Page 26 of Of Nightmares & Fire
It's only a moment later that the door swings open again and I come face-to-face with the jade green eyes I know and love. The emotion from everything floods from me. Tears stream down my face, and snot clogs my nose. She sits on the floor with me, and we start rocking. I’m not sure if it's her or me, but when I can finally see through the moisture in my eyes, I see that she is crying too.
“We tried,” she whispers, as her lip trembles, and I nod. “We tried.” She says again, and her thumb strikes a line under my eye, wiping away the tears, and I sniff the snot that has worked its way into my breakdown. I lock my gaze to hers.
“If I leave again, you are coming with me.” She nods immediately, agreeing with my declaration with a sad smile. We both know there is no way that my father is letting me get away again. It wouldtake a miracle to be so lucky. No. She may not know it yet, but I can feel something shifting within me. I’m getting tired of living my life being told what I have to do. “I'm glad you’re here.” I finally say.
“They can't get rid of me that easily.” She jokes, but her smile still doesn’t reach her eyes as she stands. She grits her teeth, but she doesn’t complain as she helps me to my feet.
“Are you okay? Your back, I mean. Kellan told me that he brought youa salve.”I ask, whispering the last word. She shakes her head.
“Yea, he did. I don’t blame him for what happened, you know?” She asks, and I dip my chin. She doesn’t have to say who she blames. It's the same man I blame for nearly everything bad that has ever happened in my life, but I also blame myself.
“I know. I'm sorry about Barrett.” I say, meeting her gaze.
“Me too. He is the reason I only got a whipping, though. He saved my life. He lied to the king. Said that I never returned to your chamber after preparing your bed while you were at dinner. He was late to his post the morning after you escaped. They are saying that is when you were kidnapped.” She says, and I scoff, stepping out of my ruined dress. My backside is pink around the edges, and the center is red and raw where most of the punishment was.
“Things are going to change, Cole.” Wrapping a towel around my middle, I level her with my eyes. “I can't live like this anymore, and if I got one thing from my father, it’s my stubborn ways.” If I can't please him doing what I’m told, I may as well do what I want and damn the consequences.
“I have some more salve. Let me help you.” She pulls a small tin from her skirt pocket and holds it out in offering, but I put my hand up in refusal.
“Absolutely not. This is nothing compared to what you endured. What you must still be enduring. You keep it.”
“Wherever he got this batch… it's stronger than anything I’ve ever seen before—I have my back wrapped in bandages, but Astraea… It's not to hide the wounds. It's becausethere are no wounds.”My brows hike up my face, and as though I need to see the proof for myself, I push her to spin around. A knock at the door of the bedchamber stops me, though. “Trust me. They are gone.” After I chew my lip for a brief moment, I tip my chin and look down at myself.
“I can't go to the door looking like this. I’m sure they are here to collect me for dinner with—the winner. Would you tell whoever it is that I require a little more time to prepare?” Hurriedly she makes her way to the door, and when she turns around after closing it, her face is ashen.
“What?” I ask as I drop the towel and pick up the tin she placed on my vanity table. As I begin rubbing the cream that’s inside over my skin, my senses are hit with a particular, familiar smell. Something that reminds me—of something, but I can't for the life of me figure outwhat. There are other scents too—warm, maybe cinnamon and clove; it’s spicy and—oh, warming on my skin.
“Astraea?” I look up from my jarring experience with the salve, remembering my friend who just answered the door and is now looking at me the color of sun-bleached sand.
“Who is it?” I ask, straightening my spine. In my experience, not much can get Cole speechless, so seeing her standing there, with her jaw nearly on the floor, has all the hair on my body standing on end.
“Kyros Kahzal ofDeimos…”
“Why is he here? Doesn’t he know that—” I begin, but she interrupts.
“Astreaea!” She whisper-shouts my name, and I stop where I am, pulling a new dress up over my thighs. “Deimos, as in, the last kingdom to relinquish its magick… As in The Mad Queen Phaedra Lazuro… How is he a suitor? I thought the queen didn’t have any heirs.” She asks, and I keep getting dressed as quickly and quietly as I can. I wrap my hair up in a quick twist and rub some balm over my puffy lips. There is nothing that can be done about my eyes or the redness in my cheeks. I can only hope that the shadows of the firelight throughout the castle can help mask that.
“He was announced as the ‘appointed heir’—well, he and his brother actually. I have a lot to tell you, Cole. Will you be here when I return?” I come to a stop in front of her, and our hands immediately gravitate to one another.
“I will be waiting. Please stay safe.”
Chapter twenty-one
Astraea
Steppingoutintothedark hallway, Kyros is standing with his back pressed to the opposite wall, his foot propped up behind him. He’s dressed now in black, head to toe, just like at the tavern, which casts his figure that much more into the shadows. If I weren’t looking for him, I likely wouldn’t have even seen him at all.
“I’m surprised you came to fetch me yourself,” I say, stopping in the middle of the hall, where he doesn’t move, his arms still crossed over his wide chest.
“Why would I send someone else? Aren’t you supposed to have dinner with me?” He asks, pushing off the wall. When he offers me his arm, I look down at it witha quirked brow.
“Are we being chivalrous now that you know I’m a princess?”
“I think you’re mistaken. I recall being very chivalrous when I saved you from losing your hands in the market,” he says, then leans closer and whispers, “And that's when I was led to believe you were just a mere commoner.” I snort and anxiously look around, hoping that none of the shadows my father employs heard any of that statement. I start walking in the direction of the dining hall without taking his offer, and he growls as he follows close behind me.Good, I hope he’s annoyed.
“I was never going to lose my hands. It was all a misunderstanding. I would have gotten out of it myself.” I chance a look out of the corner of my eye when Kyros easily catches up to me and takes a slow stride to stay at my side.
“Keep telling yourself that.” He almost laughs, and I quicken my steps with a huff, but then his hand reaches out and wraps around my arm at the crook of my elbow. I wince at the placement. The bruises my father left behind scream, and I hope he doesn't notice.
