Chapter 12
KORMAC
Heavy rain pelted the cage and me inside it. The downpour had gone from a few spots to a deluge so fast. Great.
My legs were throbbing from being stuck in the same position for so long. My back hurt, my head pounded. Everything hurt. I’d been trying to get out with no luck. If the bottom dropped out now, there’d be no chance of running while my limbs recovered.
No one had come to the garden since the prince and the elves left. So the approaching footsteps made me jump. They were heavier and louder than the rain.
I found the walker. A tall male elf packed with muscle. Two more joined him seconds later, heading across the platform. The first elf (the biggest) and one other came down the steps, the remaining fucker staying behind. He played with the mechanism which lowered me into the dead garden.
Without a word, the biggest elf opened the cage and dragged me out.
I flopped to the ground like jelly, rolling onto my back.
Even though I ached everywhere, and the rain pounded my face, it felt good to be out.
Not so good to be close to the dead orchids, completely vulnerable if they came alive again.
Every part of me exposed for a gnashing.
Shit! Was Valance here for the second feeding?
The smaller elf locked silver shackles to my feet, securing my ankles together. The big elf grabbed me under the arms and hefted me to my feet. Bad move. I sagged, unable to get my footing. I tumbled toward the ground again. He caught me before my face met the dirt.
He flung one of my arms across his shoulders, the other elf doing the same.
Still no talking, helping me out of the garden, my boots dragging across the ground.
Away from the platform, back to the stinking hole of the dungeons, back to wait and have the woman in the other cell confuse me, the other prisoner annoy the—
We didn’t go in that direction, but toward the palace.
“Where—”
“Don’t fucking speak,” Big Elf barked.
I kept quiet as the elves dragged me through alleyways, across a courtyard, then into a side door held open by a human servant.
Thunder rumbled above. A fork of lighting clawed across the sky before we entered the door. The cool air made a nice change from the Summer climes. Even inside the palace, it was cooler.
My jaw dropped as the dragging continued across the opulent carpet in grand hallways.
The palace was one mass of gold and art and gleaming beauty.
It hurt my eyes to take in so much gold on the walls, ceiling, and floors, chandeliers, the paintings, and the pink roses of the royal family.
It smelled so good, so fresh and floral.
Like jasmine and lilies. Leanna loved jasmine.
Well, I’d done it. I’d infiltrated the palace. Not quite how I’d imagined it.
Part of Ren’s trick had been about that secret ocean-side door. Obviously, we didn’t know about any secret doors. Ren wanted to confuse the prince and his elves in the forest while we slipped around them and into the city.
Gods, this really had been a disaster of a plan from the beginning. What’d Lasair been thinking? What’d I been thinking? Forever the bull charging ahead.
A bull had more brains than me.
What a miracle we’d held the north of Autumn for so long.
The elves hauled me up a staircase bigger than our village hall, up and up, everything a blur of riches, past other elves and humans and up some more.
Eventually, we came to an open door. My new elf friends lugged me past a bed, past more opulence, and dropped me at the edge of a steaming pool.
I faced the feet of a human woman. The elves unshackled me and left.
Some feeling had returned to my limbs. I managed to sit up on my knees. Not fighting it but counting down the minutes until I could make a break for it.
Hold on. Why would they unshackle me inside the palace? Were they stupid?
No. Not stupid. Up to something.
“Hello,” the human woman said.
I looked up at her in pink robes. Her hands were folded across her stomach. Short brown hair framed her rosy complexion and hazel eyes.
There were candles everywhere in this room. On shelves, in candelabras fixed to the walls and dangling from the ceiling. Plenty of soft ambience if it weren’t for the shit it came with.
“What is this?” I asked.
“His Highness wishes you to bathe.”
“What?”
“His Royal Highness, the Prince Valance Rosestar of—”
“I know who he is. No need for that.”
“Quite, sir.” She gestured toward the steaming pool of water, pink rose petals floating on its surface. “The bath is prepared with rose oils for you.”
“Why?”
“Because the prince requires you to bathe if you are to speak with him.”
“I don’t want to speak with him.”
“There is no choice, sir. The prince demands it of you.”
I snarled at her, getting to my feet. Slightly wobbly, happy to be vertical again. “The prince can suck my sweaty balls.”
Okay, not the best words.
Why were my balls tingling?
I lifted my hands. “I’m sorry I said that to you. It’s him. Please don’t take offense. You’re just doing your job.”
“I am offended on behalf of my prince.” Was that a ghost of a smile creeping to her lips?
I shrugged. “I don’t care.”
“Please, sir. Take to the bath. It is easier if you’re not difficult.”
She was right. “What’s in the water? Piranhas?”
Her forehead creased. “Why would they be in the bath?”
Because the prince is a sadistic prick. “I’m being cautious.”
“You’re filthy,” she said. “The prince is offended by your smell. He wants you clean.”
Oh, poor pampered nostrils! “Fine. What about these?” I tapped my sodden clothes.
“I’ll dispose of them.”
“No, you won’t. They’re my armor.”
“They’re no longer yours to keep,” she countered. “I will have them burned. More suitable garments will be provided.”
Rather than argue, I nodded. What choice did I have? Standing here arguing did nothing but waste time. The prince wanted to talk to me. Fine. I’d see what happened. At least I was out of the cage and beside a bath. My body desperately needed some hot water.
“Can I get some privacy?” I asked.
She nodded and turned her back while I stripped.
With my clothes off, I felt too vulnerable. I guess nakedness did that. Being naked inside a viper’s den made it a million times worse.
I covered my privates. “Now what? Get in?”
“Yes, sir.” She didn’t turn. “There are towels there.” She pointed to a pile of white towels on a stone cube. “And shaving instruments by the edge of the bath with a mirror. I will return for them.”
A shame! “He wants the beard gone?” I rubbed at my face. The time on the road had given me a thick and wild beard. It itched a lot. I grew facial hair fast. It’d soon creep back.
“He does, sir. There is also soap for you to scrub your hair.”
“It’s all here,” I responded. Even an ivory comb. “How nice.”
I noticed something red with the towels. A robe? “Is that red thing mine?”
“Yes. A dressing gown for you.”
Which would leave me just as vulnerable.
I entered the hot water. With only one foot submerged, my body responded with joy. When the rest of me followed, every part of me sang a merry tune. The rose-scented vapors curled around me, releasing a relaxing scent of roses. Heat seeped into my limbs and bones, working on the lingering aches.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d taken a bath since setting out for this place.
The woman gathered up my dirty clothes and left through the only door in the room.
I didn’t linger in the bath for long, eyes always open. I wanted to float off and rest but kept my focus alert, ready for the other shoe to drop. No being lulled into a false sense of security like a cow before it died for its meat.
I shaved off my beard as quickly as I could, leaving clumps of hair on the side and floating with the petals. I scrubbed the filth out of my hair with the soap, out of every nook and cranny, and stepped out of the pool.
Water streamed down my body. I waited for badness to come. Nothing happened. No one came rushing in. No one hid in the thick steam. Only me.
Cautiously, I grabbed a towel and roughly dried my body and hair.
The dressing gown was red and silk, softer than anything I’d ever touched in my life.
No other patterns on it. The material shimmered under the light of the bathroom candles.
When I slipped it on… Gods! The sensation!
My skin loved it, never wanted it off again.
Eleven silks. Those elves were amazing with clothes as much as poisons and leather armor.
Fuckers!
I tied the gown’s belt tightly around me and slowly padded across the stone floor toward the door. Razor in hand.
The woman appeared again. I stepped back. She held out her hands for the blade.
I handed it over. “You can’t blame me for trying,” I said.
She shook her head. “Are you finished?”
“Looks that way.” I didn’t mean to sound that rude.
She didn’t react to my tone. “When you hear a door close, you may proceed.”
“Fine.”
She left and I waited for the sound of a closing door. Once I heard it, I slowly moved forward.
My bare feet met spongy carpet as I stepped into the large bedroom with a large bed with red walls and golden carpet. The bed dwarfed all the beds I’d slept on in my life. It looked so good for the body. Covered in rich black silk sheets, waiting for a man to dive into it.
Not this man.
It was breezy in the room, wind blowing through open balcony windows. Rain still fell heavy outside, thunder and lightning still doing what it did.
Where was the prince?
He passed through the billowing gold drapes, dressed in a white dressing gown similar to mine.
Silk, too. It clung to him in the sweetly wrong places.
Showing off the planes of his toned body.
The belt wasn’t tight, the top half hanging open enough me for to catch glimpses of his flesh.
If it slipped… He was naked under there. I even saw the outline of a bulge.
Fuck! Why look? Why not charge forward now and break his neck?
I ignored the stirring in my groin. It could fuck off as much as this seelie bag of hellpiss.