Page 57 of Her Dark Reflection

Gathering my skirts, my thoughts, and my composure, I packed the whole encounter into a little box in my head and shoved it to the side. I slipped the apple into the pouch in my skirts, and it sat heavily against my leg as I made my way back down the stairs. I stopped by the fireplace as I left the room, checking my hair and contorting my face until I wore a convincing expression of serenity and self-assurance. By the time I entered the ballroom, I had smothered the tumult of the feelings Draven had left me to battle and banished him from my mind completely. It was as though the whole incident had happened months ago.

I picked out the positions of Sherman, Dovegni, and Prince Tallius as I made my way across the room, noting the shifty glances they threw in my direction. They would require careful monitoring. They had clearly taken against me, and I suspected a campaign to convince them I wasn’t a threat and to get them on side would be futile. Or perhaps I just resented the idea of crawling on my belly for such slimy creatures. What were their agendas? Dovegni, with all his harping on about expanding recruitment, wanted more power, I supposed. And I assumed he would be opposed to the sanctum taking sole charge of the courts. He wouldn’t want to be sidelined in cases of unsanctioned magic use, but I also suspected the sanctum was opposed to all magic in general. Perhaps there was a fine line between persecuting people to protect the secrets of the guild and making the guild itself a target. And perhaps I needed to honour my promise of funding in order to show Dovegni that I wasn’t his enemy. Though the thought filled me with disgust, it could be easily achieved and would perhaps placate him for a while.

Sherman, on the other hand, was likely just the sort of leech who attached himself to people of influence, given that he had saddled me with his daughter as one of my ladies-in-waiting, so I suspected he had simply thrown in his lot with Dovegni because it seemed the quickest route to gorging himself on power. And then there was Tallius, the golden prince who clearly believed his engagement to Gwinellyn was all but set in stone. But that didn’t quite align with what I’d heard from Linus. Perhaps it was something I needed to burrow into further to determine just how secure the likelihood of an engagement was. It would give me somewhere to start, at the very least.

I jolted when a hand clamped onto my forearm and tugged me to a halt.

‘Where have you been?’ Linus growled into my ear from behind.

I tried to shrug him off, but his grip was tight. ‘Are you mad? People are looking at us,’ I hissed back, and after a moment he let me pull away and turn to face him.

‘You are supposed to be my hostess.’ His nostrils flared as he spoke and I could see his temper in the red flush on his neck and the tops of his ears. ‘You don’t vanish when we have guests. You stay where I can see you.’

I eyed him coldly as I grappled with the desire to rebuke him for giving me orders like that, like I was one of his dogs. ‘I was feeling faint after so much dancing and needed some air,’ I said finally, when I was sure I could keep my tone mild.

‘Then you’ve done enough dancing for the night.’ His hand was back on my arm, and he began steering me across the room, apparently oblivious to the covert glances we were attracting. ‘It’s time for you to retire.’

‘I thought you wanted me to play hostess?’ I allowed him to pull me along towards the entrance to the hall, where a waiting Leela curtsied, eyes downcast.

He didn’t respond, thrusting me towards her with a small shove. ‘I will be up to visit you later.’

My gaze darted to his face, to the strange mixture of rage and desire in his expression. ‘I’m exhausted. I think I’ll be asleep.’

He leaned in a little closer and dropped his voice to a low snarl.‘I will be up to visit you later.’

He turned and stormed back into the ball, his composure not quite slipping back into place, and I stood frozen, watching him go as shock and indignation and a little dread curdled inside me.

‘Come along, ma’am,’ Leela coaxed softly, shooting a hostile look at the retreating king. ‘You can always lock the door.’

Istoodbeforethemirror and let the magic do its work. There was that face, the one that felt unfamiliar now, that no longer seemed my own, and for once I stayed to look at it a little longer. I raised my hand and brushed my fingertips over my skin until the memories of feral heat and dirty hands overwhelmed me, until my heart began to race, my chest tightened, and my throat felt raw with bygone screams, then I turned away with a shudder and closed the door of the cupboard. It was a reminder I needed, a reminder to stay the course and not let my temper or my sympathies get the better of me. I may have climbed to the position I had wanted, had managed to marry a king and wrangle a crown, but I couldn’t take it for granted. My marriage could be brought to heel if I could just swallow my distaste long enough to charm Linus back into his better self.

Later that night, the sound of heavy footsteps approaching roused me from my doze. The footsteps paused by the door, and the latch rattled.

‘Let me in,’ Linus demanded.

I rose from my bed, donned a robe, and wrapped it round myself.

‘Now.’ The latch jangled again.

I placed my palm against the wood of the door. ‘I think you should go to your own bed.’

The sound of his fist thumping rattled the quiet of the night. ‘Open the door.’

I swallowed, remembering my resolve to charm him, and turned the key, taking several steps back as Linus swung the door open and stormed in. He fixed on me and rushed towards me with his hands outstretched, enveloping me and pressing his greedy mouth to mine. He stank of liquor, and I turned my face away.

‘You’re drunk,’ I gasped, pushing against him.

‘Then you’ll take me drunk. Have I not paid for your services in advance? Have I not married you and made myself the laughing stock of the three kingdoms?’ he snarled. ‘If I want you, then I will have you.’

I shuddered as he his hands fumbled with my robe, and I struggled free of him. ‘Get away from me,’ I snapped, holding out my hands to keep him at bay.

His face twisted, his lip curling, and he continued his advance, backing me towards the bed. My heart began to pound, and I thought I caught a phantom whiff of singed hair, heard a ghostly echo of jeering voices. I struggled to keep my breathing even, trying to keep control of myself, to not let myself become overwhelmed by the panic I could feel stirring deep inside, by the scream that was beginning to bubble in my chest.

I curled in on myself, making myself small, letting my fear paint my face as I gazed up at him and gently laid a trembling hand against his cheek.

The gesture did as it was intended to; he blinked at the soft touch, the anger clearing from his eyes for a moment.

‘Let me tend to you first,’ I pleaded. ‘Sit by the fire. You must be exhausted. You should drink some water and have something to eat.’ I took his hand, and he didn’t resist as I led him to an armchair and sat him down, smoothing at his hair as I did.

---