“What?”
“Make me,” I repeated, murmuring against her skin.
With a sharp breath, Belle pulled me tight against her. I groaned as her thick, sweet taste spread over my tongue. There was no gentleness as she rolled her hips against my mouth, covering my cheeks and nose with her wetness. I let her guide me as I drank of her, giving her complete control. She arched toward me as I caught her sensitive bundle between my lips and sucked, her scream echoing in the empty room. I felt her fingers clenching and relaxing in my hair and grabbed one of her hands with mine, squeezing tight as she exploded for me in a surge of shuddering warmth.
After a moment of stillness, I kissed her soft belly, which was still twitching with the memory of her pleasure, and she helped pull me to my feet. Somehow we managed to stumble toward the bed and collapsed on top of the covers, still clinging to each other and placing soft kisses on tempting shoulders or cheeks. I fell asleep as I so often did, with my head tucked against her chest, listening to her steady heartbeat.
CHAPTER 5
ON THE MORNING of the third ball, I went to visit Brahms. To my surprise, there was no frost on the ground, and it felt like spring instead of almost winter. The strange weather was so nice that I felt comfortable enough to kick my shoes off by the door. The dew was cold, but my feet were grateful to be free of my shoes.
I was going to ask Brahms a favor. I needed a way to avoid the prince tonight, because he would surely follow me home this time. After all, he knew where I lived. My nose wrinkled as I recalled the pitch on the stairs. Tonight, I would be sure to exit the castle through a back door.
“You need a third dress,” said a voice at my knee. I was so startled that I nearly tripped over Jessith as she wound between my ankles, unusually affectionate. She rarely ventured outside, and I was surprised to see her near the stables.
“There is no time to get a third dress. I will have to use the same one I wore on the first night.” It would be a little embarrassing to use the same dress more than once, but there was nothing else to be done. I did not mention that the hemline of my mother's dress was still stained with the foul-smelling pitch.
Jessith's yellow eyes were illuminated in the soft morning sunlight. “If I could find you a dress, would you take it?”
“How would a cat find a dress?”
Jessith began grooming her tortoiseshell fur, looking unconcerned. Her eyes released me. “I asked you first.”
“Yes, I would take it,” I said, kneeling down to pick her up. She squirmed in my arms as I rose to my feet, going so far as to nip at my shoulder, although it did not hurt. “Do you want to get dew all over your paws?”
“I already walked out here, didn't I? Take me to the hazel tree.”
Since so many birds enjoyed perching in my mother's hazel tree, I assumed Jessith wanted to watch them. She had taken to hunting spiders and rats since her bargain with the local birds prevented her from killing them, but she still enjoyed observing them. I did not understand why she tempted herself.
Feeling indulgent, I headed in the direction of the hazel tree with my arms full of cat. “You could have said please,” I scolded her. Jessith's whiskers tickled my shoulder, and her muscles twitched as she turned her head to look at the tree. Even though this particular day was oddly warm, the hazel tree believed it was winter and was in full bloom. A cloud passed over the sun, casting a warm brown shadow over the field, and I saw two white birds dip toward us. Beneath them were several smaller birds, and in their claws, they were carrying...
“Jessith, did you do this?” I gasped, staring at the dress that had been dropped at my feet. I hurried to pick it up before the dew soaked into the fabric, setting Jessith down beside me. The dress was golden satin, with embroidery on the waist and neck. The material felt wonderfully soft in my hands. “Oh, thank you. It's beautiful!”
Jessith pawed at my foot. “I thought so.”
“How did you get it?” I did not receive an answer, and I wondered if I truly wanted to know. Perhaps it, too, was stolen. The birds that had brought the dress to me hovered around my head. A particularly brave fellow began to pluck at my hair, and I lightly brushed him aside. With several strands in his beak, he flew out of reach, carrying his prize to the top of the hazel tree. I rubbed my scalp, keeping hold of the dress.
“If you come in with me, Jessith, maybe I can find you some cream. You deserve a reward.”
If Jessith had not been a cat, she would have smiled. “I think that cream would be appropriate.” It was as close as she would come to a conventional 'you're welcome'.
***
The rest of my morning was much less pleasant. After I visited Brahms and hid my surprise gift, Cate, Sarah, and I began sorting and airing out the upstairs storage rooms. It was an annual chore, but this was the first time I had participated. My concentration waned after a few minutes of digging through boxes, although we did laugh together over a ridiculous stuffed vulture perched on a feather hat.
It was not until we split up to work faster that I felt a presence behind me, in the darkest, gloomiest room in the upper corridor. A body, warm, pressed against me from behind. For a moment, I thought it was my lover and I leaned into her, but the shape felt wrong and I jerked away. Nails clutched my arm, leaving red half-moon crescents, and I realized it was Luciana.
“What do you want?”
Luciana gripped my shoulder and turned me to face her. “Have you wondered what the ball is like, staying here by yourself? Did you know you were invited?” My heart stopped beating. Had she seen me the night before? Was she taunting me? “Did you want to dance with your precious Belle? Wear a beautiful dress and impress everyone?”
I realized she was angry, but not at me. She was angry because she had not yet ensnared the prince, and she needed release. For a moment, I was grateful she had not chosen Cate to cast her fury upon. My punishment would be painful and degrading, but she would not force herself on me, if only because she wanted to prove herself capable of restraint. At least, I hoped she was capable of restraint.
“Well, you will dance with me now.” She grabbed my waist with one hand, clutching her stone fingers tighter around my arm, and threw me into a painful dance. Luciana was an excellent dancer. I had seen her dance at my father's wedding. I had even seen her dance at the prince's ball. She had never danced like this. I felt like a doll being jerked on its strings, painfully twisted. She let go of my arm, which throbbed with relief, but grabbed onto my hair, which was covered by a kerchief to protect it from dust, and pulled. I cried out, and she pulled harder.
Luciana's body weight forced me down, twisting my ankle as I collapsed to my knees. I felt it bend unnaturally, the blood cut off and the muscles screaming. She heard my gasp of pain and trembled like a hunting dog. Her face leaned over me, an ugly smile spreading her cheeks. Her mouth was a breath away from mine, as though she was about to kiss me, but she did not.
I thought about resisting, pulling out of her strong grip and running as fast as I could, but my ankle throbbed and twitched with crippling bolts of pain. The sorcerer's chain was around her neck and she stank of magic. The pendant was twirling, watching me. If I ran, she would catch me. And maybe she would forget her promise to Belladonna.
My breath came in short, heavy gasps. “I will scream,” I warned her. Fear and desperation gave me the courage to defy her, even though she could probably kill me.
“Scream then. She will not hear. Where is your guard dog now, you greedy little beggar?” she whispered fiercely in my ear. Her hand squeezed my neck, cutting off my breath. “Is she here to protect you?”
But it was not Belladonna who saved me this time. It was Cate who stood in the doorway with high shoulders. “No!”
One word, with only two letters, but coming from Cate's lips, it was monumental. Both of us nearly fell backwards with surprise. Shocked into silence, Luciana dropped me to the floorboards. I stayed down, ready to grab her ankles if she lunged for Cate, but she did not step forw
ard or raise her hand. For the first time, I noticed Sarah standing beside her.
I saw the conflicting emotions pass through Luciana's body. Surprise as she dealt with the fact that Cate, her compliant little pet, had turned on her. Aggression as all her muscles coiled and her lips pulled back in an animal snarl. Finally, wariness, as she realized there were three of us, and only one of her. Even with magic, stopping all of us would be difficult. “Not tonight, not tonight,” she said under her breath. I realized that if she had not been planning such important things for that evening, all three of us might have been killed.
She made her decision and swept out of the room, leaving behind only the ghostly pressure of her fingers on my throat. In a complete reversal of roles, I collapsed in to Cate's arms, my chest heaving with dry sobs, relieved to let her support me this once instead of supporting her.
“Ellie, did she...” Sarah and Cate said together, all in a rush. I shook my head, trying to catch my breath. Curiously, my cheeks were dry, but my chest shuddered terribly.
“My ankle, it hurts.” The words scraped in my throat.
Cate peeled back the hem of my dress as Sarah patted my shoulder. My ankle was twisted and starting to turn an ugly purple color. “I can get some cold meat to put on it,” Sarah offered. “Stay here, you shouldn't move yet.” She hurried, not walking, but not quite running out of the door and down the hallway.
“Cate,” I said, looking up into her concerned face. Her forehead was puckered and her hands flitted from one shoulder to the other, touching my hair, not sure where to rest. “You told Luciana no.”
Cate's eyes widened with surprise. “Did I?”
“You did.” I could tell that she was having more trouble believing this than I was, even though she had said the words herself.
“I did,” she said, more confidently. “You know, she has...hurt me less. Luciana. The past few weeks. That is, she beat me. But there was less. Less of the other thing.”
“Maybe she is distracted. Cate, is it wrong to hope Luciana does attack the prince?”
Cate considered that for a moment, her eyes losing focus as she thought deeply. She stared at her lap, where she had finally folded her busy hands. Her red hair hung around her face like drawn afternoon curtains. “No. It is not wrong to hope that she is caught. It would be wrong if you wanted the prince hurt.”
“I've got it,” Sarah panted as she rushed into the room with her prize and knelt beside me. “Here, put this on. We'll give it a chance to rest a bit and then see how to get you downstairs.” I sighed with relief as I felt the numbness grow. Cate remained lost in thought. I wondered what she was thinking about, but decided not to ask.
Cate and Sarah held my upper arms to help support my weight as I navigated the treacherous stairs, and Mam gave me some cream to help with the swelling. I smiled. That woman had her own remedy for everything. I sat on one of the kitchen chairs, my foot propped on an unsteady stool supported by three uneven blocks of wood. The outside of my foot was warm to the touch, even through the bandaging, but my entire lower leg felt cold.
Cate and Sarah were still hovering around me when Belle came into the kitchen with fury in her eyes. “What did she do to you?” she snarled, trembling with unreleased energy and anger.
Cate gripped Sarah's wrist and dragged her from the room even as she protested. When we were alone, I considered Belle. “I am perfectly fine,” I lied. “Please calm down.”
“Do not lie to me. Why is there a bandage on your foot?”
“I fell.” Belle gave me a look. “Luciana pushed me and I fell,” I corrected, omitting as many details as possible. I did not want Belle to fly into a rage. Not now, when the situation was so delicate already.
“There are bruises on your arms.” Belle winced as she took in the sight of them. I stared at my hands, which were folded in my lap. “She marked you.”
“No,” I protested, but Belle took two steps forward. She put a heavy hand on my arm and pulled up my sleeves to examine the bruising. I went limp and allowed her to search every inch of my body, running her hands over my belly, back, breasts, and even cupping gently between my legs, to reaffirm ownership. There was a quiet desperation in her face as she examined me. She pressed little kisses over my face, trying to reassure herself that I was all right, that I did not hate her for being unable to save me.
“Cate was there,” I whispered as her soft hands stroked my arms. She rested her head on my chest, listening to the slow thump of my heart.
“I should have been there. Not Cate.”
A river of tears streamed from her eyes and onto my working dress. I did not care. I wove my fingers through her raven hair. “You are here now. That is all I need to know you love me.”
CHAPTER 6
MY MAGIC HAD NEVER given me the Sight before, but on the third night, I felt something that seemed like it. There was a constant twisting in my belly, a doubled pulse that could not be slowed, and a strange tightness in my breath. It probably was not magic, but the premonition weighed heavily on me anyway, a stone woven net about my shoulders. This was Luciana's final chance to snare Prince Brendan after two nights of careful observation, and I knew she would take it.
I arrived at the castle minutes after Belle and Luciana. My lips pulled into a tight line as I lifted my light golden dress and hurried up the stairs, the skirts rustling about my knees. I remembered the pitch that Prince Brendan had smeared over them the night before. This time, I would escape some back way. Matthew had been instructed to unhitch Brahms and tie him several yards away from my carriage. While the Prince ran to the empty carriage, I would run for the horse.
Corynne and Brahms were both very flattered by the idea when I had presented it to them that morning. Corynne assured me brightly that she could outrun the Prince's team, and Brahms was pleased that he had been given the important task of carrying me home. I was mostly worried about Corynne. Racehorses were not meant to do the work of draft horses, but I needed their speed.
I stood in the doorway of the entrance hall. In my fine golden dress, I was invisible in the bright, colorful crowd. My shoes were much more sensible this time, a pair of comfortable cloth slippers that were large enough to accommodate my swollen ankle. My dress was long enough to cover most of the shoes, and so my odd choice of footwear did not attract any attention.
I was fortunate to catch sight of Luciana right away. Belle was not with her, and I wondered where she was, but returned my attention to Luciana in time to watch her slip through a doorway near the entrance to the ballroom. I hurried after her, not wanting to let her out of my sight.
After several mumbled apologies and a few near dodges, I was at the door that Luciana had entered. I did not catch sight of Prince Brendan, and hoped that he was somewhere in the ballroom, far away from Luciana and the chain. Glancing over my shoulder, I made sure no one was watching me before I opened the door and entered a dimly lit hallway. This was obviously a section of the palace that should have been closed off from the party.
I closed the door behind me and waited a moment for my eyes to grow accustomed to the dark. There were several more doors along both sides of the hallway, but I had no idea whether Luciana had entered one of them or continued further into the darkness. I decided to listen for movement or voices, too cautious to venture into any of the rooms and alert Luciana to my presence. Passing a portrait of a courtier with a particularly large nose, I crept toward the first door and put my ear against it. Nothing. I walked to the next door and repeated the process.
As I was listening at the fourth room, one of the doors further down the hall clicked open, making my spine stiffen. Luciana entered the hallway again. Her hands were unclasped and relaxed at her sides and her forehead was smooth. The only sign of anger was her blazing eyes as they tightened on my face, but her control was not shaken. She would not lose herself to rage this time, not when things were so desperate, but I saw it gathering in her chest.
“You. I should have killed you when I ha
d the chance.” She spoke with a cold fury that was somehow more fearsome than the familiar hot madness. “I will not make the same mistake again.”
She did not waste her time playing with me or insulting me. Instead, she gripped the glowing chain around her neck with white fingers and spoke words I did not recognize, letting them hang in the air between us. Pain exploded along my skin, eating away at my flesh. I screamed and looking down at my arms. The skin seemed untouched, but the pain did not end. I fell to my knees, aware only of the crawling, burning magic coating my flesh and Luciana's high laughter.
Suddenly, the pain was gone. I breathed in once through my dry lips, still tingling all over with the residue of Luciana's nasty spell. I was lying on the floor, half of my body pressed into cold stone, the other half sprawled on the edge of a rug. I heard a shout and the sound of something heavy crashing to the ground. Using the little bit of strength I had gathered, I looked up. Two blurred figures were grappling with each other, fingers tangled in hair and clutching at dresses. My vision cleared slightly and I screamed. Somehow, Belle had found me and come to my rescue just when I needed her.
I felt my strength returning and lifted myself up onto my knees. Luciana did not notice, too busy trying to keep Belle's hands away from her neck, where the golden chain still rested between the 'v' of her collarbone. The eye seemed to grow larger and larger, pulsing in the torchlight.
“I am awake. I see you,” it said.
I watched helplessly as Belle's fingers grabbed hold of the chain, which was blindingly bright and shaking. The metal left red burn lines on Luciana's white neck. Belle screamed as she tried to tear it from Luciana's throat, but she could not bear to touch the metal. She collapsed to the floor at Luciana’s feet, twitching and writhing as magic overpowered her body. Luciana gave her a look that was half panic and half disgust. She glared at me, and then deliberately turned away, vanishing down the hall.
The Second Sister (The Amendyr Series) Page 19