Every muscle vibrated with rage as I eased her into Rose’s arms. “Take her back to her room.”
Eyes wide, skin pale between her freckles, Rose nodded.
I charged inside.
I think someone tried to stop me, but my attention was fixed on the door to Elthea’s treatment room and nothing else could break it.
She was putting something in a small case inside the cabinet, glass clinking on glass.
I let my shadows go.
They streaked across the room and closed on her wrists. She let out a cry that I barely heard over the rush of blood in my ears. “You should’ve saved your favour to stop me tearing you apart.” I spat the words, every part of my face too tight to even attempt the appearance of calm. My blood didn’t just boil—it had evaporated, leaving me dry and sizzling like a pan about to burn.
My shadows turned her, so she’d be able to see me as I killed her—as I paid her back for whatever she had done to Kat.
I think my heart stopped.
Elthea’s chest heaved as my shadows tightened around her arms, cutting off the blood flow. “I’m her best hope of finding a cure, and you know it.” She lifted her chin, expression barely on the edge of calm.
“A cure? You’re going to fucking kill her.” Hands fisting, I sent shadows down to her legs. I wanted to rip her apart with my bare hands. Maybe I would.
A vicious smile tugged on my mouth. Muscles humming and hot, I crossed the room.
Her fingers were turning white, now. As I told my shadows to pull, she let out a whimper.
“You kill me and that’s it.” An uncertain waver entered her voice. “N-not to mention the repercussions for our courts.”
My shadows paused.
It was about the only thing she could’ve said to get through to me. We’d only just smoothed things with Dawn after the executions and freeing the remaining prisoners.
Blood still roared in my ears, though. Fuck Dawn. Fuck the balance. End her. She’d hurt Katherine. She’d killed her, even if only for a moment.
I saw Kat’s face, so pale.
But then I saw it crumpling, her eyes glittering with unshed tears as she’d pushed away Vespera.
That was what the cure meant to her.
I pulled myself straight and released Elthea. My teeth ground. I’d let Kat down by not making Elthea suffer as she had. But I would let her down more by robbing her of any chance at a cure. I swallowed down my frustrated rage and let it attack me instead.
Elthea huffed out a long breath and glared at me. “You can’t make an omelette without cracking a few eggs.” Swallowing, she straightened her sleeves. “Curing her is going to require a lot of experimentation. There’s no avoiding it.”
Kat wasn’t an experiment, but I couldn’t push words through my tight throat.
“Either you want her cured or you don’t.” Elthea canted her head, casting her gaze down me and back up. “Though I can imagine you might like having her bound to you for the rest of her life, even if she is married.”
I clenched my hands at my sides—it was that or grabbing her. “You hurt Katherine again, and I won’t just kill you. I’ll fucking destroy you.”
As I stalked out, her reply followed me: “It isn’t up to you, Serpent.”
41
Kat
It was dark when I woke, no light pouring in through my bedroom windows.
My bedroom? I was…
I grabbed my wrists. I wasn’t bound. And this wasn’t the Hall of Healing.
“Kat?” A deeper shadow in the darkness bent closer, two dimly glowing eyes on me.
“I’m awake.” I swallowed, rubbing my throat as the ghost of the manticore venom crawled down it. “Lumis,” I said, thinking of low level light.
Three fae lights blinked on, drifting overhead.
Bastian sat at my side, knees touching the bed, brow furrowed as he eyed me. “How do you feel?”
“Tired, though it looks like I’ve been asleep for hours.” I nodded towards the window. “What time is it?”
“Past midnight.” He covered his mouth, stifling a yawn.
I failed to stifle mine, stretching into it. The moments before I’d passed out came back—him, Rose, trying to stop him barging into the Hall of Healing. “Elthea… what did you—？”
“She’s alive.” Any slackness in him shut down as his eyebrows clashed together.
I sighed my relief. The manticore venom had failed, but she was my only hope of a cure. Not to mention the fact I was fairly sure the Night Queen would blame me if Bastian lost his mind and killed her. His eyes had blazed with murderous intent on the hall’s steps.
“Good,” I murmured, eyelids drooping.
“You should sleep.”
“So should you.” I gave him a half-hearted grin as he pulled the blankets around me.
“I can sleep here just fine.” He settled back into his chair.
I meant to argue, but my mouth wouldn’t open and my eyelids sank shut.
The next day I woke late, finding Bastian in the chair by my bed. The only sign he’d moved was that his hair was damp and he wore a fresh outfit—shirt and trousers in charcoal grey.
As I bathed and dressed, body sluggish, he brought breakfast to my room, pushing the vase to one side. Today it contained a fresh bouquet of white roses, petals edged with fresh green. Their soft scent drifted through the room alongside the array of pastries he set out.
“Dessert for breakfast?” I eyed the options—puff pastry folded with chocolate and hazelnut, lemon tarts made with flaky pastry, little egg custards, almond and raspberry frangipane, slices of apple in a pastry nest topped with apricot jam, and a bowl of fruit to one side. I didn’t know where to start, but my mouth watered.
He shrugged and poured coffee for us both. “The kitchens must’ve been baking today.”
Something about the way he said it—too light, too casual—made me give him a sidelong look. “They just happened to be baking a batch of various delicious pastries? Total coincidence.”
His mouth twisted to one side. “You know I can’t say yes to that. Fine. I requested them so you’d have something pleasant to wake up to. Happy?”
I grinned as I selected an almond and raspberry frangipane. “Ecstatic.” I didn’t know whether I was more pleased by the pastries or the fact I got to have breakfast with the real Bastian rather than his business fa?ade. Gods knew how he felt about me—he did sweet things like this, but I still caught signs of guilt about the past or over my marriage. But it felt good to see him rather than his mask.
I ate more than I needed, using each mouthful to wipe from my mouth and throat the sensation of the manticore venom.
After breakfast, when I stretched to try and give the obscene amount of pastries and one lone apple space to move down my stomach, he watched me, lips pursed. Did even he think I’d eaten too much?
He frowned. “You look like you’re gearing up for something.”
“The start of my day?”
“I was hoping you might rest.”
“That sounds an awful lot like sitting here bored.” Which would give me time to think about the appointment. At least if I went out, I could see Kaliban.
Shoulders sinking, he sighed. “I should’ve known you’d say that. How about I bring the work to you?”