Chapter 33
Sage
With a groan, I opened my eyes, rolled onto my back, and stared up at the ceiling in my suite in the Divine Residence.
Back again.
Because going to sleep and staying asleep would be too easy.
I could only pray Talon or whoever had arranged the one-on-one audiences with the High Priestess’s prospective suitors and I wasn’t going to be stuck, surrounded by all those men again.
A shiver of fear and disgust rolled through me at the memory of being touched and crowded and Crane staring at me from across the garden.
I squeezed my eyes shut and fought to control my breathing before the panic I’d managed to ignore all day overwhelmed me.
I could do this.
I had no choice but to do this. I certainly couldn’t risk the High Priestess’s ire.
Father, one day my thoughts would be different. One day I’d be in a situation I wanted to be in, and I wouldn’t be afraid and forcing myself to get through just one more day, one more hour, one more minute.
But shadows, the suitor audiences were bad enough. I didn’t want to attend Her Brilliance’s ball, didn’t want to be vulnerable like that. I could say something wrong, screw up etiquette… be taken by Crane again.
Someone cleared their throat and a shadow fell over me.
I opened my eyes and stared up into West’s glowering face.
“The individual audiences you’ve requested have been arranged,” Sir West rumbled. “Your first suitor is Cobalt. Whenever you’re ready.”
I bit back a huff. Whenever I was ready, hunh? And if I’m never ready?
The enormous knight’s sapphire eyes narrowed as if he could read my mind. Was that his magic? Was mind reading even a magical ability a fae could have?
If it was, then he already knew everything: that I wasn’t really fae, that I shouldn’t be in the Garden, that I had no idea what I was doing.
Surely he’d have informed the High Priestess about me by now.
Lord Rider, Talon, and Lord Quill might have convinced him to keep my sleeping mating marks a secret, but I doubt he’d keep the fact that I was human to himself.
No, he couldn’t possibly read my mind, but I couldn’t discount the possibility that someone else could, not until I talked with Zinnia and confirmed whether it was a likelihood or not.
“My lady,” Sir West said, reaching out as if I were waiting for his assistance to sit up and stand and not just lying on the floor trying to pull my shit together.
“Of course.” I took his offered hand and rose, my gaze jumping to the couch to see who was on chaperone duty tonight. If the guys were sticking to their schedule, it should have been Talon, but he’d switched with Lord Rider last night so…
The couch was empty, and I swept my gaze around the room until it landed on Lord Rider standing at the open balcony doors looking out onto the gardens below.
The softly glowing light from the flowering vines framed his bulky form. He wasn’t as big as Sir West, but he was bigger than Talon, Lord Quill, and Ash, and he looked exactly as he always did, whether he was in the Garden or the Gray.
He wore his black leather armor and his shoulder-length black hair half pulled back in a topknot. The only thing different between the Garden and the Gray was that here he wasn’t wearing his sword and carried only half of his usual arsenal of daggers.
He turned to face me, the light and shadow from the vines playing over his ruggedly handsome features. Father, why did fae men have to be so breathtakingly beautiful?
Heat rushed across my cheeks and down my neck. If he and Talon hadn’t switched last night, I would have been forced to have sex with him.
And now I couldn’t stop wondering what sex with Lord Rider would have been like. Would it have been strangely impersonal like it had been with Talon, like he was performing a necessary service? Or would he have released all that feral energy?
And why did my body ache in all the right places at that thought?
Jeez. What was wrong with me? I’d taken care of my desire last night, and I’d been fine all day. I hadn’t even experienced a flicker of need when I met Talon’s gaze across the practice yard that afternoon.
I. Was. Fine.
Really.
“West tells me he asked the High Priestess to give you the Lesser Rose Room for your audiences,” Lord Rider said. “It’s a good choice. Only a few windows and a single entrance.”
Right. The audiences with the prospective suitors I didn’t want and couldn’t outright avoid.
I dragged my attention away from him and forced myself into the bedroom, struggling to find my determination and reminding myself that I could get through this.
With a sigh, I contemplated all the different colored dresses in the wardrobe but couldn’t bring myself to choose something other than the first red dress I’d decided on.
I really needed to talk with Zinnia again and get another lesson on the fae court and their behavior.
My thoughts jumped to Cobalt and how polished and predatory he’d been. He’d found too many excuses to brush against me and touch me, and I prayed that however the room was set up, I’d be able to keep a table between us.
Maybe I should wear the black dress and match Lord Rider. Surely that would signal to Cobalt that I wasn’t interested in him. Although given fae society, subtly indicating my interest in one man probably wouldn’t be a deterrent since fae woman took multiple mates.
Once changed — into the red dress — I returned to the sitting room and we left the suite.
With Rider at my side and West behind us, we headed down the stairs and into the opulent halls of the Divine Residence. The wide, impressive majesty quickly gave way to narrower, less ornate passages, making me even more grateful for West’s choice of room.
Here was hoping the suitors would think the High Priestess had seen my request for individual audiences with her chosen suitors as a slight and given me a simpler room in a less lavish part of the Divine Residence as a punishment. Maybe if they believed that, they’d lose interest in me.
We turned a corner and, halfway down, Cobalt stood from where he sat on a cushioned wooden bench.
His expression flashed from annoyed impatience to surprise when he spotted Rider beside me — most likely not expecting me to arrive with another prospective suitor on my arm.
But his surprise quickly turned to an overly pleasant smile that made my skin crawl.
West moved past us and opened the parlor door.
I opened my mouth to apologize for making Cobalt wait, but a low growl rumbled from Rider, barely audible, startling me.
Except he wasn’t looking at Cobalt. He was looking inside the parlor.
I followed his gaze to the man sitting inside on a cushioned, highbacked chair placed against the far wall and facing the doorway. In front of him was a table and another cushioned chair with a lower back that wasn’t nearly as fancy.
This was the setup I’d asked for, a secure seat where no one could sneak up behind me, positioned so I could see the only entrance with a table in front as a barrier discouraging potential suitors from sitting too close or reaching out and touching me.
Except this man wasn’t a suitor. I didn’t recognize him from the intimate garden audience last night, and even if I did, it wasn’t supposed to be his turn, and he shouldn’t have entered the room before me.
Like all fae, he was breathtakingly beautiful, almost as beautiful as Talon, with long light brown hair braided back at his temples and light green eyes that tracked my every movement.
He wore the same green and gold doublet that Onyx, a Knight Captain in the Order of the Sacred Grove, had worn, so I could only assume he was a knight as well.
I tried to surreptitiously glance at Sir West to see if he had a reaction to the man, but, as usual, West continued to glower, and I couldn’t figure out if it was his usual glower or a more serious one.
I stopped at the threshold, not sure what to do, my gaze traveling around the parlor taking in its plush furniture arranged in a conversation area by the hearth, thick rugs softening the stone floor, and two wide windows open to the evening breeze carrying the scent of the flowering vines climbing the walls outside.
The man rose and gave me a deep bow that was more formal than any bow anyone had ever given me, instantly putting me on edge.
“I’m Sir Yarrow, Investigator Captain of the Order of the Sacred Grove, assigned to give you justice.
” His smile was warm, but it didn’t reach his eyes, and he stared at my face a moment longer than what was comfortable before trailing down to my covered neck as if looking for my mating marks.
“It’s a privilege to finally meet you, Lady Sage. ”
“Sir Yarrow,” I said, dipping my head.
I wasn’t sure if I owed him the courtesy of a curtsey, but I refused to bend a knee for him. Everything about him put me on guard.
He was obviously ambushing me. Taking over the room I’d requested for my audiences and waiting for me as if I’d been summoned while sitting in the most powerful position in the parlor.
Clearly that was a move meant to intimidate me. I’d seen my stepfather, Edred, do similar things when meeting with other noble lords. Hell, he’d even sat on his throne in the great hall when Lord Quill had arrived to announce Sawyer’s name had been drawn in the lottery.
It had also been days since Wells and Crane and those other men had attacked me in the sacred pool. Making me wait to interview me — if this was in fact an interview — was also another way to assert dominance.
I’d assumed telling Sir Onyx what had happened had been enough for the investigation or that, despite the High Priestess suggesting I was important to her, she didn’t care enough to apprehend the men who’d gotten away.
With those men still on the loose, she had an excuse to keep me close and under her control and spirit linked to Sir West.
“I hope you’ll forgive me for borrowing your parlor,” he said, gesturing to the chair across from him. “I had no idea when you’d manifest, so I figured this was the best place to wait.”
I crossed the room and took the offered chair, demurely clasping my hands together in my lap.
I could have been difficult and sat on one of the two couches by the hearth, but that left room for Sir Yarrow to sit beside me, and as much as I didn’t want the prospective suitors touching me, I wanted Yarrow touching me even less.
Behind me, Rider closed the door, leaving Cobalt outside, and moved to stand behind my chair on the right while West took position on my left, as if they, too, didn’t trust Yarrow’s intentions.
Yarrow’s gaze flickered to them, his gaze staying on Lord Rider just a moment too long.
His smile remained firmly in place, but it hardened at the edges, making me wonder if he didn’t like Rider, if there was some kind of competition between them, or if me having a second escort somehow ruined Yarrow’s plans.
“I hope you’re recovering well,” he said as he sat back down.
“I’m fine.” I tried to keep my skepticism from my voice, but I doubted he was actually interested in my well-being.
“I can only imagine how frightening your ordeal must have been.” He frowned, but there was something off in his expression, like he was playing a part, not actually sympathizing with me. “A new arrival, marks only just awakened, and to have something so terrible happen…”
I fought to keep my expression neutral. He was trying to get a reaction, and I wasn’t sure why, which only made me more determined not to give him one.
“I want you to know,” he continued, “that I consider your safety my personal priority. I won’t rest until all those responsible have been brought to justice.”
The words came out smooth and practiced, making me wonder if he’d rehearsed them before ambushing me.
“Thank you,” I murmured, not sure what else I was supposed to say.
Yarrow smiled, pleased, expectant, like he was waiting for me to say something more — to gush with gratitude, maybe, or to pour out the details of my attack without being asked.
When I didn’t, his hand moved to adjust his cuff, tugging the fabric with a small, quick movement before settling back against the arm of his chair.
“In order to protect you properly,” he said, “I need to understand your situation.”
My pulse lurched. I had a bad feeling about this.