“Well, well, you clean up nicely love.”
I cocked my head, squelching the flare of irritation he stirred up. Swallowing my disgust, I responded with, “Gee, thanks.”
“Don’t think we’ve been formally introduced. Dominic Lestrade.” He offered his hand.
I shook it, because, well, what else could I do, given the setting. I was here as Ethan’s guest, and despite his questionable judgement in companions, he was the prince’s friend. Were we anywhere else, I might have spat on his hand and walked away.
Dominic’s attention shifted back to the prince.
“Well?” he said, nodding expectantly at Ethan.
“Well, what?” He cocked his head.
“Is she dead, then?”
Ethan's jaw worked. “There's no reason to believe that's true.” He glanced briefly in my direction, and his brow tightened. “I don't think this is the time or place to discuss it,” he said to Dominic.
“Really?” His keen dark eyes narrowed as he looked over at the French Ambassador who appeared to be evading the clusters of people, trying to speak to him and making his way toward us.
“Not the right time? Think her daddy is going to share that opinion?” His chin jutted toward the Ambassador. “Doubt knowing you were the last one to see his baby girl alive, before she, poof,” he snapped his fingers, “disappeared in thin air, is going to do much for the peace negotiations you're trying to broker.”
Ethan’s voice dropped a few decibels. “You need to shut the hell up, Dominic. We have no way of knowing anything happened to her at all. Yes. She left my room this morning, but she could have gone anywhere. And if you're implying something—”
Dominic raised his hands in defense. “Not a thing, Your Highness. Not a thing.” He snatched a drink from the tray of a nearby server and swallowed a mouthful. “I'm sure she's alive and well and telling the jackass reporters hunting her down to sod off. Not a chance she's offering a thrust-by-thrust, tell-all account of your time together.”
My insides tightened. The girl Hannah and I saw slink out of his room this morning...that was the French Ambassador’s daughter? Oh, my-god, did Ethan have even an ounce of sense in that one-track head of his?
I glanced over at the French ambassador, who was headed in our direction an nearly upon us. “Well, whatever you two are on about, you should probably drop it,” I lowered my voice to a whisper, “the ambassador is almost—"
“Bonsoir, votre majesté.” The Ambassador’s booming voice filled the space around us. He dipped his head, surveying each of us in turn, before his gaze moved back to me. “And who is this belle fille accompanying you? I've not had the pleasure.”
Dominic snickered.
Ethan put a protective hand on the small of my back. “May I introduce Miss Katriana Stark.”
I waited for him to qualify that introduction with something further...like adding that I was an employee of the castle, or his sister's tutor. But that was all he offered.
“C'est fait pleasure.” I smiled.
His brows arched. “Vous parlez très bien Français, quelle magnifique!”
He captured my hand and placed a small kiss on my knuckles, then bowed his head. To me. It was such an odd feeling. In what world would anyone ever bow to me?
“Enchanté Mademoiselle,” he said. “Et, si vous plaît, appelle-moi, Jean-Pierre.”
From my peripheral view, I caught Ethan's friend roll his eyes, before her turned his head to take another sip of his drink. Awkwardly, I pulled my hand away from the ambassador's firm grasp, thankful for Ethan who immediately started peppering him with questions about his recent travels.
That left Dominic free to talk to me. Wonderful.
“So, let me guess. You're vying to be the next one to steal the prince’s heart and become his princess? Because, many of your kind have tried, many have failed.”
My kind...meaning commoners. Servants. Trash. He might not have said the words expressly, but the venom-coated sting was undeniable.
“Not vying for anything,” I snapped back. He wasn't my employer, or a monarch, so there was nothing to keep me from doling out just as much venom as he dished. “It may surprise you to know that not every girl wants to be a princess.” All I wanted was to be free.
“That would be surprising.” He chuckled. “Well, whatever your end game, I'd be happy to be your stepping stone. You know, like practice. Warming up with someone above your station, before you attempt to straddle the high horse.”
“You know, you look like an intelligent human being, and yet, everything about you says obnoxious, empty-headed jackass.”
“Admit it,” he said with a sneer. “You're not fooling anyone with your innocent act, love.”
“Call me love one more time…” I seethed, as my hands balled into fists at my side. The lights began to flicker. What are you going to do, Kat, punch him straight in the nose, in the middle of a royal gathering meant to propagate peace? I relaxed my hands.
Dominic chuckled, leaning in next to my ear. “I'll tell you what, you come see my big—"
“Dominic.” Ethan said his name sharply, the hint of a snarl echoing around us. “Don't be an asshole. Kat is my personal guest. You should keep that in mind.” His words were low, but the threat they carried was palpable. “Apologize,” he commanded, piercing Dominic with a lethal glare.
He offered me a false grin, followed by false words. “I’m terribly sorry, donut shoppe girl. Wasn’t my intention to offend.”
Ethan leaned into Dominic’s face. “Her name is Katriana.” He seethed.
I inhaled deeply. This wasn’t me. I wasn't some sort of cat toy to be batted about. "No. It’s fine.” I held up my hand to stop him. “I think perhaps I'll have a drink," I said, spotting servants carrying trays of champagne.
If I was going to get through the evening with Dominic nearby, I might need a couple of glasses. I meandered over, only to find the ambassador standing next to me.
I drunk down one full glass, then reached for another. The ambassador chuckled next to me. “Might want to slow your pace, Cherie. This is French champagne. Not that watered-down swill they serve at Britannian Court.”
I smiled. Taking another few mouthfuls, it burned a little, but the immediate post-burn numbing effect was pleasant enough. “C’est bon.” I nodded. “Very good.”
An orchestra of musicians began to play, filling the hall with lilting music.
“May I?” he extended a hand. “Or should I perhaps ask permission of His Grace?”
“I, um…” What was the protocol here? I mean, I was here with him, but I wasn’t his date. Wasn’t his property.
“I don’t see why not,” I said, offering the ambassador my hand.
As he led me to the dance floor, Ethan caught hold of my other hand. Holding me back, he leaned in close.
“Promise me the next dance?” he whispered against my ear.
With a quick nod, I shivered as the resonance of his voice travelled down every nerve ending. I followed him to the dance floor, feeling that giddy sense of promise return.
Cinderella going to the ball couldn’t have felt this good. It seemed like this was going to be the perfect night—
Until the leader of the French Consulate collapsed in my arms.
Staggering backward from his dead weight, I stifled a scream, watching the crimson stain bloom, as it drenched his shirt with blood.
His eyes bulged as they searched my face... dark, pupilless eyes, set in cavernous black pits.
“You, you must end this…the blood magik…of shadowed souls…” he rasped. His fingers clawed into my dress as he fell, straining the seams, until I heard the stitching tear at the shoulders.
I opened my mouth to call for help…to scream… I’m not sure which. The weight of his body was dragging me to the floor with him. I nearly fell, but his eyes rolled back in his head, and his clenched hands went slack…right before he disintegrated into ash in my arms.
I gaped, blinking-e
yed, at the stone-grey cinder that loosely resembled the form of a man before it collapsed, coating me and the floor around me with dust.
That's when the scream I'd been holding back tore loose.
CHAPTER 13
“Christ, Kat? Are you okay?”
I opened my eyes to the prince perched next to me on a fainting couch.
I struggled to sit upright, but he pushed against my shoulder to hold me in place. “Hey, that’s twice now you’ve lost consciousness in the span of a week, Kat. So, you’re not going anywhere just yet.”
I blinked at the bookshelves lining every wall of the room we were in. A massive bar stocked with drinks and a billiards table in the center. My gaze snapped back to his. “The ambassador?” I whispered. “He’s…”
Ethan shook his head slowly. “Never watched a man die before. I get it. Stronger stomachs have weakened at less.”
I jerked upright. “Watched a man die?” I glanced around, then lowered my voice. “You mean, watch a man turn cinder to ash in my arms? Because, um, no. That's a first for me.”
He studied me, a deep frown lining his brow. “Cinder to ash? What are you talking about, Kat?”
“There.” I turned my head, pointing toward the partly opened door. I had no idea where I was, or where we'd come from, but, there had been a layer of his remains dusting the dance floor. “Out there. The ambassador. He...he...” Blinking, I refocused on the spot where there’d been a pile of ash… but was now immaculately clean. I struggled to remember what I'd actually seen. Felt. Heard.
Ethan patted my hand. “The apothecarist said you might be disoriented,” he said gently. “The man had a massive coronary, Kat. That’s all.” His voiced dipped low as he leaned in closer. “And I promise you, there was nothing… unusual about his passing. He's in a better place now.”
And where was that better place, the inside of a dust bin? The chamber of a vacuum cleaner? I swallowed and held back from saying any more.
I sat up and pulled off the blanket covering me.
Ethan sucked in a breath. “Christ.” He pointed at my dress. “I assume that’s not your blood? Please tell me it’s not.”
I glanced down at the massive crimson stain on Hannah’s gown. Oh, god. It was happening again. Only, this time, it was real.
Ethan scrubbed a hand over his face. “But, he had a heart attack. Why would you be covered in his blood? I don’t understand why you’re covered in his blood.”
It was the first time I’d heard him sound rattled. I could relate, because we still had two different accounts of what had actually taken place. Mine and his. Confused as I was, one thing was clear... Ethan hadn't seen what I had seen. Perhaps no one else had. And quite honestly, if I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn’t have believed me, either. It was crazy. People didn’t just spontaneously dissolve like that. Whispering stuff about blood magik and shadowed souls and...
We both sensed another presence and turned to look at the same time to see Dominic ambling toward us. His face was grave. “There’s a problem,” he said, his gaze slid to me, then back to Ethan’s. Then he walked back to the door to close it.
Ethan stood up, facing his friend. “What problem?”
“There’s been some talk of how the ambassador died.” Again, he looked at me. “Talk of magik.” He lowered his voice.
Ethan’s hands clenched but he shook his head, dismissing it. “That’s crazy. The man had a heart attack. It was the result of too many crepes, not voodoo.”
“Is that what you saw?” Dominic shrugged. “Because I didn’t see anything, but…” Again, he looked directly at me. “A handful of people claim to have seen someone slay him. With magik.
My eyes widened as I stared at Ethan. His jaw worked as he walked to the door, motioning for Dominic to follow him.
“Stay here, Kat,” he said, before shutting me in on my own.
I sat on the couch, heart racing, and I nibbled my thumbnail, waiting for them to return. Eventually nerves took over, and I got up and started pacing.
I was just about to go out after them, when Dominic came back to the study, and shut the door behind him. He circled me slowly, massaging his jaw.
“Where’s Ethan?” I moved back toward the door, but he grabbed my arm.
“I think we need to talk, you and I,” he said.
I moved to his left. “Don’t think we have anything to talk about. Now if you’ll excuse me.”
But his grip on my arm my tightened. “You may have the Prince fooled,” he said, his words slurring together just slightly, “but I know better.”
“Excuse me?”
Pointing an accusing finger at my face, his gaze ran down the front of me, taking in the blood staining my dress. “You think I didn’t see what you did out there?” He leaned in, breathing his warm, boozy breath against my neck. “I saw it, and I know what you are. So watch yourself.”
Swallowing, I yanked away from his hard grip and backed away from him. “Are you actually threatening me right now?” I said it testily, not bothering to hide my annoyance.
“I'm warning you to be careful Katriana Stark from nowhere.” My name rolled off his tongue in a derisive tone. “Bad things have a way of happening to bad girls. Ethan's my mate, and powerful men are often the target of desperate, pretty little liars.” His hand clamped around my forearm again, this time his fingers dug into my flesh through the thin fabric of my sleeve. “Try anything love, and I'll turn you in to Her Majesty's secret service before you can say hocus pocus.”
He let go, and I staggered backwards. My legs felt weak as dropped down on the loveseat behind me. Fear hammered in my chest, as fear spread through me. My lungs seemed to lock, not letting air in or out. Deny it. Say something. I tried to convince myself, but I knew it wouldn’t make a difference. Dominic, for whatever reason, had made up his mind about me. And he was right. My fingers dug into the seat cushions as Ethan walked back in.
“Everything all right in here?” His accusing gaze shot directly to Dominic.
His friend chuckled. “Just getting to know your little social experiment. Better watch your back Ethan. Seems she's multi-talented, this one.” He didn’t bother to look back at me as he made his way to the door.
Ethan came to sit next to me. “Shit. He knows…the bloody bastard.”
I opened my mouth, stunned, but then closed it.
He glanced at me from the corner of his eye. “I've known him since prep school. He's shit at hiding things. Couldn’t pull a poker face to save his life.”
I sank back against the cushions. “What do we do now?”
“I won’t lie, it complicates things,” he said, fiddling with random objects on the mahogany desk. “There's something you don’t know Kat. There was an incident at court several years back. With a man who'd come to work at court in the gardens. Like you, he had powers, only he knew exactly how to use them. He tried to overthrow the monarchy using magik, but things got out of his control. And those powers, they got him killed.
I stood up and started pacing the floor. “I didn’t hear about that case.”
“No one did. It was kept quiet, and for good reason. It was safer for the world to believe that magik was a thing of the past. That it died and was buried centuries ago with the last witch hangings. If it were ever to become public—"
“They'd be forced to act.” I finished his thought. “Which means Dominic knowing, is worse than I feared.” My insides were tied in knots and I feared I'd never break free from their strangling hold. “Its like he sensed it all along and hates me for it, without even knowing me.”
“It’s not you personally Kat. He just loathes magik, he paused as if unsure how much more he should share with me. Finally, he went on. “It was his father who died all those years ago.”
I sucked in a slow gasp. “So the rumors, they were all true then?”
Ethan stood and moved to the pool table. I picked up a cue clenching both hands around it. “Like I said, it complicates things.” His eyes n
arrowed. “But leave him to me. I've got enough dirt on him to keep his lips sealed permanently. He'll be easy to control, when he's sober. It's the rest of the time that concerns me.”
I shook my head, guessing sober wasn't Dominic's preferred state.
With a long sigh, Ethan’s expression went grave as he hitched his thumb toward the closed door. “Unfortunately, Dominic isn’t our only problem. When the French Ambassador collapsed…” he began slowly.
“What did they see?” It was difficult to keep the edge from my voice.
“I overheard a few accounts from the guest. No one saw him turn to ash,” he began. “But what they did see was, you piercing his heart with light, before he collapsed at your feet.”
My gaze shot to his. “Me? They think I did this? How many people saw this?”
“Five, maybe six accounts.”
My insides knotted. “Crap. That's bad, Ethan.”
“Not necessarily. We don’t know that they saw anything, Kat. We don’t know that you did, either. The man’s body was whole. I saw them roll him away on a gurney. And when you blacked out, well, the police thought it best not to question you tonight.”
I was relived for that, because I had no idea how I’d answer their questions. I remained seated, the knot in my stomach so tight it hurt. “But, I know what I saw. And…” I looked down at my dress, stained with his blood.
His gaze followed, and he shook his head, his expression grim. “It’s nowhere near as bad as if it were actually true. I don’t know what it means, but there is no chance you did anything to that man.”
“Okay,” I said, “then how would you explain what happened? What I saw? What they saw?”
“I don’t know. But it does tell us one thing. That obviously, there are more people with magik, or they wouldn’t have shared your strange visions. Whatever the case, we've got to contain this before things blow up.”
I took a breath and then another, until I was near hyperventilating with panic. “They're going to find out, Ethan. They'll have me killed.”
“No. They won’t. No one will know. And that law, it’s not one they carry out.” He cupped my chin and tilted my face to his. “I'll take care of it.”
Of Royal Blood: Part One (Courting Magik Series Book 1) Page 11