“Fine. But if you think something might backfire, make sure you use it on him instead of my cousin.” Air reached out and took my hand, pulling me a little ways away from the group. As angry as he was, his fingers seemed to burn against my skin as he touched me. He might be an arrogant dick, and an overconfident butthole but he … was my butthole. Wait, that totally sounded wrong, didn't it? “Brynn …” he started, turning his green gaze to the side and away from my own. That expression scared the bejeezus out of me, but I pretended not to notice, stepping closer to him and feeling a surge of hope when he didn't pull away.
“You're not regretting fucking me, are you?” I whispered, and maybe it was because of the soft reverence in my voice that the goddess didn't take any feathers for that one.
“Definitely not,” Air said, his jaw clenched tight as he looked back at me. “I … no, not at all. But there is something I want to talk to you about.” He looked up as Felixa walked by, flipping her yellow blonde hair over one shoulder and purposely smacking the prince with it. The smell of peonies drifted in her wake.
“Oh, I'm so sorry Your Majesty,” she said with a giggle, handsome as hell in her purple silk dress. It dipped even lower than mine at the neckline, showing off two plump ripe mounds of breast. Not nearly as much as I had, but … she was Amerin and she was noble, and even with my Double Blessing, she outranked me ten to one.
Air looked at her for a moment and then turned his attention back to me.
“I want to talk to about …” he started, paused, and then sucked in a deep breath. “I want to talk about … getting married.”
I just stood there, completely frozen, trying to interpret his words. Could he be anymore vague?! Married? Married to … whom? Me? Felixa? Some beautiful foreign princess from a kingdom I've never heard of?!
“Wh-what?” I asked, feeling the blood rush from my face so fast that I got dizzy and light-headed and … even more clumsy than usual. I didn't dare move for fear of toppling over. My heart was racing and sweat was pouring down the sides of my face.
“But not now,” Air said, looking up and across the room. I followed his gaze and found him staring at the queen. She was deep in conversation with Felixa which only further confused me. “Now,” he said, flicking his eyes back to me, “I want to take you dancing.”
The clock struck twelve as I stared up at Air, feeling so sick inside that I could barely breathe. It was tradition to flee the ball at twelve and go from house to house, asking each resident if they'd been tricked by ghosts, offering up a blessing that was purely for fun, and receiving a handful of treats.
We'd done it every year together: Jasinda, me, and Air.
“We'll go from door-to-door, we'll dance until we can't stand up, and then …” he continued exhaling. “Then we'll talk.”
“You're scaring me,” I told him, but all he did was laugh and throw his arm around my shoulder, leading me toward the ballroom doors with the rest of the crowd. Air grabbed my new cloak from a servant's outstretched hand before throwing it over my shoulders and pressing a kiss to my forehead.
“Don't be scared, Brynn of Haversey. Just … trust me.” He took my hand and led me outside where a cadre of guards was waiting. With all the awful spirits and shadows taking up residence in the city, the prince would need to be extra careful. In fact, I'd told him earlier that I didn't think he should go at all, and neither did my mother.
But Air always did what Air wanted to do and I … was a strange mix of elation from the sex … and equal parts dread from his announcement. So I didn't have it in me to protest. Besides, even though I hated dancing (correction: was terrible at dancing), it reminded me of our first night together, made my aching heart feel needy and greedy.
Even though I knew it wasn't safe, the queen hadn't forbade Air from going, and … I really wanted him to take me dancing. Just in case he broke my heart afterward, I'd have this night to hold onto.
And … if he didn't, if his talk of marriage had something to do with me … it would be a night I'd remember for the rest of my life.
I only wanted to prolong it.
I didn't think a simple All Haunts' Eve ball would change all our fates forever.
If I had, I would've worn better shoes.
Both Vexer and Talon followed us out of the castle and into the city, knocking on doors and peering inside to the laughter of the residents as we 'hunted for ghosts'. We were given candied apples, sugared nuts, fruit and jelly rolls, and all sorts of other things that the prince wasn't allowed to eat until the Royal Poison Whisperer had checked them for contamination.
It was still fun though, moving through New Akyumen in a crowd, my cloak billowing out behind me, the ghost mask parked firmly on my face … and Air, dressed in a giant jeweled codpiece that I kept squeezing with a drunken giggle.
Yep.
We'd carried a bottle of spiked cider with us, drinking deeply and stumbling across the cobblestones. Air kept tossing glares at both Vexer and Talon, but I didn't mind them tagging along. They were good company actually. Or at least, as drunk as I was, they made good company.
Vexer was sturdy and grounded and every time our bare arms bumped, I felt a zing of attraction run through me. And Talon's dry humor was twice as funny with a little booze in my belly.
“Do you think Elijah's okay?” I asked Air as we paused in front of the Vibrant, a tavern and dance house all in one. Orange pumpkins glowed in the windows and cast strange shadows across the street. All the gas lamps were lit and there were soldiers with torches in every nook and cranny, but … even though New Akyumen was the safest city in Amerin, there was something almost ominous tonight.
Or maybe I was just upset because Air and I had serious communication problems? Married? Why couldn't he have just told me who he was marrying? I'd asked three times after we'd left the castle and gotten the same answer each time—you'll see. And then he'd laughed, but I couldn't tell if he was teasing me or … if we were back to being just friends.
Flub.
Hairy flubbing goat's balls.
I hated not knowing, and I hated checking over my shoulder every ten seconds to see if we were being followed by an ancient, evil spirit. There were people everywhere, visitors and locals alike swarming the cobblestone street in droves. But I had to admit, it was a relief when Air took my hand and led us into the dance house.
“Eli's fine,” he said, but his voice was slurred with cider and mine wasn't much better.
“He went to the old clock tower,” Talon said, tugging on the small red braid at the front of his hair.
“How do you know?” I asked as Air snagged us a table. Okay, well, snagged maybe wasn't the right word considering he was the crown prince. Rather, a woman stood up from one of the tables and hauled two men up with her, quickly clearing her dishes and bowing as Airmienan and I walked up.
Air ordered us a few rounds of der Bösewicht, which was pretty pungent stuff, and then gestured for me to take a seat the decorated wooden table. Black tapers melted wax onto the tiny carved faces of green, purple, and yellow squashes as I folded my dress beneath me.
Talon and Griffin didn't ask, sitting down along with us. I think at that point Air was too drunk to care about them anymore. I wasn't particularly sure why they were both following us, but I didn't much mind either.
“How do I know Eli's at the old clock tower?” Talon asked, shimmering with spook dust. He'd finally allowed it to catch on his skin after we left the castle and people started throwing it up in the air in handfuls. Only spirit whisperers, nobles, royalty, and members of the Royal College staff were allowed to buy and sell spook dust, but on All Haunts' Eve, it was customary for the royal family to give out generous amounts to the citizens to use. However, anyone caught hoarding spook dust that wasn't permitted to own it, would be jailed for a month if caught with it in their possession.
And the queen … she was fair and just, but … she believed in short, harsh sentences.
A month in New Akyumen jail was n
ot a stint any person would soon forget.
“Yes,” I said, lifting my chin and accepting the shot that the barmaid presented me. “I am mighty curious about that. Do all ghosts like, share secrets?” I slurred, fully aware that I wasn't making a lick of flubbing sense. I didn't need to ask questions about ghosts. I knew all about them.
“Elijah and I made our acquaintance at the castle,” Talon said, leaning back on the bench and looking wistfully at my drink. “It's fairly easy to hide from living people, but the dead … well, we ran into each other. Let's just say, new ghosts don't come into the castle often. And if they're not welcome friends or family of anyone in court, they don't stick around long before the Royal Spirit Whisperer gets to them.” Talon drummed his inked fingers on the table. They were covered in color from his nails to his shoulders. In my inebriated state, I could barely look away. “And when he left tonight, I asked where he was going and he told me.” Talon shrugs and then stiffens when I pick his hand up in mine and trace my thumb over his fingers.
“You have stars and a moon and ghosts,” I whispered, playing with his hand as he shivered and blew out a puff of air, sending his small braid swaying.
“That feels so fucking good. I haven't been touched in … well, years.”
“You don't have sex with serving girls?” I blurted, flicking my eyes at Air and then using the hand that wasn't holding Talon's to knock back my drink. He watched me with a pained sort of expression on his face and then threw back his own shot.
“Having sex would expose me,” Talon said, leaning forward and throwing me a look across the table. “But once you tell the queen to pull her dog of a spirit whisperer off my dick, then maybe … I could be open to new experiences.”
Vex growled low in his throat and drew my eyes over to him. I was sitting across from Talon and Air but next to the big griffin man. He was unbelievably warm, his wings shifting and bumping mine accidentally as our gazes met.
“I don't fuck ghosts,” I slurred stupidly, losing a feather and then cursing, only to lose another one. Flubbing mother flubber, son of a blitz! “I mean, not usually,” I continued, digging myself another hole. “Just once. Well, almost once. I mean …” I paused and blinked up at Vex, feeling his gray eyes bore straight through my own. “I prefer the living.”
“Same here,” he said, his voice a rumbling growl that I bet I could feel if I were to put my cheek to his broad chest. Aaand, where did that thought come from?! I was drunk. I was most definitely drunk.
“Speaking of the living,” Air said, slamming back his second shot. Not one to be outdone, I took mine and I almost choked on the spicy demon liquor. Hellim's balls, that's rough! “Are you ready to dance, Brynn of Haversey?”
Glancing up, I caught sight of the busy dance floor, the swirling silk skirts and glittering masks, the men in their silly codpieces and cloaks. Jasinda was already out there, dancing with some random page from the castle.
She looked like a sapphire in her blue dress, the raven's mask on her head the same color as her hair. As soon as she saw me looking, she waved a hand for me to join her and I stood up.
Vex caught my arm as I stepped away from the table, his fingers burning hot against my skin and making my feathers bristle with the sensation of being touched by such a forceful and interesting sort of man. Gods, I really did like him! And he was alive, too, which was a nice change of pace … I wondered if Air was going to ask me to marry him and then let me marry Vexer, too?
I giggled from the rush of booze, black and silver sparkles of spook dust catching on my lashes. There was a solid core of logic in me that was proclaiming how incredibly ridiculous I was being right then, but in that moment, I just didn't care.
“Save me another dance, Brynn of Haversey and Hellim?” Vex whispered and I grinned, slipping my arm from his grip and racing over to Jasinda, letting her spin me in a crazy circle before she deposited me back in Air's arms and took up dancing with a green-eyed stranger.
“Have I made you nervous with my decree?” Air asked, putting his mouth up close to my ear. My breath hissed out and my heart started to thunder inside my chest, making me feel even more dizzy and light-headed than I already was.
“You're not marrying Felixa, are you?” I whispered and Air chuckled again, wrapping me in his arms and hugging me more than he was really dancing with me. He smelled like honey and apples, fall scents in some countries, but spring scents in ours.
“Stop laughing, Air, you're scaring me!”
“No, I'm not marrying Felixa,” he said, his mouth against the side of my head, his lips stirring my hair.
“Have you ever slept with her?” I asked, terrified of the answer but too drunk to keep the burning question to myself. My inhibitions were gone, left at the castle gates as soon as I started sipping spiked cider.
“No,” Air said again, but I couldn't decide if he was lying to me to make me feel better or if he was serious. “Would you be jealous if I had?”
“I'm jealous of every girl you sleep with,” I mumbled against his beautiful black tunic. It was long-sleeved and very striking with silver buttons, the Amerin royal crest in purple on the breast and epaulettes on the shoulders. It emphasized that air of royalty and poshness that hung around Airmienan.
“I'm jealous of every boy,” he whispered back, and this time, it was my turn to laugh. There weren't a lot of boys in my past. Enough to count on one hand. I wasn't the most sexually experienced person in the world. I liked sex—after what'd happened between us earlier in the day, I was pretty sure that I loved sex—but I hadn't had nearly enough of it.
“Who are you marrying?” I asked again, squeezing my eyes shut and wishing this evening would just go on forever and ever.
“Well,” Air began, the huskiness in his voice making me shiver. I thought I knew what he was going to say but … I didn't want to let myself hope for too much. Instead of asking another question, I squinched my eyes shut and took a deep breath, waiting for his genteel voice to wrap around me. “I was planning on—”
Before Air could finish his sentence, the back window on the dance house blew in, shattering glass over the crowd. I could feel pieces nicking my wings as Air tucked his arms around me to shield my neck. I did the same to him, using my wings to block the flying bits of debris.
A high-pitched screaming echoed from the alley outside the window and then the body of a female guard crashed into the room, rolling across the floor, headless. Blood spattered everywhere, staining my legs, my feathers, the gold silk of my dress.
Nobody was running. Instead, they were all frozen in shock, staring at the broken window as guards raced in from behind us as well as from both ends of the alley.
“You should run,” Vex said, appearing behind me and Air. “Your Majesty, I can take you and Brynn back to the castle.” Before we could take up him on that offer though, something hopped down from the roof of the nearby building and landed on top of the confused guardsmen.
“What the fuck is that?!” Jas screamed, stumbling up next to me and curling her fingers around my arm. If she didn't know what it was, then how the hell was I supposed to know?!
“It's a gashadokuro,” a voice said from behind Vex. I flicked a glance over my shoulder to find … a boy with long curved purple fox ears on the top of his head, lavender hair, and a mask that covered the entire top half of his face. He was sporting a katana—a type of long, slightly curved sword that was more often used in Vaenn than Amerin—and a deep set frown with silver rings pierced through either side of his lower lip.
“A … what?” I asked, just as something else moved into the room behind the stranger. Without even pausing to blink, he turned and swung his katana out at the monster. Explaining what it was … my alcohol addled brain was having a serious problem processing the information. The first monster was a massive skeleton creature, a random assortment of bones that didn't seem to make any anatomical sense. The second was … a giant snake?!
Reaching up, I clutched the necklaces at
my throat.
“Haversey,” I whispered as several of the other whisperers in the room revved up to help the guards. But as I was calling out to my goddess, I felt Hellim's necklace in my fingers. I had little idea what calling on the Dark God might do for me, but it was worth a try. “Hellim.”
Magic flared around me, sending my white hair whipping around my body in a violent wind. As soon as I activated my second sight, I sensed it.
Both of the creatures in the room were … shadows. Shadows were essentially spirits that had never been alive. They existed in the Otherside, the place that all ghosts occupied, but they weren't human, angel, griffin, or anything else. They were simply … shadows of living things.
With both Haversey's and Hellim's power in hand, I could sense their spiritual signatures like any other ghost. As I watched a fire whisperer use his magic on the skeleton creature—the gashadokuro—I realized with a startling shock of fear that it wasn't going to work. Fire magic, water magic, human weapons. None of that was going to stop the creatures in the room with us.
Flicking my gaze back to the man in the fox mask, I found him fending the giant snake thing off with the katana. As it sliced through the air, I realized it was definitely not a regular sword—it was the weapon of a blade whisperer, one of the rarest magics in Europia.
“Vex,” I said, turning and locking onto those stormy gray eyes of his. Moments ago, I'd been dizzyingly drunk. But with Haversey's and Hellim's magic pouring through me, I felt the booze being burned away. In an instant, I was completely sober. “Get Air out of here and quick.”
“I'm not leaving you or my people!” Air declared, his hand wrapped around the six pointed star at his throat as he activated Hekkett's magick. I watched as he gathered power to him and tried to take off toward the gashadokuro. Only my hand on his upper arm stopped him as guards were flung like dolls against the dance house walls. The skeleton paused to pick one up and we all watched in horror as it literally tore the man's head from his shoulders, spraying us all with blood.
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