Chapter 28 #2
He was standing in the doorway, his hair mussed and his eyes stormy. Normally he had an air of nonchalance that seemed unflappable, as if nothing really disturbed him. But now, he was disturbed.
“You’re awake, then.” He walked farther into the room. The clothes I had just put on suddenly felt as if they encased me in a steel cage that trapped me before him.
“Yes, I woke up a few moments ago.”
His jaw firmed. “That beast should never have been able to break in here. Not with our security.” He bowed his head.
“For that I am sorry. And that you were the one that had to fight it.” His eyes grew flat.
“But you shouldn’t have tried to attack the creature.
You are much too important to be killed by some weak rebel attempt.
” He cocked his head. “Even so I would like to know how you managed to kill it.”
His eyes pierced into me, as if I were naked again and he was examining every inch of my skin.
To my relief, my voice didn’t break. “Truthfully, I’m not certain I did much.” I recounted the same thing I told Mishah, including omitting the detail about my mother’s bangles.
I nearly looked right at them in the moment, but I didn’t want to draw his attention there, and the questions that would come about my mother.
Then would come questions about who she was. About who I was. About what I was really doing here.
He still didn’t know I was a human from the other side of the wall, nor that I wanted the crown for myself.
Finally, he nodded. “You still saved the peris in this palace. And the Viceroy.” He cleared his throat.
“And the threat is even greater than I suspected. If the rebels have infiltrated here, we must find the crown now before they try and wrest control. Only the crown can give him the power he needs to crush them.”
A shudder flitted through me. But he was right. The rebels had unleashed a beast capable of killing thousands.
But a voice whispered inside me, one that I’d heard before.
What had the Viceroy done to them to make them rebels?
And hadn’t my father been one too, just in a different land?
It wasn’t as if I was going to let the Viceroy take the crown.
If this all worked out, I’d be the one to steal it, and take it back across the River. The Viceroy was just my path there. He could talk all he wanted about crushing and destroying the rebels, but he wouldn’t get the chance to if I walked off with his power.
I cleared my throat. “When do we leave?”
Kiyan’s eyes roved over me once more, as if he were assessing damage, but I sensed it was more. Something heated his gaze with more than concern, and it wasn’t pleasant.
Anger.
He was angry at me, for what, I couldn’t discern.
“Are you well enough to travel soon?”
“How soon?”
“The Viceroy wants to leave tomorrow.”
“And you?”
“It’s my job to enact the Viceroy’s wishes.”
“But what do you want?”
His mouth thinned, eyes darkening. “My wants don’t matter.”
I swallowed, trying to get to the bottom of the clear anger in his words, wishing I had my spectacles so that I could see the nuances of his expression better.
“Then tomorrow works fine,” I snapped back, tired of his attitude.
Was he regretful that he had to carry me?
I certainly hadn’t asked him to save me. “Let’s just find the crown.”
“And then? What happens after?”
I tilted my head, trying to understand what he was asking. I was confused by this new side of him, as if he were frustrated by my presence. “What happens after?”
“What happens to you after?”
For a second, I thought he might have guessed my plan to steal the crown and head for the River, but if that was the case I would already be back in the dungeon.
The floorboards creaked as I shifted uncomfortably. “It’s what the Viceroy said, I help him find it and then I work at the palace as a scholar.”
“And that’s what you want?”
“I want to find the crown. After that, I don’t much care what happens.”
His eyes narrowed, but he stayed silent, another piece of his assessment not adding up. He turned to leave, but paused before he did, removing something from the small pocket at his chest.
“I thought you might need these.”
He held something gold and delicate out to me. I stared down at what lay in his hands before truly understanding what they were.
Spectacles.
But they looked different than mine; the arms of my previous pair were serviceable and plain, but these were fashioned to look like ornate golden vines.
The glass inside was clean and uncracked, unlike my previous frames.
I hadn’t been able to get a replacement for years, so I’d just made do with the broken glass.
I looked up at him, knowing my shock was clear on my face. I couldn’t even try to hide what I was feeling. “Where did you get new spectacles?”
“Your old pair were in what was left of the beast. They weren’t in the best of shape, so I had them fixed by a deo smith in the city. Giants aren’t often pleased to work with peris, but they are the best smiths. He did some . . . changes, as we couldn’t get them back to how they once looked.”
“They’re beautiful,” I breathed.
He cleared his throat. “It seemed like you used them for more than just adornment.”
He lifted them up to my face, his intention clear.
I blinked, and gave him a nod, taking a step toward him.
He slid them over my ears, his fingers brushing them as he did so, causing a pleasant tingle where he touched.
I was deeply aware that his hands were on my face and I stood inches from him, looking up into his dark eyes.
What was worse is that when he perched them delicately on the bridge of my nose, his face came into view, clear and unfocused.
I could see every small line on his face, the flex in his jaw, the scar bisecting his cheek.
My heart raced so loud I was scared he would hear it.
“Humans use them to see,” I explained, my words too breathless for my liking.
He lifted a brow, and I realized how silly that must have sounded to a fae. I probably couldn’t see half of what he could, even with my spectacles on.
“And can you now see?” He tilted his head, watching me. Now that I could see the details on his expression I was even more confused, because behind the tightness in his jaw there was also a disquiet in his eyes, something simmering behind his gaze I couldn’t put my finger on.
“Yes, they work beautifully.” I gave him a small smile. “Better actually.”
It was true—I could see things in such detail I hadn’t known what I’d really been missing.
He didn’t return my smile. “Good. Then you’ll be able to see properly to be able to find the ancient Queen’s crown.”
He said the words abruptly before striding out of my room and closing the door with a very final click.
But even his frosty demeanor couldn’t chill the warmth spreading through my chest as I picked up a book from the shelf and began flipping through it, seeing the words more perfectly than I’d seen them in years.