Page 12 of Avaritia

“What’s a… ostecta?” No one had ever mentioned them to me before, but then again, no Shades had actually seen Fester since Shades weren’t allowed in Elverston House, let alone my bedroom.

“A similar creature, but with eight eyes—spread all around its head—and longer, sharper teeth that protrude below its jaw.”

Well, that sounded horrific. Like some sort of cat-spider-sabertooth nightmare.

“They do not live inside homes,” Aderith added disapprovingly. “They are wild beasts who make their homes in the forest.”

“Fester was a wild beast once,” I replied sincerely. A wild, feral alley cat on the mean streets of Denver.”

Aderith looked impressed. “And you tamed him?”

“Sure.” If by tamed, she meant bribed with food until he loved me. I didn’t want to ruin the impression that I was a total badass, though. It was a smidge dishonest, but it might come in handy for them to think I was tougher than I was.

Maybe some of Astrid’s frustrated warnings had penetrated the all vibes, no stress fog that usually permeated my brain.

“Do you think he’ll be able to roam around inside?” I asked Aderith. “He’s very friendly, and he was so bored being cooped up at court.”

“There are no other animals within these walls to harm him,” Aderith responded cautiously. “And the doors and windows are always shut against the rain. However, I would advise you give His Grace time to warn his sister first…”

Noted. No letting Fester out until the sister was under control.

The faucet above the bath required some manual pumping, but steaming hot water came out which was a nice perk—no basement trip required. Aderith excused herself to put fresh sheets on the bed while I holed up in the bathroom, Fester sitting on the wide ledge of the circular tub to supervise and scold me for disrupting his schedule.

“I know, I know.” I stripped out of my tulle and fishnets, peeling slightly damp panties down my legs because my savior complex had manifested in my vagina. “But he needs me. And it’s nice to get away from court for a little while, don’t you think?”

Hopefully, the wooden door was thick, or Aderith had a front-row seat to my one-sided conversation with my cat. Then again, she seemed to be the nonjudgmental type. Surely, they’d have to be here to live with Theon and Melody-Rainywillow, neither of whom struck me as the cool, no-drama sorts.

“Remember when you were just a sad little street cat, hissing and scratching everyone and everything?” I asked Fester, lowering myself into the steaming tub. “And I showered you with love and food and turned you into the charming young man you are today? That might be my superpower. I fixed you. I can fix him.”

I tipped my head back against the ledge, careful to keep my hair dry. Somewhere in the depths of my psyche was a warning voice telling me that I was on the fast track to misery again, but I was great at ignoring that. When I wanted to put on rose-tinted glasses and turn those red flags into parade decorations, I really committed.

But this was different. Theon wasn’t Sebastian.

Sebastian would have never claimed to have kidnapped me—or fake kidnapped me, or whatever was going on here. He would have jokingly told everyone that I’d kidnapped him, or that he’d been trying to shake me off for years but couldn’t get rid of me. I’d always introduced him as my “better half,” and he’d all “tee-hee, I just found her wandering around outside and she won’t leave me alone,” and all his elitist college buddies would laugh and laugh, and I’d smile so hard it felt like my face was going crack in two while I died of embarrassment on the inside.

In the hour or so that I’d known Theon, I had already established that he was riddled with flaws, but I didn’t think that would be one of them. And it wasn’t like I didn’t have flaws of my own. Theon would see them soon enough, and probably ship me back to Elverston House to molder away the remainder of my hottest years in a crumbling ruin.

Aderith was gone by the time I climbed out of the cooling water. I dried off, wrapping myself in a towel, and headed into the maze of bags and boxes my room had become. Wilder had clearly been busy. Huh. How was I going to get stuff now? I’d become reliant on casually mentioning things I needed—in the very loosest sense of the word—to Astrid whenever I ran into her around the palace, and then they’d just magically show up outside my door sometime later.

Maybe I could have a standing shopping order for hair and beauty supplies, scented candles, Fester’s food, and bath bombs. I was a simple girl—so long as I could feed my cat, slather my face in absurdly expensive retinol, and drown out the smell of my sorrows with frangipani and sea salt candles, I could be happy anywhere.

After hunting through my things, I managed to find my pepto-pink fuzzy bathrobe and matching slippers, fully intending to get properly dressed into something sexy after I’d warmed up a bit.

I doubted Theon was going to need any encouragement—his options were basically fuck me or die—but I still wanted to make an effort.

Saving lives was good, honest work, and I wanted to treat it with the respect it deserved.

I shoved a few boxes around to make a walkway between the three doors and the bed, eager to pull out the swathes of pink fabric and hang them on the walls tomorrow. This room desperately needed a pop of color once I had some space to move around in.

Closet, I decided, making for the third door. I’d fill the closet with my everyday pieces and then figure out how to organize the rest.

Except when I opened the wooden door, I didn’t find the storage space I’d expected to find.

I found a staircase. A narrow, winding stone one that led upward, faintly illuminated by a silver orb somewhere above me, though I couldn’t see where.

Carefully pulling the door shut behind me so Fester couldn’t escape, I started the climb, keeping my hand flat against the rough-hewn wall for balance. Was this some kind of servants’ passage? That could be handy, especially if it led to the kitchens. Though presumably, those would be downstairs, not up.

It didn’t take me long to find myself in front of another wooden door. Surprisingly, it opened easily, swinging out to reveal a far fancier bedroom than the one I was sleeping in directly below.

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