Page 65 of Shade of Ruin

For people that are supposed to be as cold as possible, they’re doing a terrible job at showing that. Then again, I don’t think there’s anything in the world that makes either of them as furious as the other one.

Then I see the look in King Casimir’s eyes. While there’s been rage simmering since he walked into this room, it’s no longer simmering. What I’d thought of as a bonfire before has turned into an inferno.

Cole sees it just as clearly as I do, and when Casimir raises his hand, Cole stands up. An explosion of fire rips through through the air, directly toward my head, but Cole reaches out…and catches it.

“If you do that again,” Cole says, very slowly and evenly as he snuffs out the fire he’s holding, “I will walk away from this court forever, and you will have to protect yourself against the House of Steel. If a single hair on my betrothed is harmed, I will abandon my family name and duties, and you will be left alone to deal with King Gethin. If history repeats itself, which I would be surprised if it doesn’t, then this entire House will be gone long before Gethin ever considers giving up the Painted Crown.”

When Casimir leaps to his feet, his hands are wreathed in flames. I should be afraid of those hands, but it’s his eyes that terrify me. Pure, unadulterated anger lies there. Every bit is turned toward me.

“Go to my chambers,” Cole says softly. “Now.”

I scoot back from my chair and walk backward until I get to the door, not wanting to give the most dangerous predator in the world my back. As soon as I leave the dining hall, an explosion fills the air, and I can feel Cole’s pain rocket through me. My chest is burning. Pure anguish fills me as it radiates down my arms.

I scream, and a pair of scaled hands wrap around my waist when I fall to the ground right outside the dining hall. “Let me take you to Master Cole’s chambers. You’ll be safe there,” the serpentine voice whispers in my ear.

I turn and see the kind face of Nevan as more agony shoots through me, this time starting from my chest and moving across my shoulders. “The betrothal bond is powerful,” Nevan whispers, “but distance will help. Do not worry about Master Cole. He is… strong.”

How could anyone be strong enough for this? I look down at my chest, and there’s nothing wrong. My chest feels like it’s been burned beyond repair. It’s like I’ve been shoved into a fire and held there, my chest pressed against the embers.

My shoulders hurt nearly as badly, but Nevan’s right. As we increase the distance between me and Cole, the pain fades until I can feel where his father is hurting him, but it’s not exactly pain. Nevan looks down at me as he sets me into a chair and says, “Master Cole will need… help. Would you like to be the one to do this? Or would you prefer me to?”

I look up at Nevan and see the concern in those slitted eyes. “Can I do it? Or will I hurt more than help him?”

Nevan slowly shrugs. “I don’t know you, Lady. If Master Cole trusts you enough to make you his betrothed, I assume you are important to him. I can explain how to care for him when his father is done.”

I nod to Nevan, not entirely sure that I’m capable of helping Cole. Especially with how bad I know the wounds are going to be. I’d thought I was strong, and I was for a human. I hadn’t known what real strength was, though. The memory of that pain is fading, but when I look down and don’t see charred flesh, I’m still surprised.

“I’ll take care of him,” I whisper. “Just tell me what to do.”

Cole knew that this was going to happen. That’s why he wouldn’t let me calm the situation down. He had pushed the conflict with his father so that he would know exactly when and where it would happen. If he’d left it alone, if he’d let me brush things over with Casimir, we could have made it through the dinner without this.

Cole’s not here because he wants to be. He’s here because we have plans, and he knows that he and his father will eventually come to blows. He’d rather it happen now than at some worse time and place.

Another shock rips through me as Cole’s lower back is burned in a wide arc. Another and another. Like lashes made of flame. Tears fall as I understand exactly what Cole is going through.

Nevan steps out of the room and comes back in almost immediately. A crystal pitcher filled with a shining silver liquid rests on a tray alongside several cloth rags and an entire bag of clean linen bandages. “Wipe the burns with this medicine. Make sure that no clothes or anything is stuck in the burns, and afterward, wrap them in bandages. This is not the first time that Master Cole has been burned like this, Lady. He will know what to do as well, but do not let him try. He will miss spots, and that will keep him from healing correctly. The liquid must be on all of him. Miss nothing.”

I nod to Nevan, and he bows, but I stop him before he leaves the room. “Nevan, was it awkward or strange the first time you helped Cole with his… punishments? I’m a little nervous.”

“Why would it be awkward? I’ve been tending to Master Cole’s punishments since he was in diapers.” Each time he says an ‘s’, it comes out as a hiss, but I barely even notice it. “I think he will be happy to have you tend to them, so there’s no reason to be nervous, Lady.” He gives me another bow and walks out of the room, the door closing behind him.Since he was in diapers.This has been part of Cole’s life forever. I take a deep breath as the tears flow freely. More, smaller burns strike my upper arms. Another across my chest. I close my eyes and imagine Cole being wounded like this in that beautiful dining hall. His father’s hands are ablaze as he screams at his son. Or maybe he’s not screaming. Maybe he’s done arguing with Cole and just wants him to suffer. Maybe he’s smiling.

How is Cole not dead? I want to run to him, to pull him away from the madman that is his father. I could reach out with my shadows and kill Casimir. I learned how to do it, and he’d never suspect me.

When I lift my hands, I know that there’s no possibility that I could create shadows right now. No, right now, I don’t think I could do anything magical at all because I’m terrified that Cole won’t survive this. No matter what Nevan says, I know how many burns are on Cole’s body. I know how broken I’d be if I had experienced the same thing as him.

Then again, Nevan seems to have known Cole and his father for far longer than I have. I try to relax. Cole won’t need a crying fiancée sitting in his room when his father’s done torturing him. He’ll need a strong woman who can care for his wounds. One who isn’t afraid of her betrothed’s pain.

I take a deep breath and stand up. Up against a corner of the room, next to a chest of drawers, is my spear and traveling pack. I pick up the spear and run my thumb along the glyph, feeling the familiar texture of the yew wood. I’ve done things that were impossible compared to anything that humans had ever seen. I’m not human, though. My mother was the Queen of Shadows. I’m stronger than this place.

A sense of calm washes over me, and I finally survey the room that I was brought to. Cole’s chambers. The floors, walls, and ceiling are all made of that same red marble, but the furnishings of his chambers are drastically different. The bed is a large four-poster one that’s far larger than I’ve ever seen before. Made of a dark wood, it contrasts with the walls and floor. The multiple chests of drawers are a matching dark wood. All of it seems so simple compared to the dining room table.

For someone like Cole Cyrus, the Prince of Flames, this seems so minimalistic. He could have opulence everywhere, like the rest of the Keep. Instead, it’s just a handful of well-made pieces of furniture. Against one wall is a bookshelf filled with leather-bound books, something I’m not used to seeing.

I take another deep breath and realize that this room smells like Cole. Even though he’s been gone for many years, the scentof him was so strong that even now it’s on everything in the room.

That scent calls to me, even as my body is rocked by what should be pain but isn’t. Even as I know that Cole’s being tortured by his father, I feel calmed while I’m here. That spiced amber scent is everywhere, and something inside me says that I’m safer here than anywhere else in the world.

I put the spear back against the chest of drawers and settle into the high-backed chair to wait. The shocks through my body come slower and weaker now. Casimir is getting tired, and I prepare myself. There’s clarity in me now. I’d hoped that touching my spear would bring that sense of peace that I always find in the woods, but it just let me push past the shock enough to recognize Cole’s scent.

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