Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
THE MAGIC TOUCH
The castle lay dormant for the next few days while its occupants scurried about preparing for the wedding.
Despite this, I knew the spirits watched me and the walls breathed my whereabouts to the prince. Every corner I turned, he would be there, grinning like a cat toying with its prey. But I behaved myself, still warring with my guilt over finishing this assignment.
Clement stuck closer to me than to him throughout these meetings, never smiling, never fully relaxing. Dark shadows lingered under his eyes, his skin wan. He never spoke to me, never even tried to get me alone to explain the change in the prince’s behavior.
He never uttered a single warning.
The wedding was fast approaching with barely a week to go, and if I were to believably abduct Lilyanna for the purposes of traveling back to the West to celebrate with her family and return in time for her to get married, we’d have to leave that night.
The castle was silent, watchful. Through the thick windows, the winter storm clouds were just visibly rolling in, distorted amorphous smudges of night-black, moss-green, and frozen blue.
I made my way toward the cloakroom situated by the kitchens.
Inside was a single wooden chair and a low table with a spinning wheel already laced with thread.
Matron pumped her foot upon the treadle, feeding cobwebbed strands into the mouth of the machine.
A pile of thick, woolen cloaks heaped at her feet.
“I need two spare cloaks for me and Lady Lilyanna.”
Matron continued to weave, the wheel cracking as it spun.
“Can’t, Tam.” The thread bit into her fingers, blanching the skin.
“The prince has ordered me to get everything prepared for the wedding. He wants all the holes patched, frayed trims smartened, fur linings added.” The wheel spun faster, droning its sad lament.
“He’s having guests come this time. Wants there to be spares. ”
“Because it’s the first time his fiancée has actually survived to the wedding day?”
“Now, now, Tam.” She plucked at the thread tangled around the bobbin, strangling the string underneath.
“You’re new here, but the prince has been nothing but generous.
That’s why the people love him. The whole city is currently dancing around their kitchen tables with excitement.
” She pumped at the pedal again and the wheel restarted.
“And he’s particularly fond of you, for some reason. ”
“Don’t I know it.”
She shot me a sly grin. “I told you to keep your head down, go unnoticed.”
“No, you said I was plain enough that he would never notice me.”
She laughed. “Aye, that sounds right.”
I sighed, hypnotized by the blurring spokes of the wheel. “So, no spare cloaks then?”
She shook her head. “Go ask the prince yourself if you want.”
I grunted and backed toward the door.
We still had to go tonight. If we were fast enough, we’d get there before the snow hit and blocked the passes.
We could buy food from the small hamlets on the way, swing by Clement’s hometown and befriend his mother.
I could offer her updates on her faithful son, and perhaps she would even tell me some of his childhood stories in return.
I bet he’d always been such a stringent rule follower, even as a boy, though I’d love it if he did have a wild few years at some point.
When I returned to the room, Lilyanna’s pacing was wearing a circle upon the thick rug in front of the window. “Good, you’re back.” She marched over and turned me toward the hearth. “The fire went out, and I can’t get it started again.” The air had chilled, her breath fogging as she spoke.
I shivered. The logs were piled high with the ends barely charred. There was no water, no breeze, no reason for it to have extinguished. I grabbed the flint and the poker, prodding and poking at the sparks until a cloying gray smoke wafted from it.
“Why is the smoke not going out?” Lilyanna choked, her hand over her mouth.
I leaned into the hearth and jabbed up the chimney with the poker. The whole shoot was blocked. Thick ash and sticky tar clung to the metal, eventually coming loose with a moist sucking noise, plunging in one giant gelatinous ball to the floor.
A glint of white caught my eye. I poked it gingerly, the tip chiming against the object. Bile rushed into my mouth, and I hurriedly sank it back into the mess before Lilyanna could see. A tooth.
I rocked back on my heels and grimaced. “You’re going to need a maid to clean that up, Lilyanna.” I swallowed away the nausea, forcing the emotion far from my face.
The flames finally caught, and the wood cracked happily as a rush of heat swarmed around us.
“Yeah, I’ll ask the prince for one as a wedding gift.” She tugged me to my feet and brushed the soot from my shoulders.
I leaned in close and whispered, “We go tonight. Meet me at the stables.”
Her fingers didn’t stop as she continued to flick the dust from my sweater. She nodded. “Go get cleaned up. You’re barely able to look after me as it is. Now your mind is going to be stuck on what Clement will think when he sees you covered in dirt and stinking of smoke.”
I shrugged and moved toward the door to my small room. “He’ll probably like it.”
She grinned. Our eyes locked again as I paused at the top of the stairs. “I’ll be ready,” she mouthed.
* * *
This was a terrible plan.
I ended up not even telling Clement, thinking it was best we just slip away.
Once Lilyanna was safely out of the castle and within her city, I’d have to come back and finish the job as I’d not managed to find myself alone with the prince since the turret.
Maybe I could persuade Clement to leave first and transfer down South.
There was still time on my deadline as long as Siobhan didn’t think I was running away and sent her hounds to chase me down.
I had no packed food, nothing for us to wear except the literal clothes on our backs, and I still had to find Siobhan—the horse—in whichever paddock she’d been exiled to and get her ready.
But it could still work.
The wind howled around the castle wall, its gargoyles swiveling on their perches, haunted eyes tracking my every move as I sidled through the servant’s door.
The night was freezing with thick, dark clouds obscuring the light.
In the distance, the village glowed with a warm, heady aura that lured me in.
I ran my hand along the rough stone wall, its edges molding to my fingertips.
I willed my heartbeat to soften and stop thrashing so painfully within my chest. What would Clement think?
That I’d deserted him? Used him? Thrown him away like another casual acquaintance?
It was too late to change how I felt about him, and far too late to tell him the truth behind my plan.
I’d just have to squash my feelings of guilt far away inside and hope he forgave me one day.
I paused before rounding the corner and stepping onto the central road. The gargoyle towered over me, icicles dripping from its fangs as it inched toward my face.
I loosed my breath and strode into the open.
A single footstep crunched behind me, strong fingers ratcheting around my sleeve. I spun, yanking from its grasp.
“Tamara, Tamara, Tamara,” the prince sighed. “Why do we keep meeting like this?” His face was drained of color, eyes murky in the gloom. No guards flanked him. No servants scurried by. It was just us.
Again.
“I’m going out.” I pulled my thin cloak tighter around myself, my nails quietly lengthening inside the long sleeves.
“I know what you were doing.” He leaned closer, the rose scent overpowering. But there was something underneath, something masked. Blood?
Two guards appeared from out of the shadows, both tense, both with hands grasping their sabers. Neither of them Clement.
“I think it’s better that you stay inside for a while.” He held out his hand. “Just until the wedding.”
The magic burned inside of me, my fingers twitching, nails fully sharpened. I shouldn’t touch him. That was Clement’s warning, but was it for me or the prince?
I could complete both tasks tonight after all. Embed the trackers in the back of his hand, pretend it was nothing but a small scratch, and slip into the night when he turned away. But would Lilyanna be waiting? She should be here already, this was all for her. She’d said she would go.
Could she have told him?
I stifled a curse. The castle was manipulating me and so was the prince. It wasn’t Lilyanna, she was innocent in all this. Something deep inside me trusted her, we’d spent too long in each other’s company now to be anything less than allies. We were family.
The prince pressed closer, his hand still outstretched. The guards withdrew their swords, the curved blades slicing through the shadows as they pointed them toward me.
Slowly, I reached for him. As my skin pressed against his, cold drove through me and my magic recoiled, driving itself back deep within my soul. My nails forcibly retracted, sucking themselves inside my fingertips.
My ribs squeezed, my breath choked out in a strained gasp.
He closed his hand around mine and tugged me toward him, his other arm encircling my waist. “Stay close and you’ll be fine.
” He backed into the wall, the stone melting behind him.
Fire burned in my lungs as I struggled to breathe, and the vise around my chest snapped another notch tighter.
I reflexively dug my other hand into his side, sinking into his flesh, but the magic stuttered. No release, no power.
The stone clawed against my face, tearing at my clothes and slicing my skin. The pressure increased, the edges of my vision darkening, but I kept my grip on his side, trying to force the magic out.
“Hold on, Tamara,” he drawled.
We thrust through the wall, the stone snapping back into place behind us. My heart pounded, my head throbbing. I still couldn’t breathe.
The prince pushed me back against the solid wall, its cold leeching through my cloak. He forced his mouth on mine, blowing air into my lungs, my breasts pressed into his solid chest. I gasped and shoved him away.
Something trickled from my mouth. I wiped it with my sleeve, recognizing the gooey feel of blood as it coated my tastebuds and pooled under my tongue. He’d bitten me. I bent over and retched while he patted me on the back.
“I thought you carried it. I saw the sparks at the festival, noticed the way the castle drew toward you. It took a while as my guards never let me close enough. Clement in particular has a fondness for you. But now, I know it’s there.
I taste it.” He smacked his lips together. “It won’t be so bad next time.”
I straightened, turning around in the corridor, completely lost.
“You have new lodgings, my dear.” The prince opened a small trapdoor, visible only by three black slashes in the wood that he inserted his fingers into. “Temporary, of course, but this way you’ll be closer when I need you.”
I spun around, wildly searching for a landmark I knew so I could run and find Lilyanna or Clement.
The prince leaped on me, arms encircling my chest and threw me down into the hole. I landed heavily, dust and ash billowing around me.
The trapdoor slammed shut and silence descended until a familiar groan sounded from the corner.