Kingdom of Villains, page 17
The growing volume of noise had me tearing my eyes from the barn house a little ways behind us through the trees and looking straight ahead. Across the dirt road was the river I’d seen from the sky.
A river that encircled the giant, luminous city of Eldorn.
An arching bridge built for foot traffic gave us passage over the algae-blanketed water. Farther up, I noted a larger bridge. Reptilian warriors stood at either end, ensuring each wagon and carriage waited their turn to cross.
Up the slow sloping hill, the city seemed to blaze brighter and appeared larger, so I assumed this was just one of many entry points due to its size. This area still shined, but with that duller orange I’d glimpsed from high above. To the left, the river rolled on, hugging this bottom portion of the city, and spread toward the tree-dotted valleys in the darkness.
“So he didn’t kill you,” Persy said.
I frowned at the stone arch we neared, a warrior watching us walk toward the entrance. “You didn’t need to drag me across the kingdom to ask me about that.”
“I know. I’m just extremely curious.”
“Well, I’m still breathing.” Her pinched lips made me admit with a crinkle of my nose. “Likely because I’m his mate.”
Persy snorted, and I felt her eyes on me when I looked forward. I refused to acknowledge them. The warrior was now well within earshot, and she thankfully kept her mouth shut.
Squat stone buildings appeared to have been placed atop one another, staggering crookedly toward the sky. They lined the riverfront in a zigzagging fashion, leaning against each other. Many windows were dark and patched over with wood or only barely illuminated.
We stopped at the arch, the black metal gates beneath it open and creatures darting through the cobblestone street beyond.
“Persy,” the male said, the scale-like skin at his jawline and forehead creasing. A long, scaled tail flicked behind him. “I’m not covering for you again.”
“Nothing to cover if you didn’t see me, Dolcom. Just passing through.”
“Uh-huh,” Dolcom grumbled, his fluorescent yellow eyes pinned on me. “Just passing through with the queen’s captive.”
“She’s not a captive.”
The male lifted a brow, further scrunching the roughened skin at his hairline and upper cheeks. “Can she confirm that for herself?”
But I was still staring at his forehead, imagining what it might feel like. “Sorry?”
Dolcom tilted his head. “Never seen a real warrior, Princess? I would’ve thought enough of us had paid that pristine palace of yours a visit that you’d be able to quit gawking by now.”
“Not gawking,” I clipped with a scowl. “Merely curious, actually.”
He chuckled, and it was similar to that of a wheezing set of smoke-affected lungs. “Dare I ask what you’re curious about?”
My eyes widened, and Persy laughed, using my mortification to drag me past the smirking warrior and through the entrance.
He called out behind us, “I’m here until dawn if you find you’re still feeling curious, Princess.”
I spun back to glare at him, but a tall carriage similar to a small hut ambled by. Four giant workhorses tugged it uphill toward the brighter side of the city.
“Crude as fuck, he is,” Persy said through a laugh, then stopped upon the break in the hill that split two ways beneath us. Larger buildings that also looked like they’d been dropped from the sky atop each other sat between the two streets, rolling unevenly downhill. She chose the street on the left. “This way. More obvious but quicker.”
Having no idea what she was talking about, I tried again to keep up.
“By the way, your feigned lack of enthusiasm regarding our prince doesn’t fool me. You reek of his feeding mark, and the lust still shines in your eyes.”
Her goading was beginning to rankle. “Just admit that Jarron told you.”
She veered around a puddle of something unsavory smelling, her voice noticeably lower as we ventured deeper downhill into the dark. “Of course, he did.”
Passersby became fewer, and I could no longer hear any horses or the crunch of wheels. There was only the faint percussion of walled revelry and the sizzling of meats at a vendor cart perched in an alleyway. The cook eyed us with one eye, a patch on the other, as he spoke quietly with a female wearing a trench coat.
The female turned. Sleek raven hair fell away from a harshly angled face with the breeze to reveal a glowing set of orange eyes.
“That’s Madam Pond,” Persy said beneath her breath. “Look away. She’d like nothing more than to recruit something as innocent and well-known as you.”
Madam… “Are you referring to a brothel?” Pleasure houses had been outlawed from Callula long before I was born.
Persy gave me a pointed look, but she nodded when she saw I was merely surprised.
“And what gave you the impression I’m innocent?”
“Oh.” Persy laughed, then caught herself when a group of goblins exited what looked to be a tavern to our right. Her voice dropped to a whisper as beady eyes fell upon us. “So she admits to giving in to her mate in more ways than just sustenance.”
“We haven’t done that.”
Her brows shot up. “No fucking?”
I shook my head and looked forward, the hill growing steeper as it rolled toward the lake that waited through the tall pine trees at the street’s end.
“Who is he then?” she asked carefully.
Just thinking of Regin both pained and angered me. Two feelings I’d managed to ignore for days, and I wasn’t too keen to have emerge right now. “He was my friend, then more, and now I don’t wish to even talk about him.”
“Noted,” Persy said with a slight whistle. “But does Colvin know about him? It seems it was perhaps something serious.”
“There’s no longer anything to know,” I said firmly. But then I reassured her with a reluctant, “He does.” To keep from falling prey to the memory of Colvin’s questions and displeasure regarding my life-long friend, I demanded, “Now tell me why Jarron has such a chip on his shoulder.”
“He’s protective of Colvin,” she surprised me by supplying with ease. “Not just as his uncle, but almost in a big brotherly sort of way. He watched him grow up. He’s been there for it all.”
That made sense, and though I still didn’t care for his attitude, it was good to have a little more understanding of it. “I came in a bit later,” she continued. “When I grew old enough to realize I preferred being with my somewhat absent father more than my flippant and overly obnoxious mother.”
“How old are you?”
“One and twenty,” she said with a faint smile in her voice. “Not too much younger than Col. But I was nearly twelve years when I moved to the castle. Far too young to find a mate, but I’d just started my bleeding…”
She needn’t have bothered explaining more.
Although it was rare, anyone could find a counterpart in another soul once they’d begun to mature—no matter the age of when that happened. She needn’t have explained the rest either, but she’d poked at me, so I had no issue returning the favor. “Jarron wasn’t happy about it.”
“No,” she said, and I knew her quiet tone had more to do with how she felt than our surroundings. “He still struggles with it. He’s thirty years older, and although age isn’t usually something to feel shame over, he knew me when I was still maturing, still so young, so…”
So shamed he would most certainly feel, even if the mystical laws of nature couldn’t be helped.
“He treats you well?” I wasn’t sure why I felt compelled to ask, but something about this female who’d saved me from Olette’s interrogation to play in the city had me feeling unexpectedly protective. That, or maybe it was that her mate seemed to be the truest form of an asshole.
Of which she confirmed by saying, “He’s better now.”
My steps slowed. “What do you mean now?”
“He used to take lovers.” The words were said quickly, quietly, as if she wanted to avoid hearing them herself. “He stopped a few years ago.”
“A few years ago?” I said far too loudly, but mother of monstrous moons, he was an asshole indeed.
Persy shushed me and halted by a cluster of broken steps.
The street sconce above her didn’t need to glow for me to see her cheeks pinken. Leaning against the railing, she waited as a group of males tumbled from a three-story dwelling across the street.
The sign one of them reached up to smack swayed in their laughing absence. The Red Garden. “Can people go there to feed?”
“Why, is Callula’s exiled princess a blood feeder now?”
I rolled my eyes, and she grinned, watching the males sing their way up the street. “Madam Pond aims to satisfy whatever need you might have, but I wouldn’t step a foot closer. Colvin will scent it and burn it to the ground.”
I snorted. “All right.”
Her brows furrowed. “You don’t believe me? He might appear anything but when not wearing scales, but he is certainly still a beast.”
I swallowed as I looked at her and recalled all he’d said and done, especially in his bed and in the throne room back home with that guard. “No, maybe I do believe you.” I veered back to the subject we’d strayed from. “Did he do that to push you away?” I asked. “Jarron.”
Persy looked down at a weed crawling up and around the whorls in the railing, a tiny white flower resting over the metal. “Yes, and it worked. After the first few rejections, I let it be.”
“But he didn’t.”
She shook her head. “It’s impossible to repair, I know. We’ve vowed time and again to just stop so it might fade, but that’s hard to do when in such close proximity and all.” Forcing a smile I saw right through, she added, “Like I said, complicated, and though it made me proud of him, I couldn’t help but feel excruciatingly jealous at how quickly the prince got rid of his harem when he returned from Callula.”
The swift change in conversation threw me, but the topic rocked me. “What?”
Persy peered down the street, eyes narrowing on a building at its end. “Just packed them all up with a bunch of coin and sent them on their way.” She looked back at me, frowning. “He didn’t tell you.”
“I knew he had one.” And I couldn’t deny wondering where they were since my arrival at Castle Eldorn, but I never would’ve guessed he’d act with such speed.
A sickening shame slithered into my chest. For I hadn’t.
In my defense, I hadn’t known for certain, and really, I hadn’t wanted to. I’d thought I’d never see him again. I’d hoped I wouldn’t after finding out what he was and what I’d done.
But none of that made the heavy weight settling into my chest lessen at all.
“Oh, shit,” Persy hissed and snatched my wrist.
Before I could see what had startled her, I was tugged to the other side of the stairs and forced to duck down behind them. “What?” I whispered. “What’s wrong?”
She pressed her finger to her lips, her eyes squeezed closed as if that might help her hide better. Unsure whether to laugh or follow her lead and remain quiet and still, I popped my head up to peer between the stone landing and the metal railing.
A reptilian warrior with long brown hair walked downhill, dressed in the same uniform of leather and ginormous bulky boots as I’d seen on the rest, but with a plum patch at his chest.
Persy opened her eyes and pulled at my arm, then pushed at my head. “Stay down.”
“Who is it?”
“My father.”
But it was too late. Maybe he’d seen me. He could most certainly scent us with Persy being his daughter. “Persy.” A sharp, rough command.
Persy winced, then rose, inspecting her nails. “Oh, hello.”
The male’s piercing eyes narrowed. “What have I told you about sticking your nose in these parts?”
“Uh, well…” Persy looked at me, and I made a face because what was I supposed to say? Looking back at her father, she finished with a smile, “Not to? But the princess got lost, so I was just searching for her.”
I scowled but then smiled when she elbowed me in the ribs, shrugging with an unconvincing, “Whoops.”
The male huffed, smooth lips twitching. “The princess would not be here if you didn’t bring her, though, now would she?” he assumed correctly. “Get back uptown now, or I’ll take you home myself.”
I followed Persy when she rounded the steps and asked her father, “But what are you doing here?”
“Hunting something for Olette.”
“Another murderous plant?” He didn’t answer, just turned to cross the street. “Or are you seeing Mother?” Persy’s accusatory tone swayed my attention to her, and she folded her arms defensively.
“Pers, mind your business and get moving before I make you.”
Persy hollered to his back, her voice bouncing off the stone buildings into an echo. “She’s only going to chew you up and spit you right back out again.” She then dragged me up the street and darted into an alleyway, where she muttered, “Hugest idiot to ever exist.”
“Why?” I whispered and peeked around the edge of the building in time to see the door to The Red Garden close. “Did he just…?”
“Mother works there. She’s made it her mission in life to break his heart, I swear.” Sighing, she gestured for me to follow her back onto the street. “Come on. He’ll be gone for the remainder of the night.”
We continued downhill, and I looked back at the wooden overhang and sign to the pleasure house. Every window was aglow, some duller if the curtains had been closed, in the building that towered higher than those on either side.
“He does this every other full moon, but she’ll never commit to him.” I couldn’t help but wonder if her parents were the sole source of her evident frustration or if her own situation was also to blame.
“Because he’s reptilian?”
“That’s what she says. Though it’s not because of what he is, but more so of what it requires of him.”
“A lifetime of service to the kingdom,” I said, unable to hide my feelings about that with my harsh tone.
Persy paused outside of the last building at the end of the street. It was shorter than most we’d passed, only one story, and it appeared unoccupied.
“They’re born into service, yes,” she confirmed. “But they need it, crave it—the loyalty and the brotherhood. None are known to leave unless it’s via death, and even then, they have their own ideals on what happens after.” With a roll of her eyes, she said, “Eternal honor and glory and all that dull shit. My father is Olette’s most trusted and favored general, and my mother is an all-or-nothing type.” Taking a breath, she eyed me up and down. “Ready?”
Failing to keep up, I didn’t get the chance to ask what I needed to be ready for. Persy stomped on a metal drain covering beneath her boot three times.
My brows scrunched in confusion. “What are you—?”
But the covering rose when she stepped off it, revealing a dimly lit staircase beneath.
Her gleeful smile was contagious as she finally hinted at her plans. “I heard you like beasts, so let’s see if we can win you one.”
As soon as we descended deep enough, the metal covering closed above my head. The stairs stopped midway down a hall. A goblin with a smoking stem in hand pushed the wooden casing closed over a lever and greeted us with a sharp grin I wished to never glimpse on such a creature again. “Evening, ladies.”
“I thought goblins served the crown.”
“Who do you think owns this place?” Persy said.
“Olette?” I asked, trailing her down the narrow hall. Cobwebs hung from the damp ceiling, mildew speckling the rock and packed soil.
She slowed upon entering a room that seemed to stretch halfway up the street we’d trekked down.
A long wooden bar lined the far wall, dartboards and glasses hanging beyond it. Before us stood tables, all of them varying in size and most of them occupied with card players and drinkers and creatures of all ilk.
A gambling den.
“Colvin.”
My eyes widened upon two females groping a faerie with the face of a boar and the body of a typical faerie male. “That’s impossible.”
But I was beginning to see that there truly was no such thing as typical in Eldorn.
“He inherited it from his mother, so I guess you can say it belongs to him and Olette.” Seeming to know exactly where she was going, and as though she regularly frequented this den that sat beneath the darkened part of the city, Persy hurried toward a table near the bar’s end.
Another reptilian warrior sat there. This one with cropped brown hair and arms the size of small tree trunks. “You’re too late. Game’s over.”
“Define late,” Persy stated, gesturing to a seat beside the one she pulled out. “And I know when you lie. You get a little twitch in your…” She reached out to poke his cheek, and the male grunted, swatting her fingers away as she laughed.
He sighed and shuffled the deck of cards. “What I meant is no one wants to play with you.”
“Why?” she said, collecting a spiced peanut from the bowl in the center of the table. “Because I always win?”
“Because your father has been visiting your mother again, not ten floors above.”
Persy waved him off. “He won’t know, Fen. Besides,” she said, looking up, “we can always count on one creature to seek any chance to annoy me.”
A finely dressed reptilian female and Fae male made their way to the table, hand in hand.
Fen cursed. “You two better fucking behave.”
Persy delivered Fen a glower. “It’s him you need to worry about.” Beneath her breath, she muttered, “The filthy cheat.”
I didn’t get the chance to ask who the male was, but it was evident that both he and Persy visited this den often and therefore knew one another.
The male arrived, the female dropping his hand and taking a seat with him across from us. Delighted surprise lifted his copper brows, the hair combed back over his head a shade darker. Dignified yet far too arrogant, he lowered to the chair with a miserable excuse for a greeting. “Oh, my.” His charcoal eyes swayed between us. “Have I already won?”
