She swallowed and straightened, trying to match Andrew’s ridged posture. ‘I accept.’
He inclined his head a bit to one side. ‘That went surprisingly well.’ He gave her an odd look. ‘You do not mind being paired with a…deficient man?’
‘What?’ Victoria glowered. ‘Why do you think you’re deficient?’
Andrew shook his head. ‘Never mind.’ He broke into a fit of coughing. ‘I am not sure how we proceed with this.’
Victoria wasn’t sure either. Her last engagement had been against her will and she hadn’t exactly been in the process. ‘I—I suppose after all of this is over we had better tell my mother.’
Andrew laughed humourlessly. ‘Oh, that is certain to go over well.’
Victoria shuddered dramatically. ‘Traditionally the male does the talking. You had better be on the best behaviour of your life.’
Andrew raised his eyebrows. ‘I do not see why I have to behave in any way other than normal.’
Victoria sat next to him. ‘You know you and my mother don’t get on. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you proposed to me just to irritate her.’
The smile that tugged at Andrew’s lips wasn’t very reassuring. ‘Perhaps I could simply swear my loyalty to the Myrmidons. That would certainly have some sway with her. Offer up my services to find whatever damnable thing it is they want. I’m sure she’d let me marry you for that. She did say, after all, that my helping them would benefit you.’
Victoria very much wanted to know the details of that conversation. ‘You’re not marrying me for that reason, are you?’
Andrew gave her an affronted look. ‘What? No. Of course not.’ His mouth twitched a little. ‘Perhaps a little. But I believe it would be a logical move. Things right now are uncertain. People are afraid. A strong unification between two worlds would calm nerves and establish more stability. Don’t you agree?’
Victoria licked her lips. He couldn’t stop thinking strategically. ‘Yeah. Makes sense, I guess. Don’t see why people would see such hope with something like that, though.’
Andrew cast her a sideways glance. ‘Because they believe I am the Traveller. And if they see the Traveller unite himself with this world in the most visible way possible, they’ll begin to understand we are strong.’
She pressed her tongue against her teeth. His opinion was growing painfully high of himself. She couldn’t see how it could possibly end well. ‘So you think getting married will stop this Myrmidon thing from happening?’
Andrew rolled his eyes. ‘No. Of course not. But they’ll see it as me gaining more power. And they know I’m out for their blood. Perhaps they’ll think twice.’
‘Andrew…I don’t know if you’re thinking this through. You are not so influential that you simply rising in power would be enough to stop the Myrmidons from doing whatever they’re plotting!’
Andrew’s eyes sparked. ‘No. It will not. But they’re afraid of me, Victoria, whether you believe it or not. I can do things…they’ve seen me do things…the last time we were together I had them scrambling from the room!’ His voice rose in pitch. ‘And I will not allow them to think I am simply an idiot to be controlled.’ He swept up a game piece from a senet board and turned it over in his hand distractedly. ‘I have to know what’s happening…’
She was thrown as the subject derailed. ‘What?’
His pale eyes slid towards the shuttered window and then back to her. ‘There are tunnels running all throughout the mountains and Ramses is creating something in the desert. I have to know what. Something is brewing.’
Victoria didn’t like the gleam that had come to his eyes. His determination was a little frightening. ‘And if they catch you they’ll use you, Andrew. Like an experiment.’
He puffed his breath. ‘I’m always careful. But I’d like to know what’s going on, wouldn’t you?’
Victoria bit back her frustration. ‘Yes. Of course I would. But I don’t like stupidity.’
Andrew dropped the game piece back to the board with surprising care. It happened to be the winning move. ‘Certainly beats sitting here letting my mind rot away.’
He stood and Victoria scrambled after him. ‘Whatever they’re after is in the palace. Not out there. Best to stay here.’
Andrew dipped his head almost imperceptibly in acknowledgement. He pulled back one of the lattices shielding the window. ‘I was thinking tomorrow.’
Victoria frowned in confusion. By the way his tone had shifted from distressed to pleasantly conversational she’d supposed he’d changed topics again. As to what, she was completely clueless. ‘What?’
‘Our wedding.’
Victoria’s throat closed up. She tried to fight back the waves of heat that automatically started washing through her, flushing her face, fluttering in her stomach and still lower, an unfamiliar spark of excitement.
‘Wedding…Andrew…you can’t be serious. Talking about leaving and that?’
He waved a hand. ‘Oh, now is the time for such things, don’t you think? One last hurrah before the fire reaches us all…’
Victoria blanched. ‘Andrew O’Neill you are the most morbid person I have ever met!’
He stood a little straighter. It could have been a compliment. ‘Oh, is that what you call it? I’d have thought you would consider it prudent.’
Victoria went to rubbing her arms, for lack of anything better to do. She felt dizzy. What he was talking about…as easy as he was chatting about it. It was terrifyingly sudden and life altering. And he was acting as if they were discussing the weather!
To her alarm, he was still speaking; ‘I’m sure if we spoke to your cousin now he would be more than willing to grant us permission—bypass your mother completely. I assume there is some sort of ceremony or priest you need for that?’
Victoria flushed. ‘I—I don’t know. Last time I was here the Denizens were in charge…all the rules have changed since then.’ She still couldn’t bring herself to believe he could possibly be serious about any of it.
She wondered momentarily if there was some truth to that. Why she felt the need to find fault with his eagerness instead of being happy was still a little lost on her. Was it because she wasn’t entirely sure she trusted his motives? Possibly. She wasn’t so sure how that made her feel.
‘It’s just…very sudden…’ She licked her lips. ‘And to be honest, I’m afraid. I don’t know what’s going to happen and all of this change just makes my head spin.’
By his frown, she almost thought she’d hurt him. ‘And that would be enough to stop you from something like this? Do you believe I’m being…selfish? With things so uncertain? To ask you?’ He almost sounded worried.
A knot pushed tighter in her stomach. He needed to stop talking. ‘I don’t…know. This just feels very rushed…I just—it would be so different…I’m not sure…’
He nodded stiffly. ‘It wouldn’t have to be different,’ he spoke quietly. ‘You would just be…’ he paused for a long, long time. ‘Tied to me…’ He dipped his head in an even tighter nod.
She hadn’t expected such a statement. ‘Andrew…’ She stepped closer. He didn’t pull away as she’d imagined he would. ‘That has nothing to do with it. Nothing. Surely you know how I feel about you. If there was anyone, it would be you.’
He looked at her with a flicker of defeat and…what, hurt? Somewhere along the way since he’d landed on Scrabia he’d lost his confidence. With all the unfamiliarity and challenges, he’d been left without a way to cope.
‘But not now,’ he said slowly. He moved back towards the window to stare at the Bone Vault.
She looked down at her slippers. ‘No. Not right now.’ She wasn’t sure if she was disappointed in herself, or relieved.
Andrew slowly nodded again. ‘Then I need to go,’ he said numbly, staring towards the desert without really seeing.
‘But…’ Victoria felt a tug of worry return. He was in no state for what he had in his mind. ‘But…you aren’t well, Andrew.
They want you. You can’t just give yourself up to them!’
Andrew turned back to her, pale eyes shining in the moonlight. He looked mad. Desperate. Victoria had a stab of excited fear puncture her somewhere in her heart. Her stomach decided to burst into millions of frightened butterflies. When he looked like that…
‘Give myself to them?’ Very slowly he took a step towards her.
Victoria watched him apprehensively, trying to work out what his move would be.
‘Is that what you think?’ he asked with a teasing smirk. His eyes held a dangerous, terrifying glint that looked more appropriate on Noel’s face. ‘That I want to simply give myself to them because you’ve turned me down?’
Her mouth was going dry again. ‘I don’t know what’s in your head these days, Andrew. I don’t know what you want. You’re acting erratic and impulsive and you’re not yourself. I’m worried about you. You’re not thinking rationally. Just stay here with me. Where it’s safe. Please…Andrew.’ She pressed her fingers to his jaw.
His stance was disturbingly ridged; stiff to the point of uncomfortable. He was defensive. ‘I’ve made my mind up, Victoria,’ he huffed. ‘I made it up long ago. I just thought that perhaps before I went you would want to know that I did care about you. But obviously that was a stupid assumption on my part. Why tie you down further emotionally if I’m about to go and do something you believe to be hopeless? Yes, I understand now how my logic was flawed.’
She held him still, sort of afraid to let go for fear he’d bolt. ‘I thought maybe…you were stalling. I don’t think you really want to go. I don’t think you know what’s racing through that brain of yours half the time.’
He looked dazed as his head tilted. ‘Stalling? Stalling for what? You think I’m afraid to go?’
Victoria nodded slowly. ‘Yes. I know you are. You think you’re responsible for…working all of this out. You think you can fix it. And I don’t think you want to. I think you want to stay here where it’s comfortable and safe and familiar.’
His nostrils flared. ‘Well, that’s what everyone wants, isn’t it?’
‘For you, yes.’ She swallowed, feeling a lump grow in her throat. ‘And for me. I want that, too.’
Without much warning he lowered his head, let his forehead press to hers. Victoria closed her eyes. His contact was too personal. Too real. And it scared her. She’d accidentally struck some calm centre in him and it was so much more painful than his wild behaviour. She clutched at his arms. He was trembling all over. He was close enough that the smell of smoke and dust that constantly permeated the air was masked. It was just him now. She breathed in deeply.
‘Please, Andrew, just stay…I’ll do anything. Just don’t go down there.’
The brief image of Ramses hauling Andrew by his light, curling hair through tunnels in the earth flashed through her head and she winced, willing it away.
A humourless smirked changed Andrew’s breathing and his head pulled back slightly. He looked down at her, an expression of slight amusement and some other emotion she couldn’t call from him marking his features. ‘Anything, aye?’ His tone, however, was not teasing. Instead, he sounded heavy. ‘And what would that be? Some base, unintellectual act where we both give into our animalistic natures? Something driven out of desire and desperation? Do you think that is why I wish we would wed?’
‘I don’t think—’ Victoria’s breath caught in her throat. She fought to regain her control. She couldn’t understand what he was getting at. Andrew didn’t think about such things. It was that same dark madness possessing him again. One he seemed to be battling with. ‘Is that what you want?’
He didn’t answer. His expression was closing, flattening. But he kissed her. He dipped forward with a sigh and her eyes were closed before the curve of his lips went to pulling at hers. Their weight shifted and Victoria felt a spike of surprise go through her as she realised Andrew really was attempting to act on what he’d just moments ago sneered at.
He lifted his lips from where they’d slipped to her neck and caught her gaze. He looked…sad. Victoria tried to keep the nerves that were overwhelming her from showing.
‘Are you afraid I’m going to hurt you?’ he asked very quietly, almost brokenly. His tone had an uneven edge to it.
Victoria had always pictured things to be a bit more…frenzied, passionate, without a thought or breath in this sort of situation but Andrew was as Andrew always was: careful, calculated, surefooted.
She swallowed. ‘N—no. I’m not afraid about that.’ She curled forward and kissed him with trembling lips before pulling her mouth from his and looking up at him. ‘But why? You don’t want to. I know…’
The wrinkles that always appeared when he was confused or upset were sprouting round his eyes. ‘It’s just…inside…’ He pressed his knuckles to the sides of his face and puffed his breath. ‘It’s growing inside of me. Some impulse that wasn’t there before…it keeps welling up in me. Like some…fungus branching out inside of me…’
It was a fairly ugly picture in her head. He was overtired. That was clear. Victoria took his hand and gently tugged him towards her bed. He sighed heavily and followed, bare feet slapping on the floor. As impatient and ridged as he was, he did manage to be still as he sank down next to her. He let out a heavy, exhausted sigh. She could see by the quality of his muscles melting into the blankets it would take a good deal to rouse him again.
‘You don’t have to go,’ she whispered. Already by his breathing she wasn’t sure he was aware of her or not. ‘You need to stay here. With me. I need you.’ Her fingers curled round the front of his baggy tunic. His clothes were too big on him.
He pulled a breath through his nose. ‘Just for a few hours…’ he mumbled. She could barely make it out.
Victoria rested her head on his chest. Perhaps that small weight could keep him there. ‘Go to sleep.’ She kissed the exposed bit of skin near her mouth. ‘I’ll wake you. I promise.’ She had no intention of doing such a thing. It would be murder to let him go.
His hand rested lightly, limply, against her back. ‘Mmm…’ he purred, and said no more.
Chapter Nineteen
The palace was eerily quiet; more so than its usual abandoned quality.
Victoria was by herself. Andrew had left before she’d awoken, yet a hastily scribbled note was left on her pillow, reassuring her he had not left for the tunnels, but rather for the king to request assistance. If it wasn’t a lie, he was for once, listening to sense. She just wished he’d woken her, for she was, quite honestly, bored and felt very left out of everything. Not to mention, Andrew’s recent mental state did have her concerned about him wandering about on his own.
A shadow fell across her lap and she huffed her breath. ‘About time you were back, I’ve been worried—’
She glanced up to see not Andrew, but Noel, leaning in the doorframe and looking very smug. She suddenly felt small.
‘I—I’m sorry. I thought you were Andrew.’
‘The Traveller?’ Noel sniffed. ‘Oh, I’m afraid not. Haven’t seen him.’ His eyes flicked round the room before settling back on her.
Victoria stood slowly, not much liking the expression he wore. ‘Is there something I can help you with, Noel?’
He flashed a toothy grin. ‘I think perhaps there is.’ He swept forward and clasped her hands before she had chance to move, gazing down intently. ‘You believe in me, don’t you, Lady Victoria? You believe I have power. That I can sense things. That I’m not…from here.’
She very much wanted to pull away but something in his eyes kept her still. ‘W—what is it you sense?’
He sighed deeply. ‘That is the trouble. I can’t say for sure. There is an important key in the palace. I know it will unlock all of the secrets! It could help everyone! Including the Traveller, for I know he struggles with quandaries of his own. There are questions he needs answers to; that he could have the answers to if he would only help!’
Victoria shifted. ‘I don�
�t know anything about that…’
‘You must know what it feels like to be without purpose. To be hopeless. I didn’t think I would ever be given my chance. But I was set free. And now I know what I must do. I must help my father’s creation. And in return help my father. And you. Everyone. So you’ll come with me? I know you will. You’ll help me!’ Noel tugged her a little roughly, and he was moving, pulling her behind him, eyes gleaming.
Victoria thought to protest but her words were lost in his enthusiasm. And, well, if Noel was leading her on, then perhaps she’d find out what exactly he was up to.
Noel was moving faster now, his grip had tightened round her wrist and she had to jog to keep up. He weaved down passages and stairs with no explanation, only to pull up shortly across from a set of massive doors. From where Noel had stopped it offered a somewhat obscured view, from which two bored guards could not see them.
She stared. ‘That’s the treasury…’
Noel looked at her a little haughtily. ‘It is. This is where I am called. This is where the key is…a key that can help your Traveller.’
Victoria crossed her arms. ‘And where’d you hear about this key, aye? What’s it do?’
Noel circled around her, radiating enthusiasm. ‘Imagine a door, Victoria. A door buried in the desert…through which power that can be harnessed just by opening it. And your dear friend, the Traveller, knows how to open it. I know it well. My father…I have lived within its presence for as long as I can recall. Not blessed by its gift till I could prove my worth. I know that is why I am here now. To show my worth. To bring us forward. It has been appearing in my dreams, you know. It pulls at me.’ He spun on his heel. ‘I want to help, Lady Victoria. Isn’t that all I’ve done? If it is calling to me, would you not help me?’
Victoria scowled. ‘But it’s the treasury. I can’t just walk you in there, mate. For whatever reason. If there’s something here, we’ve got to go to the king.’
Noel sighed dramatically and gripped her by the shoulders. ‘Oh, Victoria. The king has such little faith, I laid this before him. I offered him advice from the stars and he does not listen. But you are special!’
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