Page 19 of The Jester

There is a knock on the door. I know it is Briony even before she says, “My lord? You called for me?”

“Enter.”

Leaning against the mantle with my forearm, I purposefully do not look at the maid. I have known her too long, and she knows me too well. Her family were sold to mine six centuries ago. And while her father and brothers had to be extinguished, she has always been loyal to a fault.

I trust her.

And that is an unnerving sensation.

“We have guests arriving,” I say darkly. “One of them – a female Leafborne – is to be given her own chambers. She is...” I hesitate, unsure how to phrase my intentions, “special to me, Briony.”

Now, I do turn around.

Briony is standing by the door, small wings tightly folded against her back, dark eyes watching me.

“Do you understand?”

She nods, swallowing forcefully. “I believe so, my lord.”

“I am entrusting her to you. You’re to serve her. See she’s fed and clothed. She can travel freely throughout the castle but she cannot leave.” I walk slowly towards the petite Shadowkind. “You will ensure she understands that attempting to leave is futile?”

Briony casts her eyes down to her forearms. While hers are bare and untarnished, there are many here who bear the marks of escape attempts. I allow them one chance – one opportunity to explore just how hopeless their situation is – before I dish out a final, fatal punishment.

“I will make sure she understands, my lord.” Briony hesitates. She worries her fingers together and glances towards the table where my whisky sits. “And you, my lord? Will you be eating this evening?”

I turn away from her, growling deep in the back of my throat. “I will not.”

“May I speak freely, my lord?” Briony’s voice trembles.

“You may not.” I pick up a glass, pour some whisky, and gesture to the door. “What you may do is leave me. Henrik knows which rooms I have assigned my guest. Have him give you the key.”

There is a pause, which always follows after I mention Henrik’s name in Briony’s presence. But I do not interrogate it. Although I forbid the Shadowkind from fornicating under my roof, it is the one area in which I tend to show leniency; they need something to keep their spirits from breaking.

“Very good, my lord.” Briony exits quietly, and I wait until her footsteps have disappeared down the hall before sighing loudly.

Although my chambers are located in a secluded part of the castle, even they are beginning to feel too much. Dimly lit by flickering lanterns, there are rich tapestries on the walls – inherited from my parents – and a perpetual scent of old books in the air. They used to bring me comfort. I used to revel in my solitude, catching snatches of it between banquets and meetings with the Sunborne courtiers.

But ever since I found out about her, I have come to hate them more and more.

She infects my thoughts. Visions of her torment my mind day and night.

And there is no escape.

Except . . .

I stride over to the door and throw the bolts across it. Then I close my eyes and mutter the incantation that will bring the past into the present.

“Mael’kor vistrae, ekan’thar nost’rae. Shar’il minae, thaes’kor nost’rae...”

The air begins to shimmer, then it parts like a scissor cut in a piece of fabric, a large black hole forming in front of my eyes. Bracing myself, I step through it. Into the memory.

It is dark here too, but I wait, knowing there will soon be a flicker of heat in the corner of the room.

Sure enough, there it is. Fire blooms in the grate, and the rest of the room materialises slowly. A cabin. Small, wooden, leaves snaking in through gaps in the roof and dropping in tendril-like vines down the walls.

On the floor, in front of the fire, a sheepskin rug. Pale. Soft.

The door behind me clatters open. I move to one side, even though I know they cannot see me because, although this is real, it is not now.

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