The Dead and the Dusk (The Nightmare Court Book 2)
Page 17
Eithan stepped close to her. “You’re good with him.”
She started. “You’ve got to stop sneaking up on me.” But she was smiling.
“I’m terribly sorry,” he said.
“You’re always lurking around, staring at me.”
“It’s part of the ruse,” he said.
“Yes, I know,” said Nicce. “But as I said to Absalom, you shouldn’t have given me the difficult role.”
“What do you mean?”
She smiled at him. “Pretending to hate you, of course. I suppose I shouldn’t be talking to you at all.”
“Probably not,” he said. “But they’re focused on their scene.” He gestured to the court members who were on the opposite side of the room, their backs to them, speaking their lines to Absalom and Jonas.
“I don’t see why it’s so difficult to hate me,” he said. “I have to admit I don’t understand why you don’t.”
She looked away.
He shouldn’t have said that. He cleared his throat. “I’m glad you don’t. I’m…” He couldn’t explain what she meant to him. He spent far too much time thinking about the way it had felt to kiss her, and when she looked at him, he knew he didn’t deserve the affection in her gaze.
There had never been anything like this in his life, not even before the change. His experiences with women had been brief, transactional. This was…
He didn’t know what he was doing, but he wanted it. Gods, it would kill him to lose it. It changed him somehow. It was so good, and he wasn’t used to feeling good things.
“I wish you’d stop asking me why,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I will.”
“It’s only that I don’t know why,” she said. “But isn’t it right somehow? Wasn’t I always meant for you? They raised me to be your bride.”
Disgust rose in him. “Don’t say that. That isn’t why.”
She was quiet.
He moved closer. “If I could go back and change the things that I did to you. If I could stop myself from pursuing you and ending the lives of everyone near you. From tricking you, deceiving you, manipulating you into letting me drink your blood. If I could, I would. Knowing that I caused you so much suffering—”
“Stop,” she said. “You didn’t do that. Not willingly.”
“I made the decisions.”
“You were forced,” said Nicce. “You had to do what Ciaska wanted.”
He was quiet. It was true, but the knowledge didn’t make him feel as though he had been absolved of his guilt. After all, he’d wanted Nicce. He’d gone after her because Ciaska had ordered it, but some part of him—
He never finished the thought, because the door to the rehearsal room banged open, and the doorway was full of Ciaska’s mist, the dark tendrils rushing into the room like a torrent of water.
Eithan hurried forward. What was she doing here? Why was she coming in like this? He met the goddess as she stepped inside, and he tried to adopt a lazy, teasing tone. “Now, now, Exalted One, we agreed that if you saw the rehearsals, it would ruin the surprise.”
Ciaska didn’t even give him a look. She tore through the room, mist crawling all over the walls, filling the mouths and nostrils of everyone she passed, choking them. She was going straight for Nicce.
Eithan’s heart tripped over itself, going wildly out of rhythm. Something was very, very wrong.
Ciaska’s mist rose up, reaching Nicce before the goddess did. It slashed across Nicce’s face, cutting her features open from her eyebrow, across her nose, to her cheekbone.
Nicce gasped, hands going to the wound, cowering.
Eithan sprinted across the room, but then he stopped, not touching Nicce. It was better if he didn’t—
Gods.
“Looks red to me,” said Ciaska.
Nicce was shaking. “Exalted One, have I displeased you?”
Say something, Eithan urged himself. Stop this. Fix this.
“Why are you here?” said Ciaska. “Who are you? What did those human warriors do to you?”
“I’m here,” said Nicce, straightening, baring her teeth, even as blood dripped over her face, “because you brought me here.” The venom in her tone bespoke defiance. Ciaska would not like that.
“Exalted One,” Eithan said, and his voice was mangled. “You are ruining the play.”
Ciaska ignored him. “Why is it red? Why isn’t it sunlight?”
Nicce gave her a nasty smile. “Afraid, Ciaska?”
Ciaska’s eyes widened at being called by her name.
“The play,” Eithan said. “Don’t you want a play? Don’t you want to be entertained?”
Ciaska rounded on him. “I’m trying to figure out the game, Eithan.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Ciaska pointed at Nicce. “Her blood? Is it sunlight?”
“No,” said Eithan.
“You said it to me when you came back injured,” said Ciaska. “You said to me, ‘Her blood isn’t blood.’ And I asked you what that meant, but you just said she couldn’t be turned. You hid it from me.”
“I…” Eithan swallowed hard. “Her blood is red. You can see that it’s red.”
“Maybe you can turn her for me now,” said Ciaska, gesturing.
“I can assure you, biting her has no effect on her,” said Eithan. “I can’t turn her.”
“Oh? You’ve tried more than once?” Ciaska’s eyes flashed. “What were you doing with her all that time you were gone?”
“We’ve been through this, haven’t we?” said Eithan.
“We’ve been through a lot of things, and I’m beginning to think they were all part of your game, Eithan.” Ciaska folded her arms over her chest. “I like games, but not when they’re played at my expense.”
“There’s no game,” said Eithan.
Ciaska turned on Nicce. “Is your blood sunlight?”
“Let it be,” said Eithan. “The play. We’ve been working so hard—”
“Oh, I thought I had to force you into this play,” Ciaska snarled. She was still staring at Nicce. She shook her head. “I find I’m done with you, girl. Ever since I brought you back here, I’ve been miserable. I don’t like what you’ve done to my Eithan. I don’t like you at all.” She raised her hands above her head and the mist roiled out, concentrated, like a spike. She drove it into Nicce’s neck.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Nicce sputtered, gurgling on blood as pain rippled through her. She was falling to the floor and she was confused. Everything hurt, the world was spinning, the goddess’s mist was receding, and she could hear voices around her, but they sounded distorted, as though she was hearing them from under water.
She could heal herself, switch her blood over to light and make this wound go away.
But if she did, Ciaska would know about her blood, and they didn’t want that. She needed to hold on, just until the goddess was gone. She needed to…
Darkness was coming for her, cold darkness. It wrapped around her limbs and brushed spikes of ice against the back of her skull.
She wasn’t sure how much time she had left.
Suddenly, through the haze that was her consciousness, she heard the door slam.
She turned on the light. She hoped Ciaska was gone. She turned the figurative knob inside her brain and was awash in brightness. She felt her skin knit itself back together.
Eithan was there, on his knees next to her, his eyes wide.
Nicce sat up, touching her now unmarred neck, turning off the light. She looked around. “Is Ciaska gone?”
“Barely,” said Eithan.
“She could have seen it?” said Nicce. “Maybe under the door, or—”
“She’d be back,” said Eithan. He got to his feet. “Absalom distracted her. He took her out of the room.” He was searching, looking around the room. His gaze settled on the table. “Give me the tablecloth.”
“What?” said Jonas. “Why?”
“I’m fine now,” said Nicce. “I’m healed.”
“I know,” said Eithan. “But we don’t want anyone else to know.”
Jonas was there with the tablecloth. “Eithan, what about the women who were practicing their scene?”
Nicce saw the two former brides in the corner, their heads together. They were whispering.
“I don’t know,” said Eithan. “For now, knock them out and tie them up and stash them someplace. We’ll figure it out.” He stood up, hoisting Nicce up as well.
Nicce wrapped her arms around his neck, and her breath caught in her throat. This was… she’d never been carried like this.
Eithan looked at her. His lips parted, and he gazed into her eyes. “Go limp,” he said in a gravelly voice. “Like I’m only carrying a body.”
“Oh,” she said in understanding, and she did it, her head flopping backwards.
Jonas draped the tablecloth over her body. She couldn’t see much, and the cloth was hot against her face. But she didn’t move.
Eithan carried her out of the rehearsal room and through the hallways of the palace.
People went by them, making exclamations, asking Eithan what was going on, but Eithan ignored them.
He carried her down a set of steps and through another hallway.
He kicked open a door and then kicked it closed.
He set her down, pulling the tablecloth away from her face.
She was in a bedroom like the others in the palace. “Is this your room?”
Eithan rubbed his forehead. “I didn’t know where else to take you.”
“People saw you take me here. Ciaska will think, what? You’re cuddling with a bloody corpse?”
He grimaced. “I can sell it. We won’t need it for too long. We’ll move on her as soon as we can find the right time.”
“Why not now?” said Nicce. “Just have someone bring her some sun-taken wine. Everything’s gone wrong, and we don’t have a choice but to strike.”
“I…” He shook his head. “She’s too suspicious. No. We let her think that she’s won some kind of triumph here, killing you, and then we make our move.”
“Eithan, I don’t think—”
“How does she know?” Eithan was pacing. “Who told her about your blood?”
Nicce didn’t answer. She obviously had no idea.
“No one knows except us,” said Eithan. “Lian saw, but he’s never alone with her, and he’s too afraid of her to say much of anything to her anyway. None of the knights would betray us, not even Septimus. He wants Ciaska gone as much as anyone. No one else knows, so—”
“Um, actually, that’s not true,” said Nicce, realizing.
“What?” Eithan rounded on her.
“I might have, um, told Xenia about it. I actually have a jar of sunlight liquid in my room, ready to give to her. It’s in the wardrobe, in the bottom corner, behind my slippers.”
Eithan just gaped at her.
“I… Xenia wants to leave. Why would she have told Ciaska about my blood? That doesn’t even make any sense.”
Eithan headed for the door. “Stay here. You’re supposed to be dead, so don’t go anywhere. If someone knocks on the door, hide under the bed and don’t say a word.”
“Eithan, where are you going?”
He didn’t answer. He yanked the door open and was gone.
* * *
Eithan didn’t even knock at Xenia’s door. He turned the knob, and finding it locked, he put his shoulder into it and forced it open, splintering the wood that it was made from.
Oddly, he found himself wondering about the construction of the palace, which must have been made from materials in the human realm. He thought about men being forced to bring wood through the portal and wondered if Ciaska had turned them or threatened them or how she’d managed it.
Xenia came across the room towards him. “You,” she said in a low voice.
“You told Ciaska about Nicce’s blood,” said Eithan.
“What?” Xenia came up short.
“I was prepared to be sympathetic if I saw signs of Ciaska’s torture on you, but there’s not a scratch on your body, so I assume you offered up the information freely and willingly—”
“What did Ciaska do?”
“You sold Nicce out, and you have no idea what—”
“Is Nicce all right?”
“Oh, as if you care.”
“I do care,” said Xenia. “I mean, all right, she’s not my favorite person on earth, and we’ve had our differences over the time we’ve known each other, but I would never betray her that way. I would never tell the goddess about her blood.”
“Well, you’re the only person who knew,” said Eithan.
“Actually, I’m not,” Xenia breathed, her face twisting.
“You told someone else?”
“Revel,” said Xenia. She dragged her hands over her face. “Oh, Aitho’s tears, I’m so stupid. Ciaska found me coming out of Nicce’s room and asked me those questions, and she was suspicious, I could tell, but I thought she’d grown bored with me. But then Revel. She approached me. She came on pretty strong. And she asked all those questions… I’m an idiot.”
“Revel,” Eithan repeated.
“She’s one of the brides. She—”
“I know who she is,” said Eithan. “I remember all the brides.”
Xenia only raised her eyebrows.
“Sounds like Ciaska’s idea of fun,” said Eithan. “She could have simply tortured you, but then it would all be over too quickly. This way, it was drawn out, more convoluted, and more people suffered. Not nearly as dull.” He turned on his heel and pulled open the broken door.
“Wait,” called Xenia. “What happened to Nicce?”
Eithan didn’t answer her. He strode down the hallway, leaving Xenia behind.
He didn’t go directly to Revel. Instead, he went to Nicce’s room and opened her wardrobe. He found the jar of sunlight and tucked it away inside one of his pockets.
That done, he sought out Revel. He knew who she was, but he wasn’t sure of where her room was. He had an idea that she lived on the same hallway as Absalom, though, and so he went there first. He knocked on a door and made inquiries, and he was right. She was only a few doors away from Absalom.
He didn’t break her door down.
He wasn’t as angry now as he had been. Now, he was a little more level headed.
He knocked.
It took her a while to answer the door. She was badly wounded, a stab wound to the stomach, and she was doubled over, the bandage seeping blood when she hobbled to the door.
He took her by the arm and pulled her into the hallway. “We’re going for a little walk.”
“Sir Eithan?” she said in a tiny voice.
“Try to keep up, or I’ll drag you,” he informed her. He wasn’t as angry as he’d been, but he was still angry.
“What’s this about?” said Revel.
“I’m either about to do you a big favor, or I’m going to get you killed,” said Eithan.
“That’s supposed to make me come with you?”
“You’re saying you want to be dragged?” he said briskly.
She didn’t speak after that, but she came along.
They moved through the palace, out the front door, past the guards, who eyed Eithan and the woman with curiosity but didn’t make a move to stop them, not that he had expected them to impede his movement.
He took Revel to the portal.
Sunlight streamed from the human world. Revel shied away from it. A stray beam touched her skin, and it sizzled, smoke rising.
She cried out, and she tried to run.
He caught her and stopped her. “We don’t know what drinking the light will do to the brides and the others turned by Ciaska. You’ve just become expendable, however.”
Revel�
�s lower lip trembled. “You always played at being a good man, but underneath, I could tell that you were nothing but cruel.”
“You seduced Xenia for the purpose of getting information to pass on to Ciaska. Deny it.” He glared at her.
“As if I had a choice in the matter,” said Revel. “As if anyone can deny Ciaska what she asks us to do. Isn’t that your excuse for what you did to me all those years ago? That you had no choice?”
Eithan seized her by the arm, his face inches from hers. “Ciaska tried to kill Nicce. If it weren’t for Nicce’s blood, she would be dead. And if I lost her…”
Revel cringed.
He shoved her away.
She stumbled, both hands going to her wound.
Eithan drew out the jar of sunlight.
Revel cowered, letting out a little cry. Where it touched her, it seemed to burn her skin. She backed away from him, whimpering.
“Oh, don’t be that way,” said Eithan. “Maybe it won’t kill you.” He took a deep breath. “Besides, your sacrifice will give us much needed information about how the sunlight blood affects those like you. Don’t think of it as a punishment. Just something else you have no choice over.”
“You’re disgusting,” Revel spat at him.
“Aren’t you the least bit sorry?” Eithan advanced on her. “Months of planning all down the drain. Everything I so meticulously mapped out, ruined.”
“Maybe it’s not me you’re angry at but your precious Nicce,” said Revel. “I guess she’s only playing at hating you? That’s some elaborate ruse for the court? Or is she really spreading her legs for Absalom?”
Eithan caught her by the front of her dress. He pulled her against his body. Then he realized he was going to need two hands to open the jar. He let go of her.
She stumbled and fell, going down in a heap on the ground. “Is Xenia all right?” she murmured. “I didn’t know she had a daughter. If I had known…”
Eithan unscrewed the lid from the jar. “Would you have refused the goddess?”
“I would have tried,” said Revel. “How does refusing work out for you?”
“I think I’m the only man who’s successfully refused her,” he said in a hard voice, kneeling down next to Revel.
“I’m not going to drink that,” said Revel.
“Yes,” said Eithan, “you are.”