Chapter 44 #3
It was also the mask painted—or inked—in a deep reddish-black.
A disguise that obscured most of her features as it traveled above her eyebrows, reaching her hair, and then swept below her eyes—eyes that were such an unbelievably pale shade of silver-blue, they appeared nearly leached of color—before stretching nearly to her jaw on either side.
Wings. The mask looked like the wings of a bird of prey across the olive skin of her face.
Was she a…a Handmaiden? I wasn’t sure, but I knew she was no vampry. She had emotions. I could feel them behind thick mental walls.
“Hello,” she said rather politely. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
I reached for the wolven dagger as Delano shot forward, thrusting out with his bloodstone sword—
The young woman was ungodly quick, a blur of lacy black and deep crimson as she spun under Delano’s arm, snapping up to trap his arm between hers and his body as she twisted, hooking one leg around his waist. She spun again, forcing his body to turn away from her.
Within a heartbeat, she had one crescent-shaped blade under his chin and the other pressed against his stomach.
None of us moved.
I think we were all a bit stunned by what we had just witnessed.
“Let him go,” Casteel spoke in that powerful, commanding voice, the one that compelled a response. “Now.”
She looked at him. “I will when I’m good and ready.”
Shock flickered through Casteel and me. This woman wasn’t susceptible to compulsion. My heart turned over heavily.
“Now, I was ordered to not shed blood unnecessarily, something I admit I have a tiny bad habit of doing,” she told us, looking up at the hardened lines of Delano’s face as he strained against her, unable to break free of her grip—the hold of a painted woman who had to be several inches shorter than me.
She held Delano in place while standing on the tips of her toes.
“So, please do not even think about shifting and forcing me to make bloodshed an unfortunately necessary thing.”
“What in the hell are you?” Delano growled.
“A Handmaiden?” I suggested, thinking of the woman I knew as my mother—who could very well have been my mother by blood.
“Yes. That, and many other things.” Unpainted lips curved up in a tight smile as her gaze flicked to us. “But right now, I’m simply your friendly escort.” Her stare was unflinching as the sound of many footfalls echoed from both sides of the hall. “One of many escorts, that is.”
Within seconds, Royal Guards filled both sides of the windowless hallway, swords drawn.
Among them were armored knights. There were dozens , and the knights appeared as they had in Spessa’s End.
The comb atop their helmets was dyed crimson, and they wore the red-painted masks that covered the upper parts of their faces.
I exhaled raggedly.
“Let him go,” Casteel demanded, his chin dipping low. “And we’ll behave if you behave.”
Those eerie eyes focused on him, and I sensed a quick burst of tartness—a great unease—from the woman. But it was brief, and she smiled broadly then, revealing two rows of…fangless teeth. “Of course,” she replied quite cheerfully. “I excel at behaving.”
I had a feeling that was a lie.
We waited, hearts pounding, and the eather in my chest straining against my skin. I could take them all out, just like I had with the Unseen on the road to Evaemon.
“You’re going to let me go?” Delano asked, and the woman nodded. “Then you have to actually let me go.”
“I will,” she said, those eyes shifting back to me.
“But you see, you have all already misbehaved, sneaking in underground.” She tsked softly under her breath, and energy pulsed through me, beneath my skin.
“Going where you should not have gone.” Her flat eyes bored into mine. “Seeing what you should not have seen.”
“The man in the cage?”
Her smile faded. “Our Queen will not be very pleased by that, but I am willing to give all of you the benefit of the doubt. Especially you,” she said to me. “Do not try anything. If you do, it will not be your lives you forfeit. It will be the lives of those who were riding toward our east gates.”
I stiffened as disbelief echoed through me. Vonetta and the others wouldn’t have made it to the gates yet. “How?”
“We saw them and expedited their arrival,” she replied, the blades at Delano’s throat and stomach steady. “This morning, to be exact.”
Gods.
“Where are they?” Casteel demanded through gritted teeth.
“They are safe and currently waiting for you all to join them.”
“And we’re supposed to believe you?” Kieran accused.
“She speaks the truth,” came a familiar voice from our right.
My breath caught as I turned, and Casteel tensed as if prepared to launch himself at me. Ian stepped out from the hall, his gaze moving from us to the woman and Delano. He looked...tense, his paler-than-should-be features strained.
“You were told no unnecessary bloodshed,” Ian spoke quietly.
“See?” The woman raised her brows at us. “And I haven’t spilled any. Not even a drop.” Without warning, she released Delano and stepped back, lowering her blades.
Delano spun around, his chest rising and falling as he glared at the young woman. She winked at him.
“She has told you all the truth. Your friends are fine.” Ian’s gaze touched mine. “I can take you to them, and the Queen will meet us there. You may keep your weapons.”
I looked over at Casteel. His jaw flexed as he nodded curtly. “Well, we might as well. We are here to see the Blood Crown.”
And it wasn’t like we had a choice.
Gods, this was why there’d been no guards underneath. It could’ve also been why we’d had no problem entering the city. They already knew we were coming in using a different route, and earlier than expected. We’d lost the upper hand before we even realized it, and we were the ones caught off guard.
The guards waited until we started walking, led by the strange woman. Casteel stuck close to my side as Ian fell into step beside me.
He stared straight ahead as we traveled the windowless hall. “I hope you’re well, sister,” he said, and I looked up at him, staying silent. “And that your travels after we last met went well.”
My gaze sharpened on him, and he glanced briefly at me. I could read nothing from those fathomless eyes or from him, but was he trying to ask about Nyktos’s guards without giving anything away?
“They did,” I lied.
His features eased in the slightest, and I swore it was relief. “Good.”
“You’re in—” I stopped myself from blurting out what I suspected. The woman in front of us looked over her shoulder. “You’re alone? Where is your wife?”
“Lady Claudeya remains in the capital.”
Casteel’s hand brushed mine as we entered the Great Hall.
Like the hallway, there was no sunlight.
Heavy, deep crimson drapes covered the windows, and a knight was stationed in front of each one.
Several small tables of untouched food and drinks were situated between a handful of seats and settees before a raised dais.
The chairs were occupied. Vonetta rose, followed by Emil, Lyra, and Hisa.
Naill was already standing behind them. None of them looked entirely thrilled, but I could feel relief coming from them and us.
Someone else remained seated in one of the chairs, partially blocked by—
Vonetta caught my stare and stepped aside.
Air punched out of my lungs as Tawny rose, a beautiful sight in a simple rose-hued gown with long, fluttering sleeves.
“Poppy?” she whispered, stepping forward as she glanced at Vonetta and Emil. “You’re really—”
“It is my sister,” Ian cut her off, and a look passed between my brother and her, one that might have been of warning, but a knot expanded and tripled in my throat because Tawny wasn’t…
She hadn’t Ascended.
I started toward her, but Casteel caught my hand.
“It’s okay,” Ian stated quietly, and the look Casteel shot him said that he didn’t think much of anything my brother said.
But Emil nodded. “It is.”
Casteel’s jaw worked, but he released my hand, and I rushed forward at the same moment Tawny swept past Emil, her mass of brown and gold curls as wild and beautiful as ever.
The moment I reached her, I wrapped my arms around her, and when I felt her warm skin under her dress, I shook.
I trembled even harder when she curled her arms around me, holding me as tightly as I held her, and I could feel that she was shaking just as badly—I could also feel her emotions.
Bubbly and sugary wonder. Earthy and woodsy relief, and the bitter taste of—
“The Queen isn’t what she seems,” Tawny whispered in my ear as her fear coated the back of my throat. “You need—”
“Poppy looks so different,” Ian interrupted, having come up behind us. “Doesn’t she?”
I pulled back, my eyes searching Tawny’s as she nodded. I spared a quick look at Ian and saw that the Handmaiden was eyeing us as she moved slowly behind Casteel and Kieran. Both of them had crept closer. Tawny…she knew the truth about the Queen and the Ascended, and Ian was trying to protect her.
“I know ,” I said, meeting Tawny’s gaze. “I do look different without the veil.”
Tawny’s lips trembled, but she forced a smile as she looked between Ian and me. “You look beautiful without the veil.”
I slid my hands to her arms. “I’m so happy to see you. I’ve missed you so much. And I’ve been so worried.”
“As I’ve missed you,” Tawny replied, aware of the guards circling the room. “But there is no reason to worry.” She swallowed as she looked up at where Casteel had come to stand at my side. “Hello.” She paused, eyes narrowing slightly. “ Hawke .”
How she said his name and the look she gave him was so Tawny, I almost started crying.
“Hello, Tawny.” Casteel bowed his head. “I am relieved to see that you are well. Although I wish we were confirming that under different circumstances.”
“As do we all,” Ian murmured under his breath.
The young woman drifted closer, her still gaze seeming to miss nothing. Tawny started to glance back at her, but then the Handmaiden’s gaze flicked to the entrance of the Great Hall.
Awareness pressed against the nape of my neck and my back, erupting in icy shivers.
Ian stepped back, using his arm to guide Tawny to do the same.
I knew before I turned what I would find, but I still moved as if I were caught in thick, cold slush.
I looked past the line of guards with their black mantles.
Crimson and black silk skirts flowed like water across the stone floor.
The gown’s deep vee cut between the swells of breasts, reaching the impossibly narrow waist encased in rows of rubies chained together.
Red-tipped fingers clasped together. Garnets strung and clasped tightly around slender wrists and a pale neck.
Lush, red lips tipped up in a faint smile.
A turned-up nose pierced with an onyx stone.
High cheekbones flushed artfully with rouge.
Black eyes glimmered under the golden chandeliers, outlined and winged in black.
Arched, deep brown brows. Hair that shone a dark auburn was swept up and back so the mass spilled over an elegant shoulder in thick, loose curls that brushed the rows of rubies at the waist. Carved from pure, polished ruby and consisting of twelve hoops connected by oval pieces of onyx and topped with diamonds crafted into spires, the Blood Crown was one of the most beautiful and horrendous works of art that had ever been created.
As was the woman who wore it.
Queen Ileana looked just like I remembered—beautiful in a sultry way few could ever achieve and carrying a warmth to her features even fewer Ascended had ever been able to master.
Our gazes locked, and I couldn’t look away as memories of her brushing my hair back from the ruined side of my face, of reading to me when I couldn’t sleep, of holding me when I cried for my mother and father, rushed into me, over and over.
And maybe that was why I didn’t see who stood just behind her, to her right. Maybe that was why it took more than a moment for me to register the sudden explosion of icy shock rolling off Casteel, and that he’d jerked back a step. My gaze shifted to the man who stood there. It wasn’t King Jalara.
This man’s hair nearly reached his shoulders and was a light brown that showed hints of blond, but the sharp cheekbones, the straight nose, and the proud line of his jaw were uncannily familiar.
And then his full mouth curved upward, as he stared up at us.
And a…a dimple appeared in his left cheek.
The smile, though, it was all wrong, lacking warmth and any trace of humanity.
“Brother,” the stranger said, and a rolling tide of shivers shot straight down my side at the deep, gritty sound of his voice. “It has been far too long.”
Casteel had stiffened beside me. “Malik.”