Chapter Thirty-Five
Char was waiting on the porch with dry robes. “Summons from Prince Hal.” He thrust one into Tristan’s hands. “He said it’s urgent.”
Tristan frowned. “Did he say why?”
“Only that he needs me there too,” Char said.
Austin leaned against Tristan’s side. “That all happened in front of those delegations. Could it be to do with that?”
“I’d better find out.”
Austin thought it would be very selfish to complain about nobody being left to massage his shoulders and his now-sore calves. “Where’s Eli?”
“In your territory, is he not?” Char asked.
“No, I brought him to the city. He was going to annoy—talk to Inx.”
A faintly amused look crossed Tristan’s face. “Then I’m sure Inx will have him brought back in short order.”
Austin let Tristan lead him as far as his room, where someone had set a fire, and didn’t complain even as Tristan rushed out again. He set himself down in front of the fire and, when Reba came to check on him, growled about how sore his calves were.
Reba poured out oil to rub into Austin’s legs.
“I shouldn’t take too long,” Reba said. “It’s just us, so I have to watch the gate. Well, us and Lassie. But I wouldn’t expect her to stand guard.”
“I thought your job was to guard me?” Austin asked.
“It is.”
“And where better to do that than right next to me?”
Reba’s head tilted to the side. After a second, he grinned. “I suppose you’re right. Does this feel okay?”
It wasn’t as thorough as Tristan’s touch, but it was passable. “Decent.”
A particularly strong gust of wind slammed into the outer wall. Austin heard water strike the window with force. “Eli’s in my court.”
Reba’s wings twitched. A fleeting, seeking look lifted to Austin’s face and darted quickly away.
“Do you want to be part of my court too?” Austin asked.
Reba’s hands went still on Austin’s calves. Calloused and dripping with oil, his hands stayed there as he lifted a young, hopeful face. “Really? Can I be?”
Austin’s fear of rejection eased away.
“My court, I mean. Not Tristan’s.”
Reba nodded quickly.
“If you’re in my court, then you’re more to me than just service,” Austin added.
Delight sprang forth, stubborn and bright.
“And you’ll outrank Inx.”
At that, Reba hesitated. “He’s my captain.”
“And you’re my court. So, yes or no.”
“Can we not tell Captain Inx I outrank him?” Reba asked, plaintive.
The door suddenly swung open. A drenched Lassie stood there, holding an empty plate.
“Sir, I was knocking,” Lassie said, breathless. “I was bringing you food, but—the wind took it.”
Austin’s lip curved in amusement. “I’ll come to the dining room.”
Lassie let out a breath of relief. “Thank goodness. I’ll go prepare another dish.” She went ahead, and Austin changed from his robe into clothes before following.
The storm surge was upon the estate, and wild winds whipped Austin’s hair as he and Reba stepped out, thick droplets soaking them instantly. The air smelled of salt, ozone, and lightning. Dark, angry clouds blotted out the moon and stars.
Reba hunched protectively around Austin, trying to shield him from the elements, though his wings caught the gusts like sails. He was panting with effort when they rushed into the main hall. “Maybe we should connect these buildings?” Reba suggested, shaking himself out.
“I like that they’re disconnected,” Austin replied. The fireplace had been lit, but the wind was strong enough that the fire guttered out, then relit, with each gust. “And I like the storms.”
A bang echoed from the kitchens. Austin peered down the hall.
“Lassie? Did you fall?” Austin called. It was just as likely that an open door had let in a gust and knocked over some pots.
Reba quickly disappeared down the hall, his soaked wings shedding droplets on the wooden floors.
Austin took one step to follow, but some instinct made him go still.
An uncomfortable feeling in the back of his head had him turning, and he watched a figure dressed all in grey duck through the open doors, out of the storm.
Gusts battered a pencil-thin body, and rainwater soaked his hair tight to his skull like a swim cap. Desor’s acidic gaze found Austin and latched on.
Cold crept over Austin. He gritted his teeth but forced his body to remain relaxed, refusing to let his intense dislike show.
“You are not welcome on this estate,” Austin said, his voice sharp.
“Forgive me.” Desor’s eyes burned with temper. “I did not think you’d see me otherwise.”
“Leave. Walk back to the city,” Austin ordered. Maybe a storm surge would rip him off the path and drown him.
Desor stepped forward into the entranceway. “I apologise for anything I might have done to offend you. I never intended any such slight.”
“I said leave.” An uncomfortable pressure bloomed behind Austin’s eyes.
Desor hesitated, closely examining Austin’s face, as if seeking confirmation of something.
Austin’s gaze slid to the man’s right pocket, that feeling behind his eyes growing worse. Anger spread, then rage. “Reba,” Austin called. “Come here.”
“If you could tell me what it was I did to offend you and set my own sons against me, perhaps I can rectify the mistake?” Desor’s eyes gleamed. He took another step forward, his hawkish features malicious despite his beseeching tone.
Austin thought of Desor’s punishment. Not death or torturous vengeance, but rejection. Spoiled plans, foiled power plays through total ambivalence. Tristan and Hal didn’t want to give him the time or energy. Austin curbed his instinct for holy terror.
“You’re ugly,” he said.
Desor stopped. “What?”
“You’re ugly,” Austin repeated, adding a sweet smile as he leaned forward to peer closely into Desor’s face. “How could I be with a merman with such hideous kin?”
Desor looked at Austin like a man who had just realised he wasn’t getting something to which he thought himself entitled.
“You are an unreasonable creature,” Desor said stiffly.
“And what use have I for reason?”
“And far too arrogant, when your power is easily blocked.”
Austin’s smile faded. “You’re spared the command of my voice, but so what? It’s just as easy to have Reba fly you out into the storm and drop you in the ocean. Or perhaps I’ll have him fly straight up and let go of you?”
Desor’s eyes slid to the hall Reba had disappeared down, and his shoulders relaxed.
At the same time, Reba’s failure to reappear registered.
The rest of the Troop were in the city, engaged in keeping the two delegations apart.
Tristan had gone to Hal, urgently summoned.
A tingle of alarm alerted Austin to danger, and he stood very, very still.
“Sirens desire status and prestige in their partners, don’t they? Wouldn’t you rather have Tristan as a king? The Zatic Empire is strong, but we could make it fall. We could conquer it, and then you’d be mated to a far more impressive figure.”
“We? Tristan could conquer that nation. You can’t even earn the favour of your own queen. You could do nothing when I told you to shut your mouth in court.”
Desor’s open hand cracked against Austin’s cheek.
A hot bloom spread across the side of his face, the blow shocking him silent.
For a moment, he was thrust back in time.
Cessair loomed above him. Whisky on his breath, drug-blown eyes all black pupil, his unknowable, bottomless rage focused on a single target.
Always Austin.
The wind howled.
Austin used to lower his eyes. The shame of how he’d cowered and yielded stung like a thousand needles.
Cessair had no heart to warm. No real affections to stir. The man looming above him now was the same sort. A revulsion so strong rose in him that he almost gagged. How could such people exist? Even Cessair’s psychotic henchman Rick had cared for dogs.
Austin raised his eyes.
Satisfaction glinted in Desor’s eyes. He caught Austin by the chin, yanking his face up. He stared at the cheek he’d struck, a repulsive eagerness in his eyes as he mapped out the handprint of red.
“Your kind always forget how weak you are on land.” Fingers dug bruises into Austin’s jaw. “I trained that weakness out of Tristan. I made him strong. You should thank me for it.”
Austin felt a burn on the right side of his body, his power flowing away from whatever was in Desor’s pocket. But whatever it was, it wasn’t enough. “Don’t let him touch me.”
A gust racing past them in the room suddenly curved, whipping up Austin’s hair as it diverted around him like a wave crashing around a stone, and it smashed head-on into Desor.
Desor’s feet left the ground as he flew backwards, the gust carrying him several feet before he fell with a crash onto the flagstone path. Something cracked.
Austin followed.
“He’s strong in spite of you, not because of you.” Austin’s blood roared as the winds whipped at his clothes and hair. Water crashed over his feet. The ocean engulfed the flagstone paths in furious, churning waves. In the courtyard, a whirlpool began forming, Charybdis making a hungry bid for life.
Desor rose to his knees, dazed and shaking. His eyes were as wild as the storm as his gaze flashed around in utter panic. “His throat!” he cried out suddenly. “Shut his mouth, and he’s powerless!”
Nothing happened. Austin followed Desor’s gaze to a trellised pathway, where a flash of lightning illuminated Reba’s bat wings arched wide, and Oran lunging for soft membrane with a sword.
Reba’s boot connected with the back of Oran’s knee.
Blackness. Thunder rumbled, and lightning lit them again.
Reba on top, Oran beneath him. Eager waves raced to help.
“Is this how you took Hal from Tristan?” Austin asked. Tricked Tristan away, cornered Hal on land where he was vulnerable.
Desor scrabbled past Austin into the hall, but the water was as high as Austin’s knees now, and the building was quickly filling. Tables shook and fell, candles extinguishing in water and glow stones were swallowed whole. Everything went dark.