“Dangerous as well, if you do not know all the rules of the society.”
Rose shifted her weight, growing more uneasy.
“It is much like a game in that respect.” Master D’ray started to walk past her. Just as he was next to her he paused and asked in a low, hissing voice, “Have you learned the rules yet?”
Shock rooted Rose to her spot. Spinning around Rose looked for D’ray but he was already lost to the crowd. Where in the hells . . . ? Rose sent her sight into the shadows, looking for the B’leakon. Carefully, Rose weaved her way to the corner of the room behind a pillar. She bumped into a few people because of the dizzying double vision, half in and half out of shadow. Rose leaned against the pillar and sent all of her vision into the shadows.
The ballroom fell away and Rose saw all the dark hallways and alcoves. Rose searched through the edges of the ballroom for D’ray. She abandoned looking in the ballroom and directed her sight down the servants’ corridors. But there were still so many people.
“Rose?” Captain Sayla’s voice sounded loud in her ear and distractedly Rose saw her shocked face in front of her. Captain Sayla pushed her farther into the alcove, away from prying eyes.
“What is happening?”
Rose looked at the captain, still through shadows. She only saw a halo of light in the shape of the captain.
“Rose?”
Rose barely heard the captain’s words as she continued to search the dark corridors surrounding the giant ballroom.
There! In an old staircase behind the servants’ corridors. Rose pulled back from the shadows, and the sudden change from the gray tones to bright colors blinded her.
“I have to go.” Rose pushed off the pillar, squinting against the light.
“Rose, stop.” Captain Sayla grabbed her arm. “Who is where?”
Rose blinked at her as her eyes tried to adjust. “D’ray. He’s the assassin.” She pulled free.
“Are you sure?”
Rose didn’t turn around. She pushed through the crowds toward the small door in the far corner of the room. Inside the servants’ dark hallway people rushed back and forth, most carrying trays of food or drink. Rose ducked and weaved through the people. After the third time someone stepped on her dress, stopping and nearly tripping her, Rose cursed. Gathering her skirts in her hands and not caring who noticed, she disappeared into her shadows. There she had the room to move freely.
Rose heard a few shocked gasps echo in the darkness, but she didn’t care. Rose ran through the shadow mist that was always present, skirts still wadded in her hand. She ran through her shadows, stepped out of them at the base of the stairs and looked up. They were narrow and steep, leading to the rafters above the ballroom. Rose knew D’ray was up there.
Standing in the near blackness, Rose could hear him moving along the walkway. She could hear his clothing rustle, hear him breathe. She could smell the perfume he wore. It was the most hyper-aware her senses had ever been in the darkness. Without conscious effort, she was immersed in the shadows, hearing, seeing, feeling, smelling anything they touched. It made her feel powerful, made her blood rush in her veins a bit faster, hold her shoulders back. It made her feel a bit intoxicated. It was new and strange. It reminded her that her magic was still changing.
Bending over, Rose drew the small blade she’d fastened to her leg earlier. She knew it was nearly useless, but she felt better with it regardless. She always felt better with a blade in her hands. Keeping her skirts bunched in her other fist, Rose started to climb the stairs. On the second step her ankle twisted. Useless . . . Just useless. Rose cursed and kicked off the impossible heels before they killed her. She continued to climb the stairs barefooted.
Rose paused at the top to catch her breath. Climbing those steep stairs had not been easy in the dress and corset. Rose glanced around the rafters. The lights below cast a yellow glow on the beams but mostly it was dark.
“Let’s be finished with this, then.”
Rose looked down the walkway at D’ray. He stood at the middle point, right above the elaborate chandelier. The glow from the candles seemed to match the glow from his eyes and the effect cast sharp shadows across his face. Rose remained silent. Now the chase was over she was regretting her rash action. She gripped the small blade and waited. She would get what information she could first.
D’ray strode closer to her. “You are such a problem for me.”
Rose shook with the impulse to run, but she buried it down like she always did. She let her muscles relax, took deep breaths through her nose, slightly bent her knees. She had felt a stranger at the ball, but this was familiar to her.
He stopped in front of her. Rose slipped into the shadows and appeared a distance behind him, above the chandelier. The shadows still coursed through her, smells and sounds mixing into a cacophony of sensations in her mind. He laughed, low and slow, and turned to face her.
“You may be able to move through shadow, but you cannot hide in them. Not from me.”
“What do you know of me?” she finally spoke.
D’ray spoke low, nearly inaudible, but Rose heard the words echo through her darkness. She heard the shadows growl in an answer to the whispered words. “Of you? Nothing, human, but I know what you are.”
Rose’s heart skipped a beat. She swallowed and rotated her wrists, keeping them loose. “And what is that?”
D’ray drew a long knife hidden in his clothing. He began to advance. “You could be useful to me but I fear you will be more trouble than you’re worth.”
Rose backed up, mind spinning as her eyes danced from beam to beam, along the catwalks. Rose took another step back. “Why are you here to kill the king?”
D’ray ignored her and continued his slow advance.
Rose backed up again and turned to slip into shadow. Or at least she tried. It felt like walking through mud. What is this? The shadows resisted her. Rose abandoned her attempt to flee into the shadows and stood panting on the rafter.
“Something amiss, human?”
Rose turned panicked eyes back to D’ray.
“I said you could not hide in the shadows. I may not be able to move within them, but I can influence them,” he said “Pity. I expected you to be ssstronger.”
“How?”
Rose backed away slowly, looking again back at the beams and judging distances. She dropped her skirts; moved her small blade to her left hand.
“How do you think?” D’ray took three quick leaps and feinted. Rose saw it coming, stepped into him and threw her fist into his arm, throwing his blade from his fingers. She slashed at his left arm with her blade in nearly the same second. Unable to lift her leg for a kick, she shoved D’ray’s hips in a sharp, hard downward motion instead. D’ray hissed a long curse as he stumbled and fell, the sound sending shivers down her spine as she turned on her heel, darting across the walkway. D’ray’s heavy footfalls thumped behind her. Rose gasped for breath as she ran down the walkway. She heard people shouting through her shadows; yelling about the stray blade falling from the rafters.
She saw a gap in the railing ahead of her and she leapt off the walkway. She fell a short drop, her gown billowing around her, before Rose landed on a narrow support beam. Her feet landed with a light thud and she wobbled a moment but then Rose was running across the narrow beam. The beam bounced and shook when D’ray landed on the beam behind her. Rose fell to her knees and the knife fell from her fingers.
She struggled to her feet but she kept catching and stepping on her gown. She gave a violent yank and finally pulled her gown free of her feet and knees just as her head was jerked back as D’ray fisted her hair. He pulled back, baring her neck, and Rose felt steel at her throat.
“You are standing in my way. They will only follow one!”
Rose cried out and felt something warm sli
de down her neck. She jerked back from the blade and pushed at his arm with her hands.
“What makes you think they will follow you?” Rose gasped at him. Take the bait, give me time!
D’ray paused. The knife still held against her throat, every small movement and it dug deeper into her neck. “Without you, I will be the strongest.”
Rose pushed against his arm. “So, I guess paying me is out of the question now.”
D’ray hissed a laugh. “I fear you would be too much trouble to be worth any aid. They listen to you too much already.”
She grasped his arm and tried to push the blade away. D’ray grunted and Rose threw all her weight backward into his legs while pushing against his arm. He took a step back and the blade disappeared from her neck. Without a second thought, Rose threw herself sideways off the beam. Her stomach dropped and flipped and she choked on a scream as she fell. Rose forced her eyes open and saw the ballroom floor rushing toward her.
Rose pictured her shadow world, full of its gray mists and hidden ways, and called it to her. To step into her shadows, she’d always stepped through the gap in the worlds created in the shadows. But Rose knew what lay beneath the brightness. She knew the world of light would give way to the world of shadows beneath.
Forcing the light to bend to her will, Rose forced the world of light to part for her and reveal her gray, misty world beneath. She pulled the shadow world to her, through the light, and wrapped it around her. A sharp, stabbing pain exploded in her temples as she slipped from the world of light into the darkness. Once in her shadows she didn’t stop. She fell through the cool mists and rushed through the darkness.
The mists swirled around her as she slid and tumbled through her dark world, eventually coming to a stop. Rose stumbled to her feet and looked for a quiet corner in the ballroom to step out of the shadows. Pain flashed through her temples as she stepped back into the world. She sagged against the cool wall. Her head throbbed. Lights danced in her eyes. The room was too bright. Rose moaned and pressed the heel of her hand into her eye.
“Rose.”
She pressed her other hand over her eyes, trying to block everything out.
“Rose!”
She winced at the shouting captain next to her. Captain Sayla pressed a napkin to her neck.
“Captain—”
“I know. I heard. Follow Ben. He’ll take you to the king’s meeting room. We will be there shortly. I’ve already alerted the guards.”
Rose squinted at the steward who gently led her by her elbow from the great hall. Outside in the hallway, Rose shook her elbow free of the steward and followed him. The world tilted and listed as she walked. Her head pounded. Spots danced in her vision and more than once she had to brace herself on the wall.
Eventually, the steward led her out into the main halls and Rose hazily recognized the king’s suites. They approached, then passed the study, and Ben continued. Rose prayed the man would stop soon or he’d be carrying her the rest of the way. Her whole body was throbbing by the time Ben finally stopped at a small room.
“The king’s sitting room. Captain Sayla and the others will join you soon.”
Rose dragged herself inside and sagged against the wall. The plush carpet squished between her toes. She padded across the room and collapsed into a fluffy sofa. Something worse than exhaustion dragged at her and Rose wrapped herself up in the velvet cloak. Her eyes hurt, her head throbbed. Rose propped her elbows on her knees, pressed her hands into her closed eyes and breathed. Now that the threat had passed, in the quiet calm of the room, the rush of energy left her. The rush of fear that was almost excitement had kept the pain away, had sharpened her senses. Now that was all fading and Rose was left shaky, tired, and sore. She hated these moments. The crash that happened after the fight.
As she sat in the quiet room, a whisper started. She didn’t notice it at first, then dismissed it as her ears ringing; but the longer it went on, the more distinct it became. Rose sat up and blinked. No one was in the room but there was the faint whisper, so soft she couldn’t hear the words. She shook her head and dropped it back into her hand. The soft sound disappeared.
The door eventually opened and a wave of guards, Rita, the captain, the king, and others streamed into the room. Rita spotted Rose and knelt in front of her with a steaming cup.
“Drink.”
Rose tiredly accepted the tea while Rita started cleaning the dried blood from her neck.
“How’s the head?”
Rose groaned. “Like a war drum has taken up residence. My eyes hurt.”
“Well . . . drink your tea. It’ll help.”
Rose sipped more tea and waited. Her shoulder throbbed in tandem with her head; her back was knotted and stiff.
Her eyes drooped shut against her wishes.
King Micah spoke, and Rose dragged herself to attention. “Captain Sayla was able to fill me in on most of what happened after you left her.”
Rose looked at the captain. “How?”
The captain took a long drink from her own mug. “It took me a while but eventually I was able to find your thoughts among the others. It felt like I split my head open in doing so, but I was able listen to your thoughts. I got a clear enough idea of what was happening.”
Rose blinked. “And what of D’ray?”
King Micah glared and clenched his jaw. “It would appear he knows my castle better than my guards. They lost him in some old servants’ halls going into the burnt wing. They were able to follow his footprints in the soot and dust but . . . .” He shrugged and the movement was jerky, angry. “He disappeared.”
Damn. Rose cursed and sagged further into the cushions. “He knows more magic than just mine.”
“We were hoping you might be able to find him before he returns,” the bearded man, general if Rose understood the medals on his dress uniform, spoke.
“No,” Madame Rita answered for her. “No more magic. She needs to rest.”
Rose tried to look through the shadows but pain exploded behind her eyes, momentarily blinding her. She dropped her head into her hand and groaned.
“Fine, don’t listen to me.” Madame Rita tossed her hands in the air. “I’m only the healer. What do I know?”
“We must double your guard, Sire,” the General spoke into the silence left by Rita’s angry words.
Rose sat up stiffly. “How will this change things?”
The king sighed. “We believed they coordinated moving their army around tonight. Around the guards being pulled back to the castle. With the assassination stopped, I doubt he is foolish enough to try to storm the castle still. He cannot possibly have enough men.”
He continued, “That is enough for tonight. There will be a full conversation later. The rest of us should return to the Ball before our absences are noticed. Miss Trewin, Madame Rita is anxious to see you to the Healers’ Wing.”
The bearded general left first and soon the others followed. The king lingered with Rita.
“I’m not going to the Healer’s Wing.” She wanted to sleep in an unmonitored bed.
Madame Rita huffed at her. She handed her a small bowl of the bitter Subpleont berries. “Fine. Eat all of these before you sleep. You will feel better in the morning. And no more magic. See me in the morning.”
Rose took the bowl reluctantly. If the tea was terrible, what would the berries taste like? Madame Rita excused herself quietly.
Rose’s eyelids drooped. “I think . . . .” Rose shook herself awake. “I think there was more to his being here.”
“Why do you say that?”
“He said he was here for something else. I think he was looking for the library the spy hasn’t found yet.”
“What would Lord Damian need in a library? Perhaps Master D’ray has his own agenda,” the king mused. “I think
that might scare me more than what Lord Damian is planning.”
Rose hesitated. She thought her magic, D’ray’s interest in it, was part of whatever else he was planning. “I think whatever else he is planning has to do with my magic. With all magic.”
She played with the berries in the bowl, averting her eyes away from the king’s scrutiny. “The shadows don’t talk much to me. I feel like they are testing me still or—” she shook her head and shrugged. “Anyway. They did tell me there is a traitor, that he is trying to do something with magic that makes them angry.”
“Do they say what he’s doing?”
Rose took a deep breath and shook her head. “They are so frustrating,” she growled. “They show up in my life with no warning. Tell me I have some duty and demand I deal with some . . . .” her breath puffed out. “I feel D’ray working for Lord Damian is merely a way to achieve his own goals. He was promised payment not in gold, so it has to be something Lord Damian has access to after taking the throne.” She squished another berry between her fingers.
The king reached over and gently stopped her hand. “We will figure things out. You must trust the group is smarter than the individual.”
Rose smiled softly at him. “I’ve never been part of a group.”
He squeezed her fingers once before letting go.
Rose sighed and looked away, plopped a squished berry into her mouth. “We need to find that library first.”
“We will worry about that when you are stronger.”
Rose let her gaze wander before turning back to Micah. She smiled tiredly at him. “It would seem I was an excellent distraction.”
“That was never how I wanted this evening to play out.”
Rose gingerly touched the bandage across her throat. “No, but it was how it did. At least I survived. And I got to dance.” She smiled earnestly. “I’ve never danced in such a gown before, like a lady.”
Micah smiled at her. “That you did. Eat the berries.”
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