Of Blood and Deceit

by Rachel A. Collett

  “Flowers? No.”

  “Ilianna, you are Princess of—”

  “I am the Demon Daughter of the Wraith Queen, and niece to Johan Drakara. I have never worn a crown of flowers, and I’m not going to start now.”

  She placed one hand on her hips. “And you’re proud of that ancestral line? Why don’t you show these people that you’re not some bloodthirsty, untrusting foreigner?”

  My mouth clamped shut.

  She continued. “Crowns like these are worn by all eligible maidens during the daylight activities. It’s an Anolyn tradition, and in Anolyn, we take those seriously.”

  An eligible maiden? Is that what I was? In the mirror I watched as my cheeks turned a shade of pink. It that what Castiel thought of me as?

  “Fine,” I puffed. “But only because it’s a tradition, and I will respect the people of Anolyn.” If my uncle ever saw me like this, he’d have me stripped bare and beaten for shame and insolence.

  Sameen smiled. “That’s a girl.”

  Castiel collected me after I ate. Worry wore the lines of his face, but when he saw me, that worry slipped. His gaze traveled the length of my dress, admiration clear in his eyes. He lifted my hand to his lips, and I blushed. “You’re beautiful.”

  “That she is,” Reese said from behind, and I smiled at him.

  I took Castiel’s extended arm. Reese followed close behind. “Until the ball tonight, I will continue to introduce you as Lady Anna. While all our staff and army know who you really are, they’ve been instructed not to reveal it to anyone.”

  “Which means a lot of people already know,” our guard said. “So, the fact there’s no one waiting outside with pitchforks is a good sign.” Reese smiled, in obvious good humor, but nothing of what he said cheered me as it did him.

  “Your men would go against your king that way?”

  Castiel examined me, his expression soft. “You’re fresh gossip, Ilianna. We expected it.”

  Outside hundreds ate, danced, and played games I had never seen. They stopped and bowed to the prince, showering him with affection and speaking to him as they would their friend. The king was also among his people, talking and laughing as if he were just another citizen. Captain Melia was with him, stunning in a similar cream-colored dress. Purple flowers crowned her flowing blonde hair that fell to her hips in waves and braids. Her mother was nowhere to be seen.

  There was too much detail to take in. Too many conversations I couldn’t hear. My vision narrowed, unable to see past the citizens clogging the once opened landscape, hindering me from locating the true danger that lurked. I squeezed Castiel’s arm and he looked down. I tipped up to my toes to whisper in his ear. “The ambassador?”

  “She will join us this evening,” he said through stiff lips.

  I nodded as a little anxiety slipped from my chest. Attached to the prince’s arm, I could almost feel happy, but something warned me against it. Although the day was warm, chills rippled across my skin. Something was coming, I could feel it. The Demon Daughter paced within her cage, sensing my ill-at-ease nerves.

  Is that what brought her on? My fear? I swallowed, forcing the sensation back, and tried to pay attention to my surroundings.

  Rather than have someone test my food for me, I refused any offerings in the kindest way possible. It wasn’t easy. Treats, meats, baked goods, and delicious-looking candies were shoved at us. The smell was enough to weaken my knees, but I wouldn’t subject a food tester to such fears as poison.

  Time slipped by quickly, and soon people left to get ready for the ball. Those that camped on the grounds had it easy enough. Others headed into the nearby town.

  The prince escorted me inside as soon as we could slip away, and I released a nervous breath. The afternoon had gone off without a hitch, but there was more to come. The dance would be open to everyone no matter their station—yet another difference between kingdoms. It made sense. If the people of the kingdom were happy and felt a connection to their king, they would be more willing to work and be productive. And when required, they would fight and protect their homes.

  The king of Eira, didn’t deserve the loyalty of his people. After I killed my uncle, it would be wise of me to give Riaan and Castiel the crown.

  I nodded, confirming my own judgment.

  Castiel’s brows lifted. “What was that?”

  I glanced away. “Just thinking to myself.”

  The closer we came to my room, the more distressed I felt. Castiel opened my door and let me pass through.

  And I froze.

  A woman clad in a lavender dress stood next to my bed. Heavily gray-streaked brown hair tumbled past her waist, unbound and almost wild. Her porcelain profile appeared more doll-like than real as she stared at the empty blankets, one hand extended above the covers. Upon our entrance, she turned. Red eyes fixed on mine.

  My heart stammered to a halt, then picked up speed.

  Castiel quickly blocked me from view. I half-stepped from behind him, peering over his shoulder on tiptoes.

  “Ambassador, why are you here?” he asked.

  She didn’t seem to notice him. Her head tipped oddly to the side to better see me. Chapped lips lifted into a broken, peculiar smile, set into a face that was my own. My feet moved on their own accord, stepping around my protector to get a better look. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she swayed on the spot. I bolted to catch her, but Castiel’s reaction was faster. He grabbed me to hold me in place.

  “Castiel—”

  “No,” he said low in my ears, but any assistance was unnecessary. The woman steadied herself on the corner post of my bed.

  She blinked, then bloodshot, silver-blue eyes stared up at me. I inhaled, gripping Castiel’s hand wrapped protectively around my waist.

  “Excuse me,” she said, her voice an octave too high. She peered around the room. “I must be lost. Can you direct me to my room?”

  With raised brows, Castiel called for Reese but didn’t let down his defenses. Our guard entered, his eyes widening in response to our uninvited guest.

  “Wonderful.” She smiled at Reese in a daydreamer’s haze. She moved toward the door but paused as she passed me. “Aren’t you lovely, dear.” She reached to touch my braid pulled over my shoulder but stopped when I flinched away. Blood encrusted her torn nails.

  “What happened to your hands?” I asked in a gasp.

  She clenched her fists as if embarrassed. The gown she wore was pressed with clean lines, but red smudges smeared where her touch had rested against the fabric. “I fell while in the garden. I should get cleaned up. Excuse me,” she said, then left with Reese.

  My breath whooshed from my lungs, my pulse beating at an irregular rhythm. “It was her.” I clasped Castiel’s hand to my chest, desiring the warmth of his fingers. “For a moment, her eyes were red like the wraith’s. It was the Wraith Queen.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.” But then a groan escaped my lips. “No. Not for certain. But for one moment there was an entirely different being staring from her eyes. She has—she has my eyes.” A silvery-blue. Pain erupted in my chest and my throat tightened. Castiel gathered me in his arms, protecting me from my own torturous thoughts.

  “Ilianna.” An urgent voice whispered at my door before Melora pushed it open. Now well past one hundred, her gray hair fell from a messy bun at the top of her head. Black smudged the loose skin of her wrinkled cheeks, and she didn’t even register Castiel’s presence as she shuffled barefoot into the room. She held out a small bowl filled with a muddy substance. “Quick, take this and follow the pryor, but don’t let her see you. When she enters her room, coat the entire door frame with this.”

  “What is it?” I asked, examining the bowl.

  “Just do it!”

  When I reached to take it, suddenly Melora grabbed my hand and a sharp prick stabbed into my finger.

  I cried out. “Hey!”

  Castiel lunged forward, holding my arm. “Melora, what—?” />
  She waved him off, seized my finger, already coated in red, and pinched. Her papery thin skin felt strange against mine. “A final ingredient,” she said as a single drop of blood fell into the mixture.

  Anger pulsed like my throbbing thumb. “You could have asked.”

  “No time.” She dropped my hand and mixed in my offering, grunting as she worked.

  I sucked at my abused thumb. “Will it kill her?” I asked.

  “Fool, we don’t want to kill her. Why do the Drakaras instantly jump to killing?”

  Heat drew to my cheeks, but I kept from commenting.

  Again, she held out the bowl. “Follow her, but don’t let her see you. Coat the entire door frame.”

  “Why don’t you—”

  She tsked, interrupting. Her voice scratched in her throat. “Because I must rest, and the spell will be more effective if it’s done by a descendant. Now.” She pushed the bowl against my chest with a grunt and shoved me out the door, much stronger than any old lady should be.

  I ran. Castiel’s footsteps followed behind.

  “I don’t know where I’m going,” I said over my shoulder, and the prince sprinted ahead. We climbed the spiral staircase one flight up and raced down another hallway. Before we rounded a corner, Castiel stopped, holding out an arm for me to wait.

  Reese walked quickly away from the ambassador’s room. I could almost feel his unease as he made his escape. Two guards stood just outside, appearing as apprehensive as him. A chill crawled my body, but I shook it off. This was not the time for fear.

  Castiel followed as I neared the closed door. He put a finger to his lips to silence the guards, and they instantly moved to block any view of our actions. Anxiety took my breath. My heartbeat pounded loudly, painfully within my head. Holding my hand as steady as I could, I coated the paintbrush with more paint than was necessary and slathered on the primal sludge.

  Castiel led me through the hallways and I followed blindly, caught up in my thoughts and an extreme amount of adrenaline. I didn’t know what the potion would do to the pryor, and I worried over whether it would hurt her or not. But why did I worry?

  “At ease,” Castiel said.

  Shocked, I stuttered to a stop between two guards. Mikael’s lips twitched in the corners when he nodded to me. The other I recognized from the training yard only.

  “Tell Sameen she is to bring Princess Ilianna’s things here,” Castiel said. “And if anyone hears of this, you’ll both be put to death.”

  The other’s guards face paled, but Mikael appeared unconcerned. “Yes, sir,” they said in unison.

  Castiel pulled me past the soldiers and into the very same room he had brought me my first day of meeting him. I don’t know why that knowledge caused me to blush like an idiot, but I turned from the prince to avoid notice.

  Nothing had changed. Books still littered the floor, and more paperwork coated his desk. A fire blazed within the hearth, making me sweat.

  What was wrong with me?

  “This way,” he said, and he opened another door. “You’ll stay here until we can figure out something else.”

  I froze at the threshold. More neatly stacked books ascended one wall all the way to the ceiling. Steam rose from an already filled bathtub that sat next to a stone fireplace with no privacy screen. Above the mantle, a menacing beast of fur and claws hung with another one mirroring it upon the floor. But what caught my attention more was the gigantic mahogany bed draped with deep red blankets and plush pillows.

  I flushed again, pointing to the tub. “I had a bath last night,” I said stupidly.

  Castiel cleared his throat. “The water was drawn for me.”

  Heat crawled my neck and burst into ugly patches on my cheeks. I moved to the fireplace, stepping over the head of the beast. “And what did these poor bears do to deserve such treatment?”

  “Those aren’t bears,” he said, but didn’t answer anything further because a flustered Sameen entered, unhappy and out of breath.

  She gasped, dropping the two bags she carried and quickly ushered the prince from the room. Despite my objections, my lady’s maid still forced me to wash in the prince’s tub after seeing residue from Melora’s potion on my hands and arms. I shivered in the warm water, covering my nakedness with my hands. It wasn’t because of Sameen. She’d seen me more times than I could count, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched, and the thought chilled me to the core.

  The ambassador had somehow found my room and gotten inside. Where had the guards been? Was that to be my fate? My grandmother’s red eyes flashed into my memory.

  And where was the other red-eyed freak, Cyris? Had the seer tucked him away somewhere?

  So many questions and more flooded my brain while Sameen proceeded to dress me in the most beautiful gown I had ever seen: a silvery-blue dress with silver piping and belt.

  “To match your eyes,” she said. The sleeves covered to my wrist, then draped open and flowed nearly to the ground.

  She let most of my hair fall in waves to my hips, adding an elaborate braid that drew from my temples to the back of my head.

  When she spun me around to look into the mirror, the fabric shimmered against my pale skin and contrasted wonderfully with my dark hair. The woman reflected in the mirror was not the same as the girl that had first arrived in Anolyn. Although still pale, color bloomed upon her cheeks. And she was not as reed-thin as I once was. A healthy, regular diet had added to my curves and softened the sharpness of my face.

  “Beautiful,” Sameen said from behind me. “But we’re not finished yet.”

  From within one of the bags she drew a blue velvet case, and within it was a delicate circlet of silver vines and flower. She skillfully pinned it in place.

  Mikael waited for me when I was finished. His shocked expression was enough to cause me to blush, but he wasn’t the one I wanted to impress tonight. Two new guards stood outside the doorway, refusing to even look at me. Music floated to us as we drew closer to the reception hall. Reese spied our arrival and rushed to collect me from my guard. Mikael preceded us into the throne room.

  My head spun to the noise of hundreds of voices talking, laughing. It was a hive of commotion, more than I had ever seen or heard. I clung tighter to Reese as he led me through the throng of packed bodies that pressed against me and jostled my steps. Once again, there was no pomp or ceremony. Castiel laughed with his people and the lively king danced with commoners. Melia danced with Mayor Belau. Gedeon had returned, paler than usual but still smiling as he conversed with several citizens.

  Upon the dais, several additional chairs aligned to the left and right of the king’s empty throne.

  The music stopped.

  An Arrangement

  “My good people!” Riaan’s voice rang above the din, and we halted near the front of the space. “Welcome, my friends! I hope you have enjoyed your time here and know you are always welcome!”

  Cheers erupted at his words.

  “I have several announcements to make before we continue with our evening of celebration. First, I’d like to welcome a guest from overseas.”

  My breath hitched in my lungs. Riaan’s arm spread to the side, and the Wraith Queen’s pryor appeared with two of the king’s guards.

  Silence enveloped the crowd.

  The pryor’s nervous gaze shifted about the room. Again, the silvery-blue shade shocked me, but it wasn’t the color of her eyes that caught my attention. Before, the woman seemed barely lucid, as if in a trance. Now, her smooth demeanor had disappeared. She shook with anxiety. Her forehead shimmered with sweat.

  Could this be the effects of Melora’s potion? Had I made her sick?

  The ambassador stopped next to the king.

  “We welcome the ambassador of Ardenya to Anolyn, and hope she finds her stay among our people enlightening.”

  The ambassador bowed, then quickly stepped away without a word to stand at the side of the room. Several people cleared a place for her, their ey
es nervously shifting away from her panicked expression.

  Castiel’s familiar presence pressed against me when he took Reese’s place. I sighed in relief as his hand clasped my elbow. I looked up to him, but his gaze was transfixed upon his brother, his jaw tense. The prince was a specimen of elegance. A white top and dark breeches did little to hide his masculine beauty and muscles. Sweat gleamed from his handsome brow.

  The king continued. “But this evening was originally planned to celebrate an even more important announcement. Almost four months ago, we welcomed within our community a guest that you know by the name of Lady Anna. But my good people, that was an invention to hide this individual’s identity until we could guarantee the success of a future arrangement.”

  Arrangement.

  The word cut through my gut like a knife. Surely, he didn’t intend to go forward with that.

  “Brother, bring our guest forward.”

  The request rang in my ears. Panic nearly caused me to bolt. Castiel’s touch alone allowed me the confidence to move, but every step was painful. What could I do? How could I refuse the king in front of this crowd? Maybe Castiel would intervene—unless he’d already agreed to this arrangement.

  I wanted to scream.

  A murmur erupted over the audience.

  Castiel brought me to stand next to the king. My head spun as the blood drained from my face, but I managed to gaze out among the sea of faces.

  “I was young when my father died,” Riaan said. “And yet you put your trust in me. Because of your unshaking faith, I have devoted my life to serving you and you have become my friends. My brothers and my sisters, I ask that you once again put your trust in me. An evil threatens to return. Because of this threat, we must once again align with our neighbor.”

  More murmurs erupted. The king paused until the rush calmed. “As a show of peace, the king of Eira has sent us a gift. His niece, Princess Ilianna Drakara.” A roar of voices followed. I swallowed against the tightness in my throat, but the king pretended not the notice the chaos. “He does this in hopes that we can put behind us our past and unite against a common enemy.”