38. Belly of the Beast #2
“Well, Cypress. I wish I could say it was nice to see you,” Cade drawled. The door latch clicked with a finality that Cypress felt in her bones. If he recognized her so easily, even with the glamour and mask, Cypress supposed it was a gift that no one else within the Keep had.
“I suppose I could say the same,” Cypress retorted and kept him in her sights as he wandered around the room.
“Don’t be rude, Cypress,” Cade warned, and his midnight blue eyes darkened to something more akin to black. “ What are you doing up here?”
“I thought I’d surprise you,” Cypress said. She kept her grip loose on the pommel of the sword, ready for him to attack.
“Did you now?”
“It’s your name day, after all.”
“So what’s my surprise?” Cade asked, teeth flashing.
Cypress floundered for only a moment before she spun in a circle with her arms outstretched on either side. “Ta-da. Me. I’m the surprise.”
Cade huffed a cruel laugh. “What would I need a used-up Faerie bitch for?”
Cypress nodded. She should have expected that.
“Well, I suppose if that is your opinion, you don’t. So I’ll just be leaving now,” she said, and raised her voice at the end so that hopefully, Torren would hear.
She wasn’t sure what the exit strategy would be now that Cade was aware of their presence. The servant’s passages were out of the question. There was no way they could trust that there weren’t dozens of guards standing and waiting for them just inside.
And, a stroll straight down the main corridors–where anyone could discover them also seemed foolish.
“No, I don’t think you will be leaving, Traitor.”
“Cade, please, you have to understand what is going on out there,” Cypress tried. There was no point in denying her allegiances had shifted. But perhaps Cypress could appeal to her friend, not the Prince.
Cade scoffed. “Oh, do tell.”
“People are dying, entire villages are being slaughtered. And then there’s the problem of the Hunt. I’ve seen it all with my own eyes, Cade.”
“Good riddance.”
“How can you say that when I just told you entire villages are being burned?”
Cade circled her, hands clasped behind his back.
“What use do I have of Fair Folk sympathizers? They’re savage beasts, and have no place within Grethnah.”
Cypress’s stomach rolled. “Cade, we're talking about people. Humans and Fair Folk alike are being slaughtered in the streets.”
“And they will all be gone soon, so it does not matter.”
“No.”
Cade stopped mid-stride and cocked his head to look at Cypress once more. “What did you just say to me?”
“I said no. It stops now.”
Cade laughed, a cruel, full laugh that came from his gut, and forced him to bend at the waist.
“What's a dead girl going to do about it, Cypress?” he said. “You were born in the gutters of this castle, and you’ll die here too.”
Then, he grabbed one of the other swords from the display.
“You have to stop this,” Cypress tried once more, with a silent urge for Torren to hurry the fuck up.
Cade didn’t hesitate and swung his sword in a great arc. Cypress parried the blow, then slashed at his feet to make him jump backward.
“You’ll never win,” Cypress reminded Cade while they traded blows.
Before she left Grethnah, Cade had never beaten her in any of their spars. Not once had Cade claimed victory over Cypress.
That would not change today.
“We should have sent Oswald after you sooner,” Cade said through clenched teeth. “Maybe then he would have managed to kill you, and Torren too.”
“We? Daddy dearest let you in on the plans?” Cypress asked and ducked under the edge of his sword as he swung it around.
He’d used this same combo on her countless times, and because of it, she knew exactly what his next move would be– a second slice, albeit lower than the first. Cypress danced out of the way once more and parried the strike with a sweeping arc.
With a growl, Cade said, “I know all of my father’s plans, Cypress. I told him when to get you, and I told him your weaknesses. I told him that I feared your loyalty had switched. Me. I told him.”
“Yeah, then I suppose you should have sent Oswald sooner. Guess that means it's your fault that we escaped,” Cypress goaded. Her smile was borne from a lifetime of doing this.
Sparring with Cade was second nature as Cypress whirled around and attacked.
“You know, had you just killed Oswald, we would have never suspected you would show up tonight,” Cade said, and slashed his sword at her face.
His knuckles already had a few cuts dripping blood, which would only make his grip that much worse.
Sloppy. He always fought so sloppily.
“Yeah, I guess. The message was clear, though, wasn’t it?” Cypress grinned and easily pushed his sword away with her own.
“Yeah, you’re a Faerie bitch now. So now, I’ll have to kill you.”
“Good luck,” Cypress grit, then went on the offense. She backed him into the corner with every step, with every twitch of her blade against his.
“Fucking-bitch-” Cade grunted as he kept giving up more and more ground to her advances.
“You could always yield to me,” Cypress grinned, the familiar joy of beating his ass sang in her blood.
“Not this time,” Cade said, his teeth gnashing together. “You took his side over mine, you betrayed me!”
Again, Cypress swung her sword and inched him backward as their blades kissed. Each time, sparks fly between them.