Chapter 9 #2
Cassia’s steps slowed down while she took everything in. “This is a very long hallway. Gives you plenty of time to consider your fate.”
“It was constructed to inspire reverence and respect. Many a man’s fate has changed while they’ve had ample time to consider their motivations and words.”
She fell back into step directly beside me. “Yeah, I can see how it would do that.”
Her gaze fell on others as we passed. Human slaves, vampires of various stations. “Who are they?” She asked when we passed a couple of Kakian demons.
I eyed the men in simple suits with white button up shirts and shorter hair. They did appear drastically out of place to someone like Cassia, I had to imagine. “You know what they are. Are you asking me what they are doing?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess.”
Their activities were likely in the stack of papers sitting in my office. For the two men to be in this area of the palace, I would assume they were working on the recent absence of Kakian diamonds from a human family’s safeguard.
The case hadn’t interested me much as it fell primarily under the category of a Fae problem. The rubies from the Second Realm, the Realm of other vampires and demons, were another matter.
“Oh,” Cassia mumbled under her breath as she suddenly leaned all her weight into my arm. Her free hand grabbed my forearm.
A shiny silver tube rolled out from under her skirt, and she moved to bend before I stopped her. A slave turned her head quickly—but not quick enough for me to miss the smirk. The slave’s companion pressed her lips together and glanced down, smothering a smile.
“Stop,” I ordered Cassia. She glanced at me, but my sights were set on the two errant women.
I faced them. “Clumsy?” The tube lifted from the ground and was in the palm of my hand with a thought.
The woman who dropped it steeled her spine. “Not at all, I was just trying to help your pet .” The other woman’s eyes widened, and she tapped her friend on the shoulder.
The object in my hand was a tube of eyeshadow. I uncapped it and flicked the button on the extender until it was a long, narrow stick. It was a pretty color, a deep, rich eggplant shade.
Before she could object, the cosmetic was plunged into her eye socket. Her companion screamed and I slit her throat with the blade I kept in my sleeve.
The first woman convulsed on the floor for a bit while the second gagged on her own blood. When I turned around, other slaves had arrived summoned by commotion. After instructing them to clean my mess, I returned to Cassia’s side.
She had paled, her hands covering her mouth and her eyes, glassy. Her chest heaved, and she leaned into me before coming to her senses and backing away. From where we were, I could see Kalix rolling his eyes.
“We have to go, Cassia,” I reminded her.
Cassia stood frozen, staring into the distance and not seeming to focus on anything. “I’m your pet?”
If I had the time to prolong the slaves’ suffering, I would have. “If you were, you would not be by my side.” I took her hand and she nodded stiffly.
“Your eyes are black.” She tried pulling away but I didn’t let go. “Why are your eyes black.”
It didn’t seem as if she truly wanted an answer. The kind thing to do would have been to release her from my attention, but my gaze kept her firmly in my sights.
“Stress. Anger. It is a biological reaction stemming from extreme emotions.”
Cassia’s skin grew moist, and I rubbed the back of her hand with my thumb. My appearance was alien because I was very much unlike her. Most of the time my form suggested humanity, but there was nothing human about me.
A short breath hissed from her lungs. “It’s creepy.”
“Then it is doing its job.”
Another tug and I let her hand drop. She needed to collect herself before we entered the throne room and if it made her feel better to soothe herself, I would allow it.
“Why did you kill those women? They didn’t do anything to me except drop something on the floor. The worst thing that would happen is I’d trip.”
I could feel Kalix’s and Kiam’s attention on us, bidding me to hurry this up. “And what would happen next? A drop of poison in your food? A spell on your pillow? I cannot allow disrespect of any type, or the next attempt would be bolder.”
She wiped her palms on her skirt, rustling the silk.
The sound was soft beneath the din of those careful to pass by the two of us at a distance.
The hiss of air from her lungs, the cadence of her voice, the honeyed almond scent of her fragrance.
All my senses narrowed down to the small, nervous creature in front of me. It was a pleasant distraction.
“What do you find so distasteful about being protected?” I asked. “You would rather I permit others to make a fool of you? Let you blindly suffer?”
“Well, no. But don’t you think that’s a bit extreme? Why not make them pay a money fine or something.”
Money. I couldn’t stop the brief laugh at her naivete. “That’s... You’ve put me at a loss for words.” Grasping her again, I said, “We have to go.”
A fine .
I smothered another chuckle. I suppose the slaves paid a fine, after all. Just not a monetary one.
“People are already arriving,” Kalix chided me when we reached the doors.
Kiam stepped behind the two of us. The guards opened the thirty-foot tall double doors.
The panic that lifted into the air around the woman by my side nearly clogged my sight. Her chest heaved as if she would be sick. It looked as though it took everything within her to move a single leg forward.
I held my arm out, and she glanced up as she took it. “You stabbed her in her eyeball.”
Leaning toward her ear, I whispered, “I would have torn her heart from her chest and transformed it into a ruby for you if I’d had the time.”
She sucked in a breath and a tear coursed down her cheek as she pushed her shoulders back. She would get through this.
A carpeted path in shades of crimson and black led to a pair of extravagant onyx thrones; the chair’s back spires rose in jagged points and were tipped with rubies.
Soaring candelabras were set against mirrored, square columns that reflected light while a somber classical melody played quietly in the background.
Behind the columns, the First Realm’s prominent families had begun to take their seats. Representatives would be in attendance from every major city from across the entire, infinite Realm, arriving by any means necessary to witness what was an unprecedented occasion.
Many likely prayed for my demise, others would wish for my success. Several, I was certain, were here for the curiosity and spectacle of the event.
Cassia was doing her best to remain composed, but her energy was scattered. She squeezed my hand several times. I was uncertain if she was searching for my strength or just trying to self-regulate. I found myself hoping for the former.
Kalix brushed past us saying, “Remain here.” Most likely for Kiam and Cassia’s benefit.
The woman by my side was growing stiffer by the minute, her breaths exhaling in short, sharp, quiet bursts. As tempting as it was to spell her and take away her discomfort, I didn’t.
Slowly, I felt Cassia relax. She straightened and faced the front of the room. She tried to free herself, but I gripped her even tighter. I felt her eyes on me and glanced down to smile at her widened gaze.
The music stopped and absolute silence fell over the hall.
The crowds were all seated. Annalise’s latest toy walked out from a room to the side of the thrones, dressed in black and red ceremonial garb.
He descended the short staircase and lifted an arm and said, “Your Queen, Her Majesty Annalise demands an audience with Lord Lukas. Does he agree?”
“Yes,” I answered.
The man bent his head and scurried backwards, to the side.
“Oh shit,” Cassia mumbled. “This is it.”
“Silence,” I ordered, my voice barely a whisper.
Annalise materialized in a shimmery fog directly in front of her throne. I heard Cassia and Kiam’s collective gasps, though the reasoning for each differed.
Cassia’s was fear and awe.
Kiam’s was awe and longing. No surprise, he had a serious fetish for attractive blonds, and the Queen was ethereally beautiful.
Annalise didn’t immediately sit, as was customary for her. Instead, she glided down to the carpet, walked forward three steps, and stopped.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?”