Castelle followed her into the hall. “I’m sorry you had to hear such bawdiness, Highness.”
“I’ve heard worse.”
“I know.”
A tingle passed down Katya’s back. She willed it away and resisted the temptation to shiver. “Let’s talk about your team.”
“My team?”
Katya nodded past her toward the people still in the room.
“They’re my friends, not my team.”
“Splitting hairs.”
“Some would say, Highness, that your confusion about the two words is an example of how you see duty everywhere you look.”
Katya almost took a step back. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“That didn’t sound like nothing. If I recall, it’s you that has a problem with words like ‘duty,’ not to mention ‘commitment.’”
“I didn’t have a problem committing to you, Katya. My problem was your commitment to everything else.”
Katya opened and closed her mouth and tried to think of an argument about how duty wasn’t something one decided to commit to and then break, but another thought struck her. “That was the first time you called me Katya since you got back.”
“It is? Ha! I’ve been trying very hard to think of you as ‘Highness.’ It must be the beer talking.”
“What happens if I’m Katya?”
Castelle’s lips parted, and she gave Katya a look filled with such heat that it almost pushed Katya back. She’d forgotten what effect Castelle’s gaze could have on her.
Katya resisted the urge to fidget but took a small step away. “As I was saying, I need to talk to you about your…friends. I don’t know if you noticed before the beer, but the city’s become a dangerous place. I don’t want to send the Guard out—they’re too noticeable—but I might have jobs for you from time to time.”
“And you’re ordering me and my friends to help you?”
“I’m asking.”
Castelle’s brow furrowed, and she nearly glared. Katya had forgotten how drink brought all of Castelle’s emotions out in the open, including her lust. One lingering, passionate encounter in a large cupboard sprang to mind.
“Come find me when you’re sober.”
“Katya, wait. I’m sorry, Highness. My friends and I are at your service. We’ll be happy to carry out your wishes.” She smiled softly. “Am I to be escorting the crown princess consort?”
“And if you are?”
“If we could all be friends, what better?”
Jealousy tried to rear within Katya again, and she shook her head to banish it. “When I have a task, I’ll send for you.”
Castelle looked back into the room at where her friends had continued drinking. “Might want to give us an hour or so.”
*
When Katya returned to her apartment, Starbride was back again, this time with a letter.
“As promised,” Starbride said, “Countess Nadia’s list of nobles that merit significant suspicion. And Lady Hilda is at the top.”
Katya grinned as she sat next to Starbride and draped an arm around her shoulders. “Did she really name her list ‘Nobles That Merit Significant Suspicion’?”
“Oh, that’s not bold enough for Countess Nadia.” Starbride cleared her throat and read, “‘My dear, your vipers. Regards, Nadia.’”
Katya leaned in for a long kiss and let her arms hang loosely around Starbride’s waist. The images of the recently lost rose again in her mind, but before she could pull back, Starbride held her close. Desire stirred inside Katya at being so captured, pushing the dark feelings back.
“What now, my scoundrel?” Starbride said. “Do you no longer desire me?”
“Of course. But…right now?”
“We should be happy while we can. Everyone we’d lost would want that.” Her lips pressed to Katya’s with gentle pressure that increased slowly until her tongue flicked into Katya’s mouth. Katya drew her closer, letting passion guide her.
The settee was comfortable enough; they never seemed to find the time anymore to walk all the way to bed. Katya let her thoughts go and focused solely on Starbride in her arms.
When they’d stilled and were staring at the ceiling and smiling, Starbride laughed into Katya’s neck.
“Stop that,” Katya said, “unless you have more plans for me.”
“I was just thinking of how Averie hasn’t offered us tea in a long time. How does she always know what we’re getting up to?”
“Probably the same way Dawnmother does.”
“I think Dawn just doesn’t come in the room when you’re there. But Averie always brings refreshment.”
“Maybe she listens at the door. Maybe she’s out there listening right now.”
Starbride turned her face into Katya’s neck again. “Now I’m embarrassed that she knows how loud we can be.”
Katya dipped her chin low enough to give a quick kiss. “You should be proud.”
Chapter Twenty-four: Starbride
Brutal escorted Katya and Starbride to the academy the next morning. Starbride knew Pennynail was also watching. She only hoped they wouldn’t need him.
They hurried through streets they would have previously lingered to enjoy. Would the city become so unstable that the royals couldn’t venture from the palace at all? Escorts like Castelle’s guards might become necessary for everyone if that happened. Starbride only hoped she and Katya wouldn’t regret not bringing Castelle along to the academy.
Starbride’s spirits lifted as they approached the massive pyramid rising from the city—its shining walls were like a doorway in the skyline—topped with a crystal capstone that sparkled in the sun. She’d never been inside. There had never seemed enough time, even though she’d met the academy’s master on a number of occasions. Her joy at finally seeing inside the great structure almost pushed her worry away.
They hurried past the Halls of Law, the school that shared a courtyard with the Pyradisté Academy, and then past the dormitories where students of both schools lived. Starbride’s friends from Allusia would be coming soon to take their place at the Halls for the winter term, Katya had seen to that. The idea used to fill Starbride with pride. Now she wondered if she should write and tell them to wait for next spring. She doubted they’d obey. They were as anxious to learn Farradain law as she had been when she’d first come to Marienne. The problems with Farradain traders in Newhope wouldn’t wait until spring.
Once inside the academy, Starbride’s jaw dropped. Rooms lined the pyramid walls, but the middle had been left hollow in a shaft that ran from the capstone to the floor. Light filtering down the shaft caught the sides of other pyramids as it descended, sending light blazing throughout the entire first floor. Beneath the shaft, a columned area sported an indoor garden. A water-filled basin sat in the center, and a crystal pyramid as large as a pony rotated above it. It sparkled and shone in the light from above, almost too brilliantly to look at.
Master Bernard met them just inside the doors. He spread his arms as if taking in the entire ground floor. “Your Highness,” he said to Katya, “so nice to see you again. And I’ve anticipated your visit, Crown Princess Consort,” he said to Starbride. “Tell me, what do you think?”
Starbride couldn’t find the words. “It’s…”
Master Bernard smiled and stroked his full beard. “That’s the reaction we’re always looking for. Please, follow me to my office.”
They followed him up the stairways while he told the history of the academy and paused every so often so they could admire the view.
Once they were seated in his small, simple office near the top of the pyramid, he poured them all a cup of tea. “After the untimely death of Cimerion Crowe,” he said, “I knew you’d need a teacher. I thought it only fitting that you be taught by the heads of department, given your station. We haven’t had such an esteemed student since Prince Roland ages ago, before my time as master.”
Starbride almost felt the blood drain from her face.
Katya’s hand tightened in hers.
Master Bernard leaned forward. “Forgive me for mentioning Crowe so casually. I see you’re both still in mourning.”
“He was a good man,” Starbride said, and her chest ached at the loss, but it was thoughts of Roland that took her color.
“And quite young to have heart trouble,” Master Bernard said. “He’ll be greatly missed. If you’ll oblige me, Highness, what disciplines had Crowe instructed you in?”
Starbride thought that an odd question for Katya. She frowned until Katya nudged her. “He isn’t talking to me,” Katya muttered.
“Oh! I’m sorry, Master Bernard. Nobody’s called me that before.”
He smiled indulgently, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He was a busy man, after all. Quickly, she went through what she’d learned from Crowe, leaving out any practice she’d had with Fiend magic.
“Here is a list of the heads’ schedules,” Master Bernard said. “Would you rather be instructed at the academy or have private tutoring at the palace?”
“The palace,” Katya said before Starbride had a chance. She used her bored court drawl, but Starbride knew she had real concerns.
Master Bernard nodded. With promises to send someone as soon as possible, he escorted them to the doors of the academy and bid them farewell.
When they reached Brutal in the courtyard, Katya said, “Sounds like fun.”
“I liked the way you jumped on private tutoring. Was that just so I wouldn’t be escorted by Castelle?”
“I will never admit to that, even if it’s true.”
They collected Brutal and headed home, trying to avoid crowded areas like the central market, but staying away from alleys.
When they reached a short, residential street, lined with small staircases and porticos, four figures ducked into their path. The figures bent close to the ground and moved their heads to and fro like hunting dogs.
Brutal pulled on Starbride’s shoulder. Katya had already slowed. The only other people on the street turned the corner far ahead, past the hunting four who tilted their faces up.
Wrongness radiated from them, a malevolent energy that almost bent the eye, causing Starbride to doubt what she was seeing. Their skin was grayish, matching their white eyes, and reminded Starbride of poor Layra, Hugo’s dead mother who’d been reanimated by Roland. She’d had a glazed, vacant look about her, though, and these four seemed intelligent and wary. Their white eyes glittered. Their mouths eased open in feral snarls.
Brutal moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with Katya. Starbride glanced back the way they’d come, but no more of the creatures appeared, and no one from the market ventured down the street.
“I’ve got the man and woman on the left,” Katya said.
“Right.” Brutal hoisted his big mace.
Starbride peered at the four figures, at their emaciated frames and drawn faces. Their clothing hung from them like sacks on pegs. “How can you tell which is which?”
Katya paused. “What?”
“A man from a woman?”
The four creatures advanced; each of them sported long knives. Wide hats covered their heads, and Starbride bet the brims concealed pyramids in their foreheads, just like Layra’s had.
“It’s plain as day,” Brutal said. “The redhead on the end is clearly a woman.”
To Starbride, the “redhead” appeared as colorless as the rest of them. She drew a pyramid from her satchel, one which let her detect pyramid magic, and focused.
“Starbride?” Katya asked.
“One moment.” The four figures stalked closer, and Starbride could “see” the pyramids planted in their foreheads. The light from them shone to her enhanced eyes, but it didn’t just shine outward. She looked closer.
“Starbride!”
“Not yet!” The pyramids weren’t just controlling the bodies; they were holding something inside. Every one of those poor dead people seemed to hold a living flame, only this wasn’t fire, though it did burn with the harsh sear of bitterest cold.
“We have to move,” Brutal said.
“They’re Fiends,” Starbride said.
“What?” Katya asked.
“Fiends trapped inside dead bodies.”
“I don’t see—”
“Trust me, Brutal.” Still gripping her pyramid, Starbride tried to pull Katya backward. “What you’re seeing is some kind of illusion. Those are dead bodies occupied by Fiends.”
The four creatures smiled, so close now that Starbride could see their blackened gums. A wave of fear tingled through her innards, and she could tell by the shudder that passed through Katya that she wasn’t the only one affected. Still, it didn’t cripple her as it had in the presence of the Umbriels’ Fiends. These were lesser, somehow, only distorting the bodies of their hosts enough to give them that aura of menace and cold.
Starbride dipped into her satchel again, but before she could draw another pyramid, the Fiends leapt.
Brutal and Katya sprang back. Starbride stumbled and banged off a nearby staircase. Katya ducked out of the way of a Fiend’s slash and came up hard against the stair’s railing. She blocked the thrust of the creature farthest to her side—the “redhead”—dashed past it, and then ran her rapier through its heart.
The Fiend only smiled and stepped so that the blade left its chest. The wound didn’t even bleed. And now Katya was on one side of the creatures, with Starbride and Brutal on the other.
A knife flew from a nearby rooftop and punched into the back of the creature that faced Katya. It didn’t even turn its head; the knife stuck out of it like an ornament.
Brutal pushed his two opponents away, though their strength had nearly forced him to the ground. He held his mace in front of him lengthwise and set himself to block. Starbride pulled a pyramid from her bag, but she knew as soon as she gripped it that it was only a light pyramid. Before she had a chance to curse her luck and try again, the creature that had failed to connect with Katya darted after her.
Faster than a normal human, it still didn’t compare to the speed of a royal Fiend. Starbride shoved off the railing. The Fiend’s long knife sliced through her cloak and shirt and drew a searing line across her upper arm. She threw the light pyramid in its face.
The pyramid shattered; the creature paused, unharmed. Brutal spun while it was distracted and bashed it with his heavy mace. It careened into the wall, its head pulverized like a ripe melon.
His two opponents sprang for him. Starbride called a warning, but one of them sank its long knife into his back. He grunted, kept spinning, and forced the armed one to back off a step.
Pennynail’s leather clad form dropped from a windowsill, and he shoved the unarmed Fiend into a staircase.
The creature with the crushed head didn’t move, but Starbride guessed that had less to do with the head and more to do with the pyramid.
“Aim for their foreheads!” she cried.
Katya dueled with hers and scored shallow cuts all over its body, to no avail. She had a cut upon her cheek, and lines along her sleeves oozed blood. Starbride rushed the creature’s back. The unarmed Fiend sprang at her from the staircase, but she twisted out of the way. They were fast, but they didn’t seem smart. Starbride called for Katya’s attacker to turn, and it spun around. Starbride pulled up short to avoid impaling herself on the Fiend’s long knife. Katya’s rapier burst through its skull, skewered its hat, and shattered the pyramid.
Starbride dodged past it and scooped up the long knife that clattered from its fingers. She didn’t stop until she stood by Katya’s side, and they had the remaining two attackers surrounded.
Brutal’s movements were slowing. The unarmed Fiend tried to claw him while its companion attacked. Pennynail kicked at the unarmed creature, backing it into Katya. She stabbed for its head, but it ducked out of the way. Starbride threw her long knife at the Fiend still attacking Brutal. The butt of the knife struck instead of the blade, but it served her purpose. The creature divided its attention,
and Brutal caved in its skull.
The remaining Fiend twisted out of the way of Katya’s blade again and leapt for Brutal. It landed atop his shoulders and reached for the knife buried in his back. Brutal grabbed hold of one of its legs and hauled, but it buried its fingers in his hair. Pennynail stabbed its other leg over and over, but it ignored him.
“Kneel!” Katya cried.
Brutal dropped to his knees. Katya swung her rapier as the creature turned to face her; the point sheered across its forehead and shattered the pyramid. It dropped from Brutal’s shoulders, and the malevolent light faded from its eyes.
Chapter Twenty-five: Katya
Katya stared down at the four corpses that had been vibrant people a moment before. Now it looked as if they’d been dead for days, like someone had pulled a colorful cloth from her eyes. “What in the spirits’ names?”
Brutal sagged against the wall. Pennynail tried to hold him upright. Katya reached for the knife in his back, but then hesitated. “What do I do, Brutal?”
“Don’t pull it out. We need bandages first.”
Katya glanced toward the sounds of the marketplace and wondered where they could go for help. “Can you make it to your chapterhouse?”
“Better that than all the way to the palace.”
Katya nodded at Starbride’s arm, where the fabric of her shirt had been torn. “How bad?”
“Shallow.” Starbride tore off the end of her sleeve and wrapped it around her arm. “I’ll try and hide it in my cloak. You look cut all over.”
“Scratches.” Katya licked her thumb and wiped the blood from her cheek. There was nothing she could do about the numerous stings on her arms until they reached safety. She nodded to Pennynail. “Can you clean this mess up on your own? We’re taking Brutal to the chapterhouse.”
Pennynail saluted and bent over the bodies.
Katya took one of Brutal’s arms and laid it across her shoulders. Starbride mirrored her on his other side; Brutal towered between them.
For Want of a Fiend Page 19