Page 117 of Vicious Princess
“What? The royal coffers are empty?” the giant says, a mocking smirk curling his mouth. “Wetra isn’t doing as well as they want us to believe, huh?”
“I wouldn’t know anything about the royal coffers of Wetra, considering I’m not a damn royal,” I shoot back. Everyone’s looking at me now. “And I do not fuck my brother. In fact, I don’t have a brother.”
They’re silent.
I lean back into my chair, then cross my arms over my chest. “Any more rumors you have that you would like me to address?”
“Nah, I think that pretty much covers it,” Julian says and returns his attention to the cards.
“Did you make Kata disappear?” Fern pins me with her gaze.
It’s not accusing, nor it is hateful. It’s simply…full of cautious curiosity.
Before I say the words, I make sure I meet every pair of eyes around the table. “I had nothing to do with her disappearance.”
Fern shrugs. “Had to ask. After you almost drowned her in the flaming honey…it made us wonder.”
“Well, you don’t have to wonder anymore. I didn’t do anything to her. I’m as much in the dark as any of you are.” The lie slips smoothly from my tongue. “Anything else?”
“That’s boring,” Bloom says. “I hear so many wild stories about Wetrans. None of them seem to be true.”
I arch an eyebrow. “Stories like what? Incest?”
She cackles. “Not only. My grandma told me about the humans who live in the dry mountains of Wetra, who hunt otherhumans and then bathe in their blood. Afterwards, they skin their victims, break their skulls, and eat their brains because they believe that by eating their brains, they can steal their wisdom.”
A laugh bubbles out of me. “I’ve never heard anything more morbid and absurd than that.”
Bloom shakes her head. “As I said, disappointing.”
“My grandma told me stories of a human clan living somewhere deep in the woods who perform wicked full moon rituals that involve orgies and drinking sperm for longevity and vitality,” Catalina says.
Marin pulls out another card and sets it on the table. Seven of Cups.
“It’s not humans who do it. It used to be a practice forest fae clans engaged in,” Fern says.
Catalina purses her lips. “Ah, really? My grandma has a drinking problem, so she sometimes mixes up her facts, especially at her age. Now that I think about it, it sounds exactly like something fae would do.”
Everyone at the table laughs. I laugh, too. For a moment, my heart is light. I forget why I’m here, in Ekios, fighting for my place in the Order of Ezkai. I forget Daegel and the tear his betrayal left in my heart.
Just for a moment, I let myself enjoy the present and what life could look like, if only I let myself be.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
I’m roused from sleep by someone shoving me out of my bunk bed.
Again.
Cursing under my breath, I peel myself off the cold stone floor. Chaos reigns in the barracks, with a dozen Ezkai dragging the cadets out of their beds.
One of the Ezkai barks orders. “Get up! Time to go! Get dressed! NOW!”
With a groan, I head to my chest to start dressing. Roman looks even less pleased about the early wake-up call than me.
“I’m too hangover for this shit,” he murmurs, pushing his hand into the sleeve of his jacket just to realize it’s not a jacket, but his pants.
Amused, I chuckle. “That’s what you get for drinking yourself stupid at the game.”
With a groan, he manages to pull his leather pants on. “That homemade fermented blackberry ale was too delicious to pass on.”
