Page 63 of Queen of the Night
Rupi hops along my thigh, and I reach down to softly stroke her feathers. Without her, I wouldn’t have the tulip, and that prompts a burning question. Rupi fit in perfectly with the other birds in Lucentia’s field, so much so that I’m left to assume that she’s one of them. Not only does she look just like the others, but she was able to drop a tulip in my hands. Suspicion curls within me. Vera knows something about the list,andher pet is one of Lucentia’s birds? My assumption that her friend is a Tulip seems even more likely.
I try to sound nonchalant, but tension flows through my veins. “Vera, where did you find Rupi?”
Rupi blinks an eye at me innocently at the same time as Vera’s eyes widen the smallest bit, and do I catch a flash of fear? “I found her in the forest when I was a child. I got lost, and she helped me get home. She’s stuck by my side ever since.”
I narrow my eyes slightly, and she ducks her head. I don’t sense a lie, but her actions tell me there’s more. I let the matter drop, unwilling to push it in front of Rhosse and Darvy who both listen closely, but I’m determined to find a moment to get the answers I need before this journey ends.
The tulip continues to occupy most of the space in my mind as the night deepens, and I can’t resist pulling it out once more to look at it. The box opens on silent hinges. Rhosse and Darvy’s interest is piqued, and they both lean in to see it closer. Vera eyes me from where she sits.
The stem is long, smooth, and dark green. The petals are velvety black, but I recall seeing hints of deep purple in their depths beneath the light of the suns. It hasn’t yet fully bloomed, its petals only lightly unfurled. It’s such a small, innocent-looking thing. I hesitate for a moment. My fingers itch to hold it, and my wonder quickly overtakes my worry that I’ll do something to damage it as I gently pick it up by the stem. I can smell the honey-musk scent from its petals as I hold it to my nose.
I meet Vera’s eyes across the fire to find her still watching with unreadable emotion in her eyes, and I hold her gaze until she dips her head again.
Darvy eyes the flower with curiosity. “How do you use it?”
I turn it between my fingers, slowly, inspecting every perfect petal. “The Black Tulip and I must touch it to bridge. It’s all part of a big ceremony. One of Lucentia’s demands for the gift of lucent.”
Vera is watching again, her eyes glued to the flower in my fingers. Impulsively, I offer it to her. “Would you like to hold it?”
She shakes her head, looking slightly sick. Just as well. Who knows what she’d do with it? If she’s protecting a friend, she might even crush it beneath her boot if she gets the chance. I pull the flower back and set it safely in the protective case. I admit, if the roles were reversed, I’d be tempted to do the same. I certainly wouldn’t want Vera bridging with Rhosse or Darvy. Just the thought makes me want to punch something.Is it jealousy, then?
A new sense of compassion builds simultaneously with the pain of knowing that I can’t be with Vera. But no matter how either of us feels, I have a kingdom depending on me, and in order to save it, I have to have answers—I’d bet my enchanted sword she has them.
Darvy looks at Vera. “You know, the four of us make a pretty good team. You sure you don’t want to join us for the next part of the search? We could use you.”
“I think you’ll be just fine,” she responds quietly.
The words sound encouraging, but I see the way dread fills her eyes.
Chapter 37
Ikar
We leave the haven of Lucentia’s Field of Tulips early, walking back into a world consumed by gloam. It’s so thick that my abilities to sense gloam creatures are basically nonexistent. It’s everywhere. All over me. So thick that I have no choice but to breathe it and taste its darkness on my tongue.
I pull lucent from the ever-running well of Vera’s magic and use it to increase the sensitivity of my hearing, and then I realize how used to having it so readily available I’ve gotten. I don’t know anyone else who can offer lucent like she can, which makes it all the more incredible. I’d offer to hire her as one of my royal originators, but I already know that offer would go up in flames.
I hear distant sounds, but they’re difficult to identify. Large and small forest animals, low growls and weak twitters of birds, even the rush of the river ahead—nothing that seems too concerning. I set a brisk pace, mindful that Vera’s stride is shorter than ours, but also driven to reach the border before we’re left to our own devices. I don’t have time to add extradays to an already strenuous journey. I need to find a Black Tulip, my Queen of the Night,now. With the flower in my pack, hope has grown, and my drive is renewed. Now if only my wayward magic and my feelings would quit longing for Vera.
The journey down the rock steps is much faster than the way up. We jump off jagged edges and clamber around sharp outcroppings. I almost turn to help Vera once, then pull my hand back when my magic reminds me how much it would like the contact, how aware I am of the flower I carry, and the future woman I need to bridge with. Darvy reaches for her instead, his hands around her waist and hers on his shoulders as he lifts her down. I swiftly turn and tromp down the rest of the hill, irritated. Which makes me the first to see what’s ahead.
“What in the blazes?” I mutter to myself as the boat comes into view, surrounded by four looming figures that blend with the gloam almost seamlessly. My stomach fills with dread. Odella warned about a formidable enemy… is it them or some type of gloam creature I’ve never seen before? And, to make matters worse, I spot three sets of deathstalker eyes through the gloamy mist that tempt me to gaze into their endless depths.
Onedeathstalker took out most of a patrol I rode just weeks ago; now here are four, along with the figures that stand so still they could merely be dark statues in the forest. The deathstalkers’ eyes are magnetizing, but Darvy, Rhosse, and I have enough experience to know that if they catch your gaze, you end up stunned, and stunned soldiers can’t fight.
“Don’t look in their eyes,” I warn Vera, who stands just behind me, a flustered Rupi bobbing her head as she worries a path back and forth across her shoulder. I readjust my grip on my sword as the figures shift ahead of us. It’s difficult to watch an enemy you can’t truly look at for fear of accidentallymeeting its eyes. Instead, I focus on the knife-sharp points that circle the round heads of the deathstalkers, the razor teeth and snakelike skin that covers their bodies, thick and tough. They and the figures stand between us and the boat—our only way to make it back to the nymphs in time.
Darvy grabs his bow and an enchanted arrow, nocking it as Rhosse readies his battle axe. Vera hovers just behind my right shoulder, and I feel the waves of lucent she’s already offering. In moments our enchanted weapons glow brightly. I take more lucent, testing how much Vera has to offer as my body fills with magic, my senses heighten, and my muscles fill with strength. Rhosse’s shoulders remain tense, belying his worry about the odds of us winning this fight, even with Vera’s lucent—it’s not something I’ve seen very often. The odds are not good.
“I have a weapon from Jethonan…” I mutter beneath my breath.
Rhosse scoffs and whispers, “I think that might actually bemoredangerous.”
Before I can reach for it, one of the figures mutters a command, and simultaneously they race forward when the deathstalkers lunge. Faster than I can blink, Darvy sends a glowing lucent arrow flying with a whistle, and it hits one of the figures in the chest, but all I can see are the three deathstalkers still closing the distance between us.
I race forward to meet their attack, putting distance between them and Vera. The moment they reach us is a rush of ear-piercing growls, chill gloam, and snapping jaws. I throw my sword up to block the worst that comes from two that have targeted me, drawing more lucent from Vera to increase my speed in order to avoid their swiping claws and teeth that reach for my neck. I wait for the familiar burning heat of lucent in my veins with the amount I pull, but it doesn’t come—no time tothink about it now. I spot Rhosse battling the other deathstalker, and Darvy on his own against the three figures, darting between trees and boulders. A quick glance at Vera shows that, so far, her orb keeps them away from her, but I can’t believe that a simple lucent orb will prevent the figures from attacking if the rest of us are defeated. We’re horribly outnumbered, but I force myself to focus.
A deathstalker lunges toward me, and I jump to the left, moving faster with the lucent, before quickly ducking and stabbing it through the side. Lucent pulses through its body until it explodes into bits of gloam that float away, but just as my sword is released, another attacks, ramming its head into my left arm. I roar as the knives of its mane pierce the bracer on my forearm and sink into my skin. I wrench my arm away and take advantage of the close proximity by swinging my sword up in an attempt to behead it, but it backs off too quickly, and the enchanted steel clangs off its mane again.
