Page 15 of A Reign of Roses
“Find the blade, Kane.”
When I lifted my bleary eyes to him, the Fae God was gone. The polished walls replaced by that grim cobbled stone. Bone-deep chill where there had been warmth. And my inedible meat pie, growing cold beside a dying hearth.
4
Arwen
I knew my lighte hadreturned the moment I’d opened my eyes. It had only been four days since my last harvesting. Usually it took a week. This was some kind of record.
The days in which my lighte regenerated were the most hopeful, and thus the very hardest, and I took steadying, soothing breaths to remind myself of that fact before I got carried away.
Just the tingle of power at my fingertips was enough to send my mind down a thousand varied, unorganized paths:Set the entire room ablaze and make a run for it when they come for you. Use your round lighte shield as a battering ram and bowl yourself through the locked doors. Hold Maddox hostage with those long strands of white sun and force the guards to let you leave.
I’d lost days swept up in those fantasies. Breaking free. Running all the way home. Scooping Leigh into my arms. Mari’s bright hair, Dagan’s loving scowl…
And then I’d have to remind myself of the reality: by the time mylighte regenerated even close to enough to enact any of those plans, I’d be harvested once again.
But the lighte in my veins didn’t only mean power. Life, strength,energyreturned to my body and the urge to take off running, to move and stretch andfightwas just shy of agonizing. I hadn’t run in months—maybe the longest stretch I’d gone since childhood—and I missed the meditation most on days like this, when I knew I actuallycouldmove if I so chose. It was like being given sacks of coin and sent into an overflowing, glittering candy shop only to learn the sweets tasted of someone else’s spit.
Conjuring a similar taste in my mouth, Maddox smacked my doors open and leveled a glare at me. “The king wishes to see you in the baths.”
My heart darted like a hare from a hawk.
“Now?” A stupid question.
Maddox’s expression told me he agreed. “Yes, now.”
I crawled from the bed, still in one of the fussy collared nightgowns I’d been gifted. When I’d searched the suite my first week here, I’d found drawers upon drawers—an entire closet—piled high with finery of every dense fabric and opulent, jewel-toned color. Teal and caramel and emerald dresses, gold-threaded shoes, diamond drop earrings.
I’d never wanted to set so many nice things on fire so badly.
Swatting away the fog of sleep, I made my way to the armoire and scrunched my nose up at the scent of apricot syrup that permeated the wardrobe. I could only imagine the entire castle had been spelled to make all the dust and cobwebs smell like pungent fruit, and I’d come to despise the fragrance. I missed mothballs.
I’d just wrapped a hand around one dresser knob when Maddox called out, “You won’t need to change.”
I sucked in a shaking breath, still facing the armoire.Don’t give that gargoyle the satisfaction of your fear,Kane’s voice commanded in my head.
Maddox and Wyn escorted me down a hallway I’d only pictured for two months on end. I’d been stored in that tower like supplies for the winter—and the new sights were as unnerving and exquisite as I’d imagined.
A feat of industrial power and intricacy: wheels and cogs, iron and steel, gold and diamond and rubies. The marble floor, red and reflective as glossy blood. Impossibly high ceilings, interior archways that served as bustling bridges from one wing to the next, balconies and windows offering glimpses into elegant, manicured courtyards absent of flowers, ringed instead with immaculately sheared hedges. Not a single leaf out of place.
The scent of ash was thick in the air. My nostrils stung as I asked Wyn, “Was there a kitchen fire?”
His limp appeared to be bothering him today. He favored his good leg as he struggled to keep up with Maddox and me. “Sometimes it rains right after dawn.”
I blinked at him, though he kept his soft hazel eyes ahead of us. “Sometimes it rains…ash?”
Wyn shook his head like that would’ve been ridiculous. “Fire.”
Of course. Of course itrained firein Solaris. I didn’t even bother to ask how Lazarus convinced his court that it was nothing to concern themselves with. How the people outside the walled city protected themselves. I didn’t care to hear the truth or the lies.
I’d noticed handmaidens in those dark uniforms slip through passages that blended seamlessly into the walls, or open doors that were made to look like bookshelves, or move aside statues that sat atop entire hidden sets of stairs.
A winding palace of tricks and lies. I shouldn’t have expected anything else.
But after being bound like veal in that suite, I was grateful for the exposure. I was grateful even for the long distance between wings. The castle’s bridges and pathways were like a twining labyrinth and must’ve spanned more miles than all of Abbington. My tower seemed at the very opposite of wherever these baths were.
Baths.And Maddox telling me not to change out of my nightgown…The time had likely come. Despite the roiling nausea, I kept placing one foot after another. I had to be strong if I wanted to live.
