Page 28 of The Goddesses' Gifts

I let her into the washroom and started drawing up a bath for her. I added crushed lavender and oil to the water. She frowned at me though. “I don’t want to smell nice.”

“It’s medicinal, girl,” I explained, though I didn’t need to. “We use it for swelling and it will help keep infection out of any cuts. The scent soothes the nerves.”

“Oh,” she nodded, blushing a little, sinking into the encircling blankets. “I knew that. I just assumed … the wrong intention.”

“I understand,” I nodded. “I’ll go find someone to get you more clothes. I’ll lock the door.” I didn’t explain that I was one of many with the key. This washroom was for me and other officers, but it was out of the way. It didn’t get frequented as often as the communal bath house unless one really needed to tend to aches and relax. “I won’t be gone long.”

When I returned with clothes, she was in the tub reclined and fumbling to get a comb through her hair. Her hands were swollen, the knuckles scabbed over, but her wrists were a faded green, which meant they’d been at least blue before Bhekna had been to see her. I cast a shadow over the surface of the water and held out a hand for the comb. She gave me an odd look and slapped the tool into my hand.

“I didn’t realize how bad the tangles were,” she murmured almost apologetically.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get them,” I said with a gentle voice. “We have an oil for that too.” I retrieved the vial I needed from a cabinet under the dressing table and pulled a stool up to sit behind her, where she’d let the dark brown locks drape over the edge and away from the water. I shucked out of my jacket and rolled up my sleeves. It took a while to work the oil into the massive amount of hair.

“You’re very quiet,” she said after a while. I wasn’t paying attention to the time. My aides and Dulanzo could see to anything that needed me while I hid away. At least I was doing something that could help someone, even though I’d indirectly caused her woes. It wouldn’t cure the powerlessness, but it was something.

“So are you,” I replied.

“But you know why I am,” she snorted indelicately. “I have to wonder about your motives. Because nobody does anything here without one, do they.” And it wasn’t a question either, just a very accurate observation.

I sighed. “I assure you, my motives are extremely selfish, though they only involve seeing to your well-being, nothing more.”

“He knows you didn’t do anything to me the other day.”

“I know,” I answered. “Unfortunately, he made me do something worse today.”

“Something unforgivable?”

“Yes,” I hissed. “Utterly unforgivable.” The words prodding the fury and grief I’d shoved so far down that all I’d been left with was a manageable numbness. “And I dare not speak of it because this care I’m giving you is important, somehow, and it requires a gentle hand.” As if this wayward kindness would fix anything. It wouldn’t restore the natural course of those boys’ journey to adulthood. It wouldn’t bring Rhemvile back. It wouldn’t ingratiate her mates the way sparing her the twisted affections of their brother would have. I failed. And now there were only pieces to be picked up and handled carefully so I didn’t get cut … by the broken edges or blades. I could only implore the Shattered God to show me the way to wield these jagged pieces and rid us of the despot that laid them all at my feet.

I leaned in close to Ozanna’s ear and summoned the thinnest layer of silence I could without drawing attention, and whispered in a seething hiss, “Your mates will make their move in mere hours. We will have our revenge.”

She turned her head, so we were almost nose to nose, my hands resting on her bruised shoulders to keep her from moving too far from the delicate silence I’d woven about our heads. I was braced to fight the surge of lust I anticipated at such closeness, but I was simply too numb to feel it, if it happened at all.

Her eyes were wide, but I saw a spark of ferocity within them. “Tell me. How can I escape and aid them?” she asked in a whisper.

“They have no other option than to call Dulanzo out for a duel,” I explained. “When you hear the great bell, use the lockpicks I know you have.” She twitched in surprise. I grinned, though it was a harsh thing. “The bell will summon everyone to the main cavern, and we shall ascend a staircase to the tunnels that lead to the surface, to meet your mates and witness the duel. Wait as long as you can to follow. The further behind you are, the less likely you will be noticed. But, they will send someone to collect you from the prison, so you can’t wait too long after they’ve split from the rest to follow.”

“They can’t kill him in a duel, Zelfek,” she whispered furiously. “I broke a knife on his flesh.”

It was my turn to be surprised. I’d allied myself with quite a resourceful creature! To not only procure a knife from her prison cell, but actually land the blow, no matter how useless the attempt had been, was impressive.

“They can if he isn’t surrounded by the stone of the mountain,” I hissed. “He’s bound the tutelar spirit of the mountain to himself. He’s left this strong hold a handful of times over the last two hundred years because of it. It’s how he holds power here apart from the city. If your mates can draw him out in a duel, he will be far easier to kill.”

“He can be strangled,” she said, eyes burning. “He can be killed without these games.”

“You don’t understand,” I growled, “he would bring the entire mountain down if we were to attempt it. The walls act as his ears. The very stone beneath our feet tells him where we are if he has a mind to look. The way the spirit’s magic is woven through every granule of stone means he can detect the most subtle magic. Even this thin veil of silence I’ve conjured may be detectable.” I gestured vaguely about our heads. “If we cannot guarantee instant death, he will likely take everyone with him. Unless we get him to leave the power behind.”

“By leaving the fortress,” she groaned unhappily. “You’re sure he will do that for a duel?”

“He’d have no choice,” I confirmed. “I would not wish the treatment you received at his hands on anyone, Ozanna. Believe me. But to free the people here of his rule, I would do worse. Have done worse.”

She eyed me thoughtfully. “I’ve done my fair share of deplorable things for the right reasons.”

I sneered. “Deplorable is easy. Pretending to be decent these few days to gain your trust has been hard,” I thought out loud.

The fury in her eyes gave way to something soft and sad. “Somehow, I don’t think that’s the case.”

I didn’t know how to interpret that. Did she mean that I wasn’t pretending, or had she intuitively come to some conclusion I wasn’t aware of. Regardless, I didn’t want to know.

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