Chin tilting up, he stopped and cast a disapproving glance over me. His yellow eyes and slitted pupils might’ve unnerved me if I hadn’t been used to dealing with Orpha. “Ah, Serpent. I wondered what that smell was. Thought it stank of betrayal over here.”
I chuckled like he was as witty as he so clearly believed. “Not presiding over your little Court of Monsters?”
“Obviously not, since I’m here, aren’t I? I thought you were meant to be a spymaster.” He rolled his eyes and started past me. “I’ve come to see my parents.”
“Telling them about the human woman you’ve been terrorising or just taking the chance to see dear ma and pa?”
The way he stopped mid-stride and turned on the spot flushed me with pleasure. Sparring with Sepher was petty, but the irritation weighing on me made me petty. So did the Day Princes.
“Huh. Well done, Serpent. A spy at my court or…？” He narrowed his feline eyes at me, more evaluative this time as he cocked his head.
“You know I can’t possibly reveal my sources. Though it’s good to have it confirmed—and from the horse’s mouth no less. Or should that be the sabrecat’s?” I nodded down at his swishing tail, and my shadows flicked in its direction. “By the way, your tail is showing.”
He bared his teeth as he chuckled. “I assume that isn’t an innuendo but a display of your masterful perceptive skills. Yes, my tail is showing, as are my claws.” He examined them like someone might examine their fingernails. “Perhaps you’d like a demonstration.”
“Only if I get to demonstrate my shadows. They’ve been waiting years for a chance to say hello to you.” They rustled at the hem of my trousers, a reminder that as ethereal as they appeared, they had form and could touch… and tear.
His brother had held me down and told Sepher to hit me to “teach him how it feels to master the small folk.” My shadows could hold Sepher while I taught him a lesson with my knuckles.
He made a soft, dismissive sound. “Tell me Bastian, why pay such close attention to little old me? Sounds a bit obsessive. Is it because I never went up to that hayloft with you like most of our classmates?”
“You should get your memory checked, Sepher. You were never invited. We both know if you had been, you would’ve gone, even if just out of curiosity.”
He eyed my shadows sidelong. “Perhaps. Freaks together. Unfortunately for you, I’ve come to deliver the news that I’m no longer available, however obsessed you might be. That human has agreed to marry me.”
For a fraction of a second, I held very still. What? Then I laughed as if amused by the idea and not shocked. Maybe obsession was on Sepher’s mind, and he was merely projecting on me: my spy had intimated that he seemed fascinated with the human woman, enjoying her punishment.
“Don’t tell me, you gave her an option between marking her as yours with the collar or with a wedding ring. Not sure that’s much of a choice.”
His nostrils flared and he leant closer, crowding my space. “She chose me freely.” A growl laced his words.
But I’d had years of dealing with an angry shapechanger several inches taller than me. I didn’t back away and instead smiled wider. “Then let me be the first to extend Dusk’s congratulations. I look forward to helping the rest of the Convocation with the royal wedding preparations.” And I did, even if it was just to see his shoulders sink as he realised that, as the Night Queen’s representative during daylight hours, I would indeed be involved.
“You’re too kind.” With a low sound, he nodded and swept towards the door to Dawn’s side of the palace.
Prince Sepher marrying a human. I stared after him for a beat.
Shock aside, Braea wasn’t going to like this. Dawn would be a step closer to another heir in their line of succession—Cyrus, then Sepher, then any child from Sepher’s marriage.
While she had nothing.
37
Kat
The days after having my memories erased were easier.
It was magic. Literally. I could remember stopping and helping the fae, returning to his house, the details of our bargain. But I had no idea what he had stripped from my mind. There was a blank space between my arrival at the Hall of Healing and leaving again, shaken and haunted.
I just had this uneasy feeling in my gut, like an important task I’d forgotten about.
What could be so bad that I had feared looking at my own hands?
Thank the gods I didn’t need to worry about the answer to that question anymore. I could meet my friends for dinner tonight and be normal and happy. After almost a week without nightmares, I felt… well, fucking amazing.
But when a message came from Elthea summoning me to another appointment, a terrible dread stole over me.
After, I somehow managed to stop at a shop on the way to that cosy house on the corner, but gods knew what I bought. The produce spun around and around, making my stomach heave. I had to run outside and throw up before setting off again.
Where I’d grown comfortable in Dusk’s side of the palace, I only squared my shoulders when I ventured into areas where Dawn would be. But masking up was impossible with this horror weighing on me. I was barely aware of anything other than the familiar door I kept my gaze fixed on as I hurried down the street.
I knocked and a moment later came the response: “Go away.”
“It’s me.”
“I don’t know anyone called me. Go away.”
“How bare are your cupboards?”
No answer.
“I have food.”
The door inched open and his scowling face appeared. “What do you want?”
I glanced up and down the road. “I’m not telling you where anyone might hear. But I have payment.” I hefted the basket.
He eyed it for a long beat, then huffed and opened the door. “I was gearing myself up to venture out again, but…” He grimaced at the door as I shut it behind myself.
This time, as I put food away for him, I obeyed the fae rules and told him my name first and let him give me his. Kaliban.
“Why don’t your neighbours pick up food for you?” I asked as I stood up, swaying. This time there’d been more blood, and I was woozy, swaying side to side like a landlubber on a ship.
“Oh, like they helped me when I was keeling over on the street, you mean?”
The irony. I had Rose, Ariadne, and, most recently, Faolán trying to help me connect with the magic inside, and they’d all failed. While Kaliban needed a much simpler kind of help that no one would give.
“Would you sit down,” he grumbled. “You’re making me seasick.”
I slumped into a chair, pressing my hands into the table in my search for something solid.
“Your magic is still uncontrolled.”
“You said you wouldn’t read me.” I shot him That Look, like Morag when she told me off for drinking too much.
“It’s hard when you shove your thoughts in my face so hard. You have a powerful mind.”
I scoffed and opened my mouth.
“Don’t say it.” He eyed me sidelong as he rummaged through the fruit bowl to see what I’d brought. “You think you’re powerless. I think that’s bullshit. The way you pushed me out the first time you came here…” He shook his head as he buffed an apple on his shirt. “Powerful.” He took a bite, with a satisfying crack of the apple’s flesh. “I’m not trying to read you. I only caught a glimpse.”