Chapter 5 The Brush of a Thousand Crimes
CHAPTER FIVE
THE brUSH OF A THOUSAND CRIMES
Everything looked the same.
The castle housed a labyrinth of identical gray stone hallways and shadowed recesses. Sconces burned sporadically, creating a fine sheen of smoke that clung to the ceiling.
“The dining chamber must be downstairs. Have you seen any stairs?” I asked.
Lilyanna gripped my arm. Her skirts swooshed behind us, snagging with an occasional rip of fabric on the rough floor.
I’d grabbed her the first dress I could find, not thinking through the color choice of shiny bronze which rapidly collected dust as we walked, fading to a dull, burnished taupe.
It wouldn’t matter, there was a whole brand-new wardrobe in her rooms gifted to her by the prince.
She could throw it away after dinner and help herself to a dozen new ones.
“I haven’t been out since I arrived.” She glanced over her shoulder before continuing. “But when I was escorted to my rooms, I didn’t go up any stairs. The corridors slope upward, I think.”
“Why didn’t you arrive with your own guards or maid?”
“They brought me to the castle but were allowed no further. I was informed I’d be assigned whomever I needed when I got here.
” She answered my unspoken question, “Something about not wanting an outsider to become familiar with the layout, you know, in case the match didn’t work out.
” I grunted, and she added, “For security. It makes a lot of sense if you think about it.”
Tap-tap-tap.
I stared at the walls, searching for the cause of the noise.
Lilyanna opened her mouth to continue, but I cut her off with a raised hand.
We walked in silence for a moment, but the sound didn’t recur.
Her constant babble of conversation was ruining my concentration.
How was I supposed to memorize the route and think about my real mission with her blathering on?
In reply, the magic stirred in my blood with a dim knocking of its own, preparing to be unleashed. That must’ve been what I’d heard. It was distracting, and if I didn’t tamp it back down, it would become a full-throated scream within my blood vessels before long.
At the beginning, before Siobhan forced me to override the impulses with her own unique teaching style, the magic would ooze from my fingertips.
Sometimes slow, black, and sticky, but other times spurting fresh and arterial.
Any hint of power up here would have me thrown in jail until I could be exsanguinated or publicly hung.
Maybe even packaged up and sent back to the queens, or however the prince decided to deal with magic in his town.
I took a deep breath and forced the swell of magic to ebb.
As it faded, my mind cleared. I stopped, swiveling my head in an attempt to assess if we were going up or down.
The temperature plummeted as we entered a new corridor.
The way ahead was gloomy with thin smoke pooling on the ceiling, reaching down with small tendrils to snag passersby.
The stone floor morphed into gnarled floorboards in an obvious division.
“This is ridiculous.” I slapped the wall, instantly regretting it as pinpricks of pain lashed up my arm. The magic bucked, seizing onto my outburst. “This can’t be right. Let’s go back the way we came and try again.”
“Don’t worry, Tam.” Lilyanna patted my arm. “You’ll get use to the layout.”
I grumbled my reply. I was not a tour guide, nor a chauffeur, and here I was trapped in this rat maze of a castle.
I couldn’t even see my reward at the end of it.
I should be free right now, as free as I could be, doing who or what I wanted.
I kicked petulantly at the wall, the boards under my feet creaking, and the magic throbbed against my temples in response.
Slam! A loose stone plunged from the ceiling, ripping between us. I pushed her away and leaped back. Another fell directly in front, a cloud of darkness billowing out. Dust coated my mouth and choked my throat. I coughed, dragging Lilyanna back by the elbow until the air cleared again.
We stood in stunned silence.
“I don’t think this is the right way,” she deadpanned. “The castle is sending us a sign.” She gave one shrill giggle before dissolving into a coughing fit.
I clapped her on the back until she’d righted herself. “At least you can see the bright side of this place.” I smiled, gently brushing dust from her shoulders when a foul odor wafted up. I pulled my face away. “You stink.”
“What!” She spun around, frantically dusting herself. “I’m supposed to meet the prince.”
I caught her mid-twirl and picked large chunks of something black and rotten from her blonde hair. Did that come from the ceiling? I glanced up at the hole, now obscured as smoke from the sconces seeped in.
A chill breeze swished through the corridor, dispersing the pile of dust beneath the hole in the ceiling. The two stone tiles had fractured, perfectly aligning themselves with their identical counterparts on the floor, forming a raised divide where the stone ceded to wooden floorboards.
I returned my attention to Lilyanna. “Come on, I’ll fix you up on the way.” We moved in the opposite direction. “Hopefully he’ll have a long, old-fashioned table and won’t be able to smell you from way down there.”
I swatted at her skirt, dislodging more particles, and she pushed my hand away, lifting her chin. “Not funny.”
“It kind of is.”
The corner of her mouth twitched.
We rounded a corner and immediately faced the dining room.
The large oak doors were flung open with warm candlelight blanketing the expansive stone floor.
She straightened, somehow losing both the playfulness and strength in her expression.
In the blink of an eye, she was the young, helpless woman who couldn’t even draw herself a bath.
Is this what the prince wanted? Or who she thought he’d want? Beauty aside, he’d picked her for a reason, and she’d traveled all this way, being unable to keep any familiar comforts or personnel.
I flicked a final piece of ash from the end of her braid, and my hand lingered on her arm a beat too long, keeping her in the hallway. No, I had a job to do. Get in and get out. I didn’t need to be a pawn in someone else’s game. The magic thumped inside my head again, and I ushered her inside.
Prince Bellinor rose from his seat and gestured for her to sit beside him.
He wore a grave-black velvet suit, with a matching waistcoat and bowtie.
There were so many hidden layers to his clothing, he looked like one of the holes in the wall, where spying eyes could emerge at any moment.
Chestnut brown hair and matching irises completed the perfect image.
I tried my best to hate him, to paint him with the brush of thousands of crimes, but his smile at Lilyanna was so genuine, I couldn’t.
He even had dimples, for Goddess’s sake.
My stomach growled as my eyes roamed over the laden table in front of them. An entire suckling pig was skewered in the center, its crisped skin dripping with fat as the aroma of sweet pork melted into my pores. Oh, Goddess, what I would do to sit at that table and stuff my face right now.
I backed against the wall, slotting in beside a burning sconce and one of the prince’s guards.
It looked like the first time Lilyanna and the prince had met in person.
They kept the conversation neutral, discussing the weather and local trade, but there was an edge of flirtation in the lingering glances and the way the prince offered to pour her wine.
He could have snapped his fingers, had me or another servant come and refill her glass, but he did it himself.
Lilyanna fumbled with her napkin, her attention dropping to her lap. In the pause of conversation, the prince glanced over at me with a coy smile that made my stomach drop. Oh my, was he beautiful and that was such a wicked, wicked glint in his eye.
If his ladies of the court were being murdered or ousted, perhaps there were other factors at play?
A jealous woman? A hateful guard? Maybe the same person had arranged his bounty purely for revenge when their plan to have him arrested or dethroned for the murders failed.
I mean, Goddess above, if he smiled at anyone else like he’d just done to me, I’d completely understand.
I shoved the thought away. I wasn’t supposed to care. It didn’t make a difference in what I had to do. Get in, get out. How many times did I need to repeat that until it stuck?
To remind me of my duty, the magic thrummed to life in my veins. My nails stretched, trying to elongate from my fisted hands. It knew the target was close.
I took a deep breath, willing my body to behave and filled my nose with the mouth-watering scent of the feast. My stomach grumbled once more.
“When do we eat?” I hissed at the guard standing next to me.
Prince Bellinor had two personal guards, both handpicked and both understood to be completely loyal. In other words, deadly.
“Who are you?”
“Miss Lilyanna’s humble servant.” I bobbed a subtle, and obviously insincere, curtsey.
His black eyes took the liberty of roaming up and down my body in response. Dark stubble peppered his chin and cheeks. My face warmed as I imagined it scratching my neck as his mouth meandered down my body the same way his eyes were.
What was wrong with me? Perhaps Siobhan had cursed me at our last meeting.
My hand fell to my hip, and I angled my body toward him. “I know, I too am most surprised by my prowess. But you know...” I waited for him to supply his name.
“Clement.” His attention returned to the dinner in front.
“Clement, I have many other talents as well.”
He choked, earning himself a glare from the other guard standing on his left. She pressed against the wall, her bodyweight tipped back upon it, but her hand remained glued to the hilt of the saber at her waist.