Chapter 14
CHAPTER 14
E leksi descended the cellar steps to reunite with Neve.
Hearing panicked voices floating up the stairs, he cursed himself for leaving her alone.
And yet, what choice did he have? No one could see her alive who might recognize her. Escaping the castle undetected would be difficult enough, let alone with the entire royal guard in pursuit.
His stomach lurched when he came to a small crowd in the tight stone hallway, a cloud of dust drifting through the air. Relief spread through him when he saw Neve past the older man and woman and the pair of grubby children.
The man caught sight of him, his eyes rounding in fear. Neve followed his gaze to Eleksi. Her face brightened and she opened her mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by the gray-haired woman.
“We must disperse immediately.” She began herding the others onto the stairs, making Eleksi shrink out of the way. “The guards will be here any moment.”
The older man turned to Neve. “Thank you again. And remember, if you need anything, it’s yours. We owe you.”
She shot Eleksi a guilty look, then replied to the man. “You’re welcome, Danior. Go with your children. Travel safe.”
“And you.”
The man quickly followed the children and woman up the stairs. With the hallway now clear, Eleksi noticed drifts of dirt on the floor. Huge, impossible amounts.
“What’s going on?” he asked Neve.
“Uh, we ought to go,” she replied, rushing to the stairs. “Is the way clear to our meeting place with the queen?”
“Aye.” He stopped her and peered into her face. Dark circles had materialized under her eyes. “Are you alright? You didn’t cast magic, did you?”
The sorceress grimaced. “I had no choice. Danior’s children were being held in the dungeons.” She passed him on the stairs, a waft of her sweet cinnamon scent reaching his nostrils. “We really must go.”
He followed her closely. “Did it not weaken you?”
She whirled around. “Yes! But what should I have done? Left the children in the cell to rot? I improvised. And I would do it again.”
Her hand was pressed against the wall for balance and, at her flare of emotion, red light crackled from her palm into the stone.
“Of course you did the right thing,” he replied, wanting to soothe her, to quell her magic. “My concern is for your life.”
She gave a stiff nod. “I’m sorry. I’m nervous. Faking my own death is a daunting prospect.” The red light in her hand flickered and began to fade. “Which way do we go?”
He led her through the steaming, chaotic kitchen to the spacious corridors of the palace. Dusk was rapidly approaching, the dying light of the day filtering through the colorful stained-glass windows. Lively folk music played from the courtyard outside.
They passed harried-looking servants, who paid little attention to anything except their tasks. Several times, Eleksi glimpsed royal guards stationed ahead, and changed course.
“The festival will provide some cover,” he said to Neve as they strode silently over the royal blue carpet. “But the palace festivities are mostly outside on the lawns.”
Neve looked over her shoulder, her brows furrowed. “Aye. The palace itself is dangerously quiet.”
“There are many routes to the drawing room.” He turned at a corner and she stayed close to him. “We’ll take the most secluded one. If we need to fight, at least we’ll have a chance of containing any conflict and escaping.”
Once they neared the drawing room, he pulled Neve into a dark alcove behind a suit of armor.
“Are you sure you can do this?” he asked, his voice soft. “We could falsify your death without the help of magic.”
Her dark eyes stared up at him, entrancing him. He fought the almost overwhelming urge to kiss her. Now was definitely not the time. Emotions were heightened—that was all.
And yet, her eyes drifted to his mouth and up again. Or had he only imagined it?
“But the Glamour would be far more convincing,” she said.
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll do it. I’m still mostly refreshed.”
Despite her words, naked worry flashed across her features.
“I don’t like this,” he murmured. “Perhaps we ought to leave now, while we can.”
She was already depleted from casting magic—what if she couldn’t hold the spell?
“And become fugitives? As soon as you don’t appear with my body, she’ll send the guards and Spider Kings after both of us.”
He rubbed his face, knowing she was correct. “Alright. We’ll have to risk it.”
“I can do it, I swear. Just get me into the room and out again. If she thinks I’m dead, we’re both free, remember? Then we can find a way to depose her. People within the palace have been trying to pass messages from Leonid to Davron. And—” She blinked, hesitating. “And if Leonid is indeed my father, I need to try to . . .” Her words trailed off.
“Save him?” asked Eleksi gently. “Neve, you don’t need to save a king. You need to save yourself. He’s a royal, with people on his side already.”
She shuffled her feet and nodded, clearly unconvinced.
The corridor darkened as night fell. They were out of time. If they survived the rendezvous with the queen, they could worry about Leonid and the kingdom. For now, Eleksi only cared about getting Neve and himself out of the palace alive.
“Are you ready?” he asked. “I’ll carry you.”
“Yes.”
He picked her up and cradled her in his arms. She lay her hands in her lap, letting her head roll to his chest. Her sternum moved gently in time with her breath.
When she closed her eyes, her thick eyelashes rested against the tops of her cheeks. Her midnight hair framed her face in glossy waves and her mouth was redder than blood. It was hard to imagine that she carried death within her fingertips, when she was the epitome of vitality and life.
As he stared down at her, he realized that her duality was part of her allure. No woman like her existed. The first time he saw her picture, painted in her blood on Polinth’s mirror, he’d been intrigued by her. Never did he think he’d be helping her evade death, though.
Now, here in his arms and right before his eyes, she died.
Her luminous skin turned matte gray, her breathing ceased, and her body went cold and stiff in his arms. Even though he knew about the Glamour, he wasn’t prepared for just how convincing it would be. Not only did she appear dead superficially, but her body was devoid of the essentialness of life itself. Her soul seemed to have moved on.
“This is unnerving,” he murmured, aware she couldn’t reply, lest she break the spell.
As an assassin, Eleksi was intimately familiar with the difference between the living and the dead. In his arms was a dead body. He battled the desire to shake her and wake her up.
The longer he gazed at her lifeless face, the deeper the abyss in his chest became.
She wasn’t dead, he told himself. She would not die tonight.
Voices from around the corner snapped him from his spiral. Moments later, a pair of servants passed. Once they were out of sight, he slipped into the corridor, with Neve disconcertingly rigid in his arms, and hurried to the drawing room where he’d meet the queen.
The door was closed and silence came from within. With a deep breath, he leaned down and turned the gilded handle while balancing Neve. The door creaked open and he stepped inside.
His first impression was that Meliohr had learned from their last meeting. On that occasion, he’d waited for her in the dark to arrive. She hadn’t realized he was already in the room, and proceeded to talk about Neve with the head of the royal guard, Perris.
Eleksi could’ve killed Meliohr and Perris before they even knew what had happened. It would’ve been easy to emerge from the shadows and slide his dagger’s blade across her throat and into Perris’s chest. Now, carrying Neve in his arms, he dearly wished he had, and saved all this trouble.
Tonight, the drawing room was as bright as day. The chandeliers and candle brackets and fire were all blazing, illuminating every corner of the room.
She’d also brought a patrol of royal guards with her. The uniformed men stood in formations of four, armed with swords and watching the assassin carefully. Perris stood by Queen Meliohr’s side.
She wore a burnt orange dress and a gold wreath in her hair. “Ah, Eleksi. Right on time.”
He inclined his head. “Your Majesty.”
Already, she was swooping in to inspect Neve.
“Oh, this is marvelous!” she cried. “Well done. You eliminated the bastard.”
Eleksi seethed, wishing to carve the gleeful smile off the queen’s face.
She raised her gaze to him. “Did you encounter any trouble? Did anyone see you?”
“No.”
Perris cleared his throat and stepped forward, arching his bushy eyebrow at Eleksi.
“No, Your Majesty,” added Eleksi.
“Excellent,” she breathed. “This is a weight off my mind.”
“I’m glad you’re pleased.” He looked around the room. “Now, I’m sure you want to get back to the Harvest Festival. I can?—”
Meliohr frowned. “Do you presume to dismiss me?”
Gods, thought Eleksi.
How much longer could Neve hold the Glamour? So far, it’d worked well, but he was wary of pushing their luck. He needed to get her away from the queen.
“No, Your Majesty. But?—”
“Hush!” She held up her silk-gloved hand.
Only then did Eleksi notice a slouching figure behind the guards. He narrowed his eyes, trying to discern who was lurking. Why would Meliohr trust anyone with her dirty dealings unless she paid them for their violence, like Eleksi and the royal guards?
The queen walked to the mahogany table in the center of the room.
“Put the body on here,” she said, waving her hand at the table.
He cursed inwardly. What on earth did she want with Neve? What if she wanted to mutilate her remains?
“Don’t you wish me to dispose of the body, Your Majesty?” he asked. “I don’t recommend?—”
“I said put it down ,” responded Meliohr, her nostrils flaring. “And do not question me again, or it will be the last time.”
The air in the room became thick with tension. The guards stood straighter, and Perris took another warning step closer to Eleksi. Knowing he had no choice, he placed Neve as gently as he dared on the table.
Lying on the polished wooden surface, she still looked very much dead.
“I wanted him to see her,” muttered the queen, her eyes fixed on Neve. “Perhaps if he knows exactly where he stands, he’ll stop putting everyone in danger with his silly troublemaking.”
Meliohr nodded at the guards. They stepped aside to reveal a bent and broken King Leonid. The old man appeared to stagger under the weight of his jewel-encrusted gold crown. He wore richly embroidered finery, which was at stark odds with his pallid, sagging skin and rheumy eyes.
The queen was unspeakably callous. It wasn’t enough to believe that her rival was deceased, and no longer a threat. She wanted the king to bear witness to his dead daughter.
Had Leonid known about Neve’s existence before today? Would he speak against his wife’s cruelty? He barely appeared to know where he was, let alone possess the faculties to oppose the queen. Although, apparently he’d been trying to get messages to Prince Davron, so he must’ve been in there somewhere.
Eleksi clenched his jaw. At what point should he snatch up Neve and try to run?
Leonid’s skittish focus landed on the sorceress, who lay immobile and gray on the table. He began hobbling to her, a new determined gleam in his sickly eyes, while Meliohr stood back with a satisfied smile.