Chapter 37 Nyte
Nyte
Astraea had a colorful vocabulary of curses for me and a talent for keeping herself smiling for the crowd of eager onlookers around a banquet table.
I tightened the strap on her left wrist, which secured her to the wheel, and could hardly contain my grin when her eyes shot me with daggers, but her face was deceivingly pleasant.
“Why can’t I strap you to this thing instead?” she hissed under her breath.
“I will certainly not object to you tying me up next, Starlight.”
“You might when I pierce a dagger through your chest and leave you there.”
My thumb brushed her cheek. “Your violence turns me on.”
I chuckled lightly at her quick scowl. The hall was full, and the entertainment took turns in the center of banquet tables closing us in from the front and sides.
I’d barely caught a glimpse of Vermont, but what I did uncover was that he had a wife or mistress by his side and a son on the other.
It made my blood boil to think of what he might have wanted with Astraea, if not as a bride, and it was enough for me to want his head on a pike.
I gave Astraea a once-over assessment, deeming her firmly secured. How marvelous she looked. A delicate prey in my trap. “This is how Jose and Calista do it. Besides, I have better aim.”
Her feet were on two narrow planks jutting out of the wheel, and her ankles were strapped to it.
Then she gripped two wooden batons attached to the wheel with her wrists bound.
Perfectly secure for when it would start spinning.
My task was to awe the crowd, throwing daggers at her in dangerous proximity.
Astraea scoffed. “That is a challenge we’re revisiting.”
“I look forward to it.”
I wanted to claim her pouting mouth, but I refrained, turning to walk back the distance to begin.
As I did, I surveyed the tables again, taking in more of the gathering.
Everyone was adorned with robe-like clothing of white and gold, some with armor, though it was more stylistic than practical.
They were a bright contrast to the bold colors of the circus members, making us even more of a standout spectacle.
Vermont was a skinnier man than I’d expected, sickly so, if I had to guess.
Yet his dark eyes were cold and his posture remained dominant.
He had cropped dark hair and wore a gold circlet over his deeply tanned skin.
The woman had a dark brown complexion with gold painted on her body.
Her tightly curled dark hair was complimented with golden rings through various braids, and she appeared like a goddess.
Their son, I presumed, appeared entirely uninterested in the feast and entertainment thrown in his honor, his elbow propped on the arm of his chair as he held his lazy head against his knuckles.
His hair was cut very short, and he wore a less elaborate circlet over his brow.
I’d learned from Balthezar that his name was Kairos Lionel.
As I spun back to Astraea, the attention of the room started to pull toward our show about to begin. Astraea’s grip tightened on the wooden beams, and she managed one last glare at me before Trevor and Silvia approached the wheel to make it spin.
“You owe me,” she said through our bond after her first full turn.
“I’ll be quick. Ten daggers. Then you’ll enjoy your solo performance to finish the night’s entertainment.”
I threw the first dagger as easily as drawing breath, but the crowd gasped at the lethal weapon hurtling for the beautiful woman. It struck near her left foot.
“You can do better,” she taunted.
“I’m just warming up.”
The next two I threw in quick succession, earning a louder murmur from the onlookers. They struck the wood on opposite sides of her right hand.
“I’d be bored to death if I were a spectator,” she said.
My next hit between her legs. “If you really want outrage from the crowd, I could strike you.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Is that a dare?”
I threw another two at either side of her hips quickly, followed by two so close to each of her ears she would feel the kiss of the metal. The crowd was far too easily impressed.
Pulling out a blindfold, I met Astraea’s surprised look before I tied the material over my eyes. Juggling my last two daggers in one hand, I folded my other arm behind my back.
“Now you’re just showing off.”
“You wanted more thrills.”
“If you miss…” Astraea trailed off; the taste of her fear was delightful.
“Any favorable place I should aim, just in case?”
“You’re an ass.”
I drowned out the growing chatter of the crowd. Focusing as sounds cancelled out, one by one. Voices, clanging silverware, chewing, rustling. Until only two things were tracked in my senses: the intermittent creak of the spinning wheel and Astraea’s breathing.
When she was upside down, I threw one, knowing where her braid hung as she came back around. It cut the tie at the bottom. The last dagger wasn’t in my hand much longer when I threw it to land right above her head when she was straight again.
The gathering gasped loudly … and I didn’t hear the thump of the blade into the wood where I was certain my knife had struck precisely.
Swiftly untying my blindfold, my spike of fear that I could have actually missed was quickly smothered by pure, blazing pride.
Astraea had managed to undo one of her wrist bonds and caught the last blade by the handle.
Trevor and Silvia had stopped spinning the wheel, gaping at her.
A slow smile of triumph stretched across her face, and I would have kneeled for her right now were it not for the banquet attendees around us who erupted into applause and jeers.
I stalked toward her, undoing the last binding of her wrist when Silvia and Trevor released her ankles. With an arm around her waist, I lifted her down, taking a moment longer than necessary to squeeze her because of the madness she riled in me.
“An exciting show indeed,” I purred.
Astraea was beaming so beautifully as our equipment was swiftly taken away. Her sight caught on something over my shoulder, and I glanced back to find Vermont hardly attentive to us but his son having straightened, staring right at us with a deep frown that held more scrutiny than boredom now.
I pulled Astraea along to exit before he switched his intense gaze from Astraea to me and found a possessive threat in my eyes.
“Now what?” Astraea asked when we passed the doors.
“There’s one more group performance, then you’re back up. Meanwhile, under the excuse of needing to relieve myself, I’ll be taking myself on a tour.”
“That doesn’t seem fair.”
She pouted, folding her arms, but now that we were no longer the center of attention, I tugged her to me.
She caught her balance against my chest, and I crashed my lips to hers.
Her soft moan ached my cock, and it was becoming clear she was far too much of a distraction for serious missions.
Then again, I hadn’t felt this alive in a very long time.
Having Astraea with me to infiltrate, lie, steal, spy, and possibly commit other crimes made an old pastime thrilling instead of deliriously routine.
“Trust I’d rather be watching you dance, and the thought of everyone else getting that privilege instead is making me antsy with jealousy.”
She smiled, so delicately I wanted to capture it.
“No murder, remember.”
“Unless it finds me.”
“Then best remain very hidden.” Her hand reached up my chest with a switch of concern. “How are you feeling? Having to alter so many minds must be taxing.”
Her care would never fail to surprise me. When I’d spent centuries being used as a weapon that never seemed to be good enough anyway, but never did anyone inquire as to how the power affected my own wellbeing.
“I’m just fine,” I said quietly, twirling a lock of her hair around my finger.
In truth, the small pulse in my head I’d arrived here with was starting to become an intense drum, but I wasn’t at my limit yet. Keeping our appearances changed in so many minds in the banquet hall was the biggest challenge.
“Final showtime,” I murmured, catching the signal of a performer behind Astraea indicating that she would be called back to the stage soon.
“Be careful,” she whispered.
I kissed her forehead and reluctantly slipped away.
The palace guards at the door were less than impressed with anyone needing to take a piss.
I must have been the biggest inconvenience of their miserable day, but they let me pass.
Before they could turn to follow, they’d already forgotten the encounter entirely with my quick erasure of their thoughts.
The first guard I came across immediately stormed for me, but his marching steps faltered when I slipped into his mind, twisting his outraged intention to detain me, violently so, into a kind eagerness to take me wherever I needed to go.
“There must be a room where Vermont keeps prized possessions. A trident, perhaps?” I inquired.
“Of course, he takes great pride in his collections of the world’s most coveted items. I believe I have heard mention of a trident that grants control of the sea. Though none of us are allowed in that room, oh no. He has a few very carefully selected guards for that room.”
“Excellent, take me.”
He spluttered, but I was already heading in the direction from his thoughts.
“Didn’t you hear me? It’ll be both our heads if we’re caught even near that room—–literally; Vermont likes to behead his traitors and hang them out front for days as a message.”
I wasn’t really in the mood for idle conversation so I erased his memory of our entire encounter, leaving him standing in lonely confusion over why he’d left his post to be there as I turned the next corner.