Chapter 10
A Good Rule Maker Knows When and How to Be a Good Rule Breaker
Since jolting awake in my sunken sarcophagus, the world had disturbed or confounded me practically at every turn.
I’d had no better choice than to battle choppy winds and hope my wings remained intact—and if not intact, then at least serviceable—when I emerged on the other side.
Nearly a month later, my options hadn’t improved.
It was possible they’d grown worse.
My family’s most despised foe, and the target of my vendetta, wanted me to somehow lure a castle, which even Rafaela the Ruthless, who feared nothing and no one, was wary of …
into communing with me? Sure, why the scorch not?
Did it matter that I hadn’t the faintest idea how any of us were going to communicate with a structure made of stone and shadow?
Nope. At least our mission, however foolhardy, would keep me from my frigid dungeon prison, and also from succumbing—no longer to bloodlust, but to just plain lust—with the very last man in all the Opalese I should be allowing anywhere near my insides.
“So? How are we going to do this?” Aziza asked Baz and—inexplicably—me, once Lev and Moncho left to feed Terencia.
The shadows and drifting olandule smoke in the parlor pressed in on us so that the room shrank. Baz stood so close to me that the heat of his body tantalized mine. I wanted to lean into him for some of that warmth, but all remaining eyes were on us, tracking our every move.
Baz looked down at me. “Velle, you have any ideas?”
“Velle?” Aziza said. “You have a nickname for her?”
He shrugged his massive shoulders, causing the Rillis rope to shake. “We all have ’em, and her name’s long.”
“We all have nicknames for each other because we’re friends. She’s not our friend. She’s our enemy.”
“Pretty sure we covered that already. Not that I’ve forgotten for a moment.”
At least one of us was able to keep the boundaries of our relationship clear. Granted, he hadn’t been consumed by bloodlust.
No, I couldn’t help but think, not bloodlust. But he hadn’t been in control of his actions any more than I had. It was my face, my body. Men saw me and wanted to have sex with me. They couldn’t help themselves. It was an unnatural reaction.
It wasn’t him. It was me. It was always me.
I met the ocean in his eyes. It was intent, the kind of calm that betrayed a storm churning on the horizon.
“How am I supposed to know what to do? I’m the prisoner here.”
“We avoid the castle’s shadows or they hurt us. You were rubbing all up in her shadows, and with your bare skin too, and she didn’t so much as pinch you.”
“The castle pinches you?”
Aziza chortled darkly. “That’d be like a caress. Mauldrene just gobbled up a parvnit, all but her leg.”
I didn’t allow myself to enjoy the pain of others.
It had been a rule of mine since I was a child fighting in the pits.
It was the only way to keep myself from becoming a monster, doing what I had to do to survive.
Later, after I died and really did become a monster, the rule stuck.
It would at least keep my monster from overpowering me, though I’d never be free of it.
The parvnit had pled her case for my immediate execution. When that had failed, she’d hounded me, tailing me on this trip to Ombrash Island, all to get another try at ending me via official sanction.
A good rule-maker knew when and how to be a good rule-breaker. I allowed myself to savor the satisfaction of Cosette getting her execution before she managed to secure mine.
Thanks for the assist, Justice.
“How do they hurt you?” I asked. “The shadows, do they solidify … or what?”
“Don’t tell her,” Aziza said.
Baz frowned. “You’re either alright with her helping us or you’re not. We can’t keep going back and forth. We have to hurry.”
“Then I’m not okay with her scoping out the castle to ‘help us.’ Who knows what kind of weapon she could get her hands on? If the castle likes her, uh-unh. I don’t trust it. Lock her back up. I’m good with that.”
“Me too,” Night said.
With Lev and Moncho gone, Night and Félix had moved from in front of the doorway to stand across from me. Edwidge stood solid as a tree not an arm’s length from my right, and Aziza was creeping closer across the couch when she thought I wasn’t looking.
Baz lifted his arm, jostling mine. “Rillis rope, remember? There’s no locking her up anymore. I’m stuck with her.”
I bristled. “It’s not like I wanna be stuck with you either, asshole. Feel free to release me. I’ll be happy to get out of your way as quickly as possible.”
I would regroup, make a plan—a much better plan, this time—and come at him again.
“You tried to kill him,” Edwidge said. “That kind of offense has to have consequences. Dire consequences.”
“Let’s focus on what’s in front of us right now,” Baz said.
“She’s in front of us right now,” Edwidge said.
“And unpunished,” Night said.
Baz tsked. “I don’t want either of the guys with Terencia any longer than necessary. Do you?”
That got Aziza to rise and begin pacing behind the couch. “Fine. Let’s do this.” She scrunched her mouth in distaste. “Velle.” She flicked the V off her tongue like an insult.
I smiled at her and batted my lashes. “I hate you too, you know.”
“Great. That’ll make it all the funner when I get to slice off that ugly head of yours.”
I didn’t so much as flinch. “There’s no way you’re my match. You come after me, I’m gonna kill you first. So it’s your choice. You wanna die?”
Baz growled. “Mauldrene could be chewing on the emperor right this very second. He’s my sire.” Which meant he owed him a lifetime of allegiance, including rescuing him from a hangry castle.
He faced me. “Mauldrene is what we call the castle. It’s the first”—he cleared his throat—“suitable name I came up with. Her shadows don’t solidify, at least not as far as any of us has ever seen.”
He glanced at his friends. They shook their heads.
“So no solidifying. They’re like regular shadows, but they can slice and dice like metal. All that blood you probably smelled on me when I landed in the dungeon? That was all fresh from her.”
“What else can she do?”
Aziza exhaled loudly.
I grunted louder. “You want me to be part of this quaint save the emperor team and try to help or not? ’Cause you do all remember the emperor was behind the conquest of my home, murdering, raping, and pillaging as he went, right?
You should be trying to convince me to help, not the other way around. ”
“There was no raping,” Baz said almost at the same time as Night said, “No team.”
“I’ve read the stories.”
“Then they’re wrong,” Baz said.
“In war, there’s always rape. It’s a power play.”
“Not to me it isn’t.”
I harrumphed and addressed Night. “I don’t want to be part of any team. Not yours, not anyone’s.”
My chest squeezed at the blatant lie. It had been just Teo and me for a very long time. We’d been a team, the only one that had ever mattered.
Aziza, Edwidge, and Night were angry. Félix was … curious. And Baz … Baz just looked … fucking good. No, fucking fantastic. Ferocious and furious and intent on getting shit done.
His eyes on mine heated. The ocean sloshed, tempestuous, like its storm would pin me to a bed, lash me, and make me beg for mercy.
“Tell me everything you know about the castle,” I rasped. Really with the breathlessness, Sora? What the ever-loving fuck?
With Teo gone forever, I was a team of one. Whatever I learned might provide a future advantage.
When even Baz hesitated, I added, “I’m the rebirthed daughter of Rafaela Eudova, Mother Queen Consort of Zaraga.”
“Rafaela Eudova is the drakess of the Zaraga Territory of the Domdurron Empire, actually,” Edwidge said.
Baz didn’t say a word.
I kept my eyes on him. “Rafaela, as I’m sure you know, was a princess of the Tulon Dynasty. She was born right here in this castle, when it was called the Abysmal Fortress.”
Baz had known. But from the ah-hah that flickered across his face, I suspected he hadn’t considered how much of an advantage my familial relationship might be.
“The castle—Mauldrene, then—is either alive or she isn’t. She can’t be both. If she’s alive, then you’re all fucked, ’cause she probably hates you all personally and is going to eat you. I’ll be fine, though, so good news there.”
Maybe not. Baz believed the castle liked me, but I hadn’t seen any particular proof of her affection for me—or, more likely, her tolerance.
“Bitch,” Aziza snarled.
Cold as the castle, I smiled at her. “Likewise.”
“Go on,” Baz said.
“If the castle, Mauldrene, isn’t alive—which she probably isn’t, since I’ve never heard of any other castles that are alive—have any of you?”
“No,” Baz said. The others, save Félix, shook their heads.
“If she’s not alive and she’s lashing out and eating people and, what else? I really do need to know. If she’s acting out, and she isn’t alive, she must be—”
“Bespelled,” Night said.
“Cursed,” Aziza said.
“Whatever its cause, it’s gotta be sorcery. Dark faithum. It must be. I can think of no other explanation.”
“Nor can I,” said Félix.
Night looked to the elf. “Shit. Hate the stuff.”
I grunted. “I hate it too.”
“You do?” Baz said.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Well, I…” He grunted deep in his throat, went to glance away, then appeared to make himself stare into my eyes until all I could see was him. “I assumed you were a dark sorceress.”
My stomach squeezed but all I could think to say was, Thanks for nothing, motherfucker, and I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d cut me.
I would never, ever, fucking ever resort to dark sorcery. Not for any reason. Not for any person. I owed it to my little sister, Isolina’s, memory.
My blood pulsed against the collar at my neck, my power wanting out. “What makes you think I’m a”—I swallowed a gulp of sour bitterness—“dark sorceress?”
“Your effect, of course.” Baz looked from me to his friends and back. Like whatever dark spell I supposedly cast over him was that fucking obvious. “On me.” His brows rose in a bit of a, Duh.
My fingers twitched with the need to smack him. I smiled as darkly as the parlor’s shadows—oooh, did those shadows just grow thicker and longer when I smiled? Maybe it was my imagination … or maybe Baz was right. Perhaps there was some sort of connection between Mauldrene and me…
My smile turned as frigid as my voice: “If you can’t resist me, that’s on you, not me.
You’re a general, for fuck’s sake, one strong enough to command armies—practically a whole, entire fucking world!
If you can do that, you certainly should be able to control your own impulses without blaming your failures on me.
I am not a sorceress, or a witch either, before you ask—oh wait, no, it’s more like before you accuse me. ”
“You did try to assassinate him,” Aziza said. “You remember that, right, or did the bloodlust scramble your brains?”
I spun so quickly that my collar rattled and Aziza flinched. While she tried to pretend she hadn’t, I hissed.
She hissed back and reached for her mordaris.
Baz stepped between us. “If it’s not sorcery, then what is it?”
“Wait,” Aziza said. “You believe her? Just like that?”
Baz didn’t look back at her, holding my eyes instead. “For now.”
“Wow. Thanks. So encouraging,” I said.
“Perspective,” Aziza called from behind his back. “The perspective is all messed up here. She’s an assassin.”
We ignored her.
“It’s…” I huffed. “I don’t know. It’s just how I am. I was rebirthed this way.”
“What way?” Aziza said. “Bitchy?”
I shook my head to rattle my collar.
She hissed again.
“I’m definitely not a sorceress,” I told Baz. “But if Mauldrene’s been spelled, then she was probably enchanted to support the Tulon bloodline to some degree, right?”
Slowly, he nodded.
“It would make sense. As far as I know, she was built by the Tulons. And I’m part of that line.
Rafaela is my sire. If any of us have a chance of affecting Mauldrene’s spell, it’s me.
But…” I held up my unbound hand. “If I find a way to get through to her, and we retrieve the emperor, the price is my freedom.”
“No,” Aziza, Edwidge, Night, and Félix said at the same time.
“If you get him back unharmed,” Baz said, “then, yes, I agree to your terms. I’ll grant your freedom.”
Aziza gasped. “Baz!”
“You can’t,” Edwidge said.
“Not right,” Night said. “She needs to pay.”
Félix’s eyes narrowed by a slight fraction.
Baz nodded at me. “You get him back safely, and you don’t harm him yourself after”—Shit, it’s like he’s inside my head—“then I’ll guarantee your freedom. At least, until you do something else to get yourself locked up.”
Was that … a smile playing at his lips?
Before he could change his mind, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. The rope hung loosely, but all it would take was a quick tug and I could have it wrapped snugly around his neck.
His friends lunged for me. He stopped them with an upturned hand.
I didn’t look at them, only him. “Allow my goblin Marina to accompany me, safe and unharmed, and we have a deal.”
“Deal.”
I kissed him on the mouth. He was parting his lips for our tongues when I pulled back.
“The deal’s sealed. Now, tell me every single thing any of you know about Mauldrene—and fast. She might be listening.”