—what in the stars!
At the intersection in the distance, where I would have gone left, a short, hunched figure crossed in front of me. She didn’t notice me, preoccupied as she was with carrying, and likely trying not to drop, a heaping plate of food.
A human .
She had to be. Although I was far away and she wore her long gray hair down, covering what I suspected were rounded ears, she didn’t walk like a fae of any race. She lacked the grace the fae exuded. Not to mention her clothing was of poor quality, which fit what a human in the castle would wear. Here, they were slaves, like in the Blood Court.
Was that the person who had been cleaning back here? And what was she doing with the food?
I cocked my head, trying to puzzle out the curiosity. Did I dare follow her? The question persisted for only a moment before my feet decided for me.
I trailed at a distance, careful to keep her in my sight but not alert her to my presence. In truth, it was all too easy. Compared to fae, humans had weak senses.
Plus, this one was old. Her hearing had probably worsened with age, something that didn’t happen to my kind unless they were ancient.
The woman walked with purpose, down one corridor, then another, and another. I tiptoed after her, dipping into alcoves now and then just to be safe. My precautions proved unnecessary. She didn’t look back once, hinting that she felt sheltered here.
I cringed. This might be the only place she felt that way. Was I about to shatter that belief? What would she say if I revealed myself?
She couldn’t be loyal to the king or House Aaberg, otherwise the castle wouldn’t let her back here. For that reason alone, I didn’t think she’d turn me in.
The woman stopped. I ducked into hiding again, behind a large vase that held nothing but had once probably been filled with giant flowers. Or something else beautiful and showy.
A creaking met my ears. She’d opened a door. I peered around the vase in time to see the human disappear through a door, not even bothering to shut it behind her.
I exhaled and followed. When I reached the doorway she’d passed through, I frowned. It led to a downward staircase.
Beyond the first ten or so steps, only darkness stared back at me. How did the old woman see in there?
Perhaps she didn’t need to. If she’d taken the steps many times, she might do it by feel.
Stars, what is she up to?
There was only one way to find out. I descended the steps slowly and carefully. After only a few, I learned that they twisted, and trying to remain unseen and unheard, I eased to the far wall and ran my hand along it to help me navigate. As it was pitch-black in the stairwell, I had no idea how far it descended. And though I couldn’t see the woman, I was certain I was still following her. No air flowed in and out of the stairwell, and the scent of roasted meat and bread lingered in the air.
I followed my nose, halting only when I heard another creak. Air rushed up at me, and my nose wrinkled. Not too far ahead, the human was leaving the stairwell. Wherever she was going smelled musty. Moldy. Gross.
Did the slave quarters smell like that? No slave would live in filth. Not if they could help it.
Taking a few more turns around the staircase, I stepped down lightly, my gaze catching on another door. This one, too, she’d left open, though only a hairsbreadth.
The one at the top of the stairs had been wide open. Here, she’d been more careful. As though someone else might see it but also kept it available to her if she needed to flee?
Hand trembling, I reached out and eased the door open.
The dank stench hit me, and I gagged. Burning moon, it was far worse than I’d anticipated. Like feces and piss and rot. It took a moment to gather myself and scan the area.
Cells lined the wall on my right side, stone on the other. Rocks littered the hallway, and when I peered up, holes in the stone ceiling stared back at me.
The human turned, rounded a corner, and disappeared from sight. However, only seconds later, a faint light flared. She’d lit a candle or a torch.
Whispers, or perhaps they were talking at a normal level, but they were so far away they sounded like whispers, met my ears. She’d stopped to speak with someone.
From the looks of it, I stood in the castle dungeons. The cells faced me, cold and empty. Overall, this area seemed to be unstable and falling apart. Why would they keep anyone down here?
I tiptoed forward, straining my ears with each step.
When I reached where another hallway intersected the one I stood in, I stopped. The talking had ceased, but I picked up on sounds of chewing loud and clear. The human couldn’t be far away and now she was feeding someone. Dying to know who it was, I eased forward to peek around the corner.
The human didn’t notice me as she passed a roll through the bars, then a leg of chicken. As the cell she faced was on the same side of the hallway as me, I couldn’t see into it. However, the imprisoned sounded male. Could he be another slave?
That didn’t sound right. In the Vampire Kingdom, if a slave misbehaved enough, they’d either be sold or killed.
Was a rebel in the cell?
That struck me as odd too. In the White Bear’s Pit, I’d witnessed King Magnus sentencing other rebels to death after their crimes. And even if Vale and his soldiers had captured any rebels since last night, why would this slave be feeding them? They’d only have been imprisoned for hours.
Unable to help myself and counting on the human’s inability to see well or far in the dark, I leaned forward, hoping to glimpse the person in the cell, but then my foot caught on a crack, and I fell forward, catching myself with my hands.
A gasp rang out, and I looked up in time to watch the slave stand and sprint in the opposite direction. I pushed up and ran after her. When I reached the cell she’d crouched in front of, I leapt over the abandoned plate of food.
“Wait!” I called out before remembering I might not be in the hidden palace anymore and a jailer could be down here. I promptly shut up and used my breath to sprint after the human .
Thanks to her stifled gait, she didn’t make it to the end of the hall before I caught up and grabbed her.
“Stop. Please,” I hissed. “I don’t want to hurt you. Or tell on you.”
She fought, but I yanked her to face me, and for the first time since I’d been following her, I got a good look at her face.
My lips parted. I recognized the human. She’d been in the kitchens the night of the Courting Festival’s opening ball.
The slave stilled. Her eyes went wide, and her hand trembled as she reached up and touched my scar.
“You,” she whispered. “ You’re alive. You’ve come back and you’ve hidden so well. I’ve been too scared to make contact, but . . .” She didn’t finish but flung herself at me, wrapping her arms around me.
I stood there, dumbfounded, as the slave held me in her trembling arms. This human knew me. Or, at least, she thought she did.
“I’m sorry.” I pulled away to take in her watery gaze, her trembling chin. “I didn’t mean to scare you, harm you, or anything of the sort, but I have to know . . . who do you think I am?”