21 Shades of Night, page 160
I was in my room, waiting for the tub to fill, when I heard a knock on the door. Isla rushed to open it and I saw Liam on the other side. From his disheveled hair to the dark marks under his eyes, it was clear he was exhausted.
“Hi,” I said, noting Isla exit the room quietly. “How was your trip?”
He unbuttoned his jacket and tossed it on the back of a chair. Next he worked his way out of his boots. “Successful. They should both be here this afternoon willing to listen. Hopefully they’ll also be prepared to cooperate.”
“Did you have any troubles on the way?”
“No, I think everyone has hunkered down. The rebels are either here or on their way, and the soldiers at the other kingdoms are busy figuring out how to handle this.” He wiggled out of the last boot and kicked it aside. “Not that they have much choice.”
Liam crossed the room, bare feet padding across the cool stone floor. The information I learned about him earlier should make me wary, but now that he was back I was just happy to be near him again. Would this connection to him make me a weak leader? He reached for me and pressed his lips to mine. He smelled of sweat and dust, but tasted like the man I loved.
He eyed my robe. “We’re you getting ready to bathe? I’d be willing to join you.”
His fingers tugged at the belt tied to cinch my robe. The urges in my belly overwhelmed me, but I fought back, focusing on my goal. I kissed him again. The light flared between us and I offered enough power to restore his energy, enough to distract him. I pushed a little, trying to get a piece of his mind and concrete evidence of his actions during the time we’d been apart.
In a swirling flash of images I saw Liam on the road, riding Camelot into Ravenwood and Solar. I saw him meet with each Queen. One with coal black hair and the other golden yellow. A snarling black dog and a plate full of cherries. Both women cooed and taunted, leering with red lips and sharp nails. From the speck of memory I saw, he rejected them both. At least that was how it seemed. The images disappeared into a strangely familiar haze of black and silver light.
Liam’s hands gripped me tight and he kissed me hard, harder than ever before. Heat rose in my belly and I kissed him in return, passion fueled with something else. Distrust? Fear? I struggled against him and broke free.
Liam raised an eyebrow and he said, “If you wanted a summary of my visit you could have just asked.”
“Not that I got a clear picture anyhow,” I said, arms crossed in defiance.
“Do you think they’d let you rifle through my memories? They are both too paranoid for that. I’m sure they managed to alter or cloak anything important.”
“Then tell me, Liam. What happened that I can’t see? What do I need to know?”
“Nothing happened. I delivered your message. They accepted. I came back to you.”
I stared at him trying to determine from his face if he thought I was that stupid. He looked sincere enough and the thought made me burst out laughing. “I may be naïve about a lot of this Liam, but you’ve taught me a lot of things. I know you went to Fiona and Eleanor marked. You’re the one blocking me from your memories.” In a quick move, I pulled apart the front of his shirt. I ran three fingers across the dark rune tattooed over his muscular chest. “This one is for cloaking right?”
“Very good.”
“And this one,” I said, touching the symbol of Awen. “What does it mean?”
“It means harmony. Balance between men, women and nature.”
“It’s the symbol of the original Goddess,” I said. “Mrs. Graves told me. Why do you carry that on your flesh?”
Liam tilted his head, trying to read me. It was time for him to play his cards. All of them. In a low voice he said, “I fear you are not ready to know.”
“That isn’t the choice you get to make, Liam. Not now. Not with me.”
Without warning, I swiped my nails across his skin, tearing at the flesh. The skin seared and burned and he jumped back, shouting in pain.
“Nadya!
I held up my freshly manicured nail, sharp and pointed. “Now show me the truth.”
To my surprise, Liam relented, allowing me to kiss him deeply. His mouth parted and our tongues touched and blue light burst between us. While he used the opportunity to heal his wound, I reached into his mind, into his memories and found what I was looking for. The flood of information hit me hard, first Eleanor and then Fiona. Both women used seduction handily. Both seemed to know Liam intimately.
“I can taste my sister on your lips,” Fiona said, nibbling on Liam’s bottom lip. Her blonde hair held dozens of sparkling jewels. “Although I see you rejected her. Why? Are you coming back to me?”
“Hardly.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve convinced this little girl she’s something special.”
Liam froze, his face a mask of passivity.
“You have. And she believes you. I can tell.” She walked around Liam, eyeing him carefully. “Did she give you everything? Did she let you bury herself in her innocent body? Did she give you her strength? Her energy? She has no idea does she, of what you can do? How ultimately you have to choose.”
“Shut up, Fiona.”
“And you…you waited all this time. Was she worth it? Was it worth the years of game play and leading us on?” She tilted her head and ruffled the hair on the back of his head. Liam jerked away. “Was she better than me? Eleanor?”
“I’m only here to deliver a message. Nothing more.”
Fiona pouted and leveled her face to his. His chin jutted forward but she whispered close to his mouth. “Just one more taste, for old time’s sake.” He turned his head but she demanded a kiss anyway. Silver light burst between them, coating the two of them like a shining star.
Liam pulled away, just like he’d done with Eleanor. “Tomorrow afternoon,” he said, walking out of the room, away from her taunting accusations.
The memory ended and I pushed him away. He looked down at the wound on his chest. It hadn’t healed all the way. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“There’s nothing to tell, Nadya. I’ve never been untruthful with you.”
“No? You didn’t think it was relevant that the energy we share, the connection isn’t as unique as I thought?”
“It is unique. What I have with them isn’t the same—not by any measure. You’ve used it on others before. The humans at the bar. On Grace.”
“Bullshit. None of those had power to give in return.” I steadied myself in an attempt to protect my broken heart but it was useless. We were connected. He could feel it as much as I could feel the desperation and fear building in him. “So is that what this is all about? Seeing which Queen can get you the furthest?”
“You really have no clue, do you?”
That statement sent me in a rage and I screamed and picked up a vase, throwing it his direction. Liam dodged it easily and it smashed into pieces, shattering all over the floor. “Of course I don’t, you won’t tell me everything.”
The blood on his wound began to ooze again, soaking through his shirt. It should have healed during our kiss. I glanced down at my fingernails but he’d already closed the distance between us. “I love you, Nadya. I will fight by your side, always. I will love you and heal you and give you everything you desire.” He took a deep, wheezing breath. “Many years passed while we waited for you to ascend to the throne. Waiting to see if you would be the one. I never doubted it. Not once.”
“So you waited for me because you thought I would be the most powerful. Get you the furthest.”
“I have a role in all this just like you do. My fate hasn’t always been clear, and obstacles had to be faced to get us to today.”
“You had to make sure neither of them could give you what you wanted? That I was truly the most powerful?”
“It’s not like that. Otherworld is complex. We do not always have free will like humans do. There are prophecies and legacies…I have my own destiny which has always been tied to another.” He reached for my hands. “You are my true destiny.”
“Is your destiny waiting for the right time to take advantage of our combined powers and become the most powerful Sidhe in the land?” I asked. “Who needs a Queen when there’s an even more formidable King?”
“Not a king, dear Nadya. I am your true half. The God to your Goddess Once we consummate our relationship for real, outside of protective sanctuary, we shall revert to our predetermined fates.”
“A God,” I whispered. “You’ve lost your mind.”
Liam opened his mouth to react but no words came. His hand moved to this chest, to the bloody spot where I’d scratched his rune. He slumped forward, sliding toward the floor and I ran forward and caught him before he hit his head.
“Liam!” I pressed my mouth to his, seeking the connection that ran through us during healing but found nothing. I took a deep breath and screamed, “Help! Someone help us!”
A moment later a guard burst through the door, followed by Colleen and Brayden. They raced over and tore off his shirt, looking at the bloody wound. Colleen asked, “What happened?”
“I don’t know. He’s not healing. I think he’s been poisoned.”
Brayden and Colleen shared a tense look. Isla ran over with a cloth and a small clear glass bottle filled with salve or cream. A guard pulled me away from his body and I watched as they cleaned the wound. It only opened up again, this time bleeding more profusely. It wouldn’t work, I wanted to tell them. I knew it wouldn’t. If I couldn’t heal him no one could.
* * *
“MAYBE WE SHOULD take him home and have a doctor look at him,” I said, pacing Liam’s suite. Guards, loyal to their commander, surrounded the room, while healers, summoned from around the kingdom, did what they could. I could barely look at him lying unconscious on the bed. What had I done?
“Human doctors do not have the necessary tools to heal this kind of Sidhe inflicted wound,” said Mrs. Graves. Deep lines of worry crossed her forehead. “He’s in capable hands. Do you have any idea how this happened?”
When everyone rushed in and pulled me away, I’d done the unthinkable. I swiped the nail polish from the tray in the bathroom and dropped it in a vase holding flowers near the bathtub. What else could it have been?
Either one of the servants did this to him or Grace—someone that had been in this room during my manicure—but I wanted to find out who first. And why? Did they intend for this to be used on Liam or someone else? Maybe they’d wanted to assassinate me.
“No,” I said to Mrs. Graves. “He was bleeding when he got here.”
She pursed her lips into a thin line but also beckoned Isla over. “The banquet will begin soon. Please help Nayda get ready.”
“We’re still having this meeting?”
“Of course.”
“But…” What did I plan to say? That I needed him by my side? I’d already accused him of betrayal. With Liam out of the way, this meeting may be even more successful.
“You’re wasting precious time,” Mrs. Graves declared. “Take her to her room.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Isla said, looking toward the door. I left, followed by two guards and Isla, and walked down the dark hallway to my room where she immediately pointed to the bath. In all the commotion I’d never actually taken it.
The guards stood outside the door while I undressed and slipped into the still warm water. Someone must have heated it. Or maybe someone had the kind of magic to heat the water. There was so much I didn’t know about this world. And now, with Liam injured and possibly dying… I dropped my head to my hands and cried.
“Your Highness?” Isla peered into the room. “Are you injured? Hurt?”
“No,” I said, wiping my nose with a cloth. “Let’s just get ready for this event.”
After bathing, I got ready in silence. Isla assisted, buttoning the long row of buttons up my back, while another girl came into fix my hair. I didn’t care how it looked but was impressed when she revealed intricate braids winding around the sides and back of my head until they fell into a long tail down my neck. Tiny jewels were scattered through the braids that sparkled off the purple highlights when the light hit the correct way. Another girl emerged and completed my makeup, something I’d never done much more than using massive amounts of black eye-liner and mascara to complete the goth look that drove my father mad.
“How do you like it?” the girl asked.
I faced the shimmery mirror and held back a gasp. My eyelids were coated in a glittery light blue that matched my dress and my lips were a pale pink. The entire look was ultra-feminine, the complete opposite of how I normally dressed. “It’s lovely,” I said. “But, um, sort of girlish.”
“If I may,” Isla said, approaching the dressing table.
“Yes, you may speak freely. You don’t have to keep asking me that, you know.”
“Thank you,” she said, blushing. “This look, it will provide the desired effect from members of the kingdom and the visiting Queens.”
“How? I look twelve years-old.”
“Oh no,” she said. “It’s hard to explain, but I think it will make more sense once you see the other Queens.”
I’d seen images of these women in Liam’s memory. They looked like powerful, seductive women. Not like a little girl. I wondered if this was part of a larger plan to take me down. Isla had been there when my nails were painted. For all I knew, she may have orchestrated all of this.
“I think you should wear this, just in case,” she said, handing me a knife attached to a leg holster. Just like that, she shattered my fears. I lifted my skirt while she attached the sheath to my thigh.
Before I could argue with Isla, Mrs. Graves swept past the guards and into the room, unannounced. She stopped when she saw me and clasped her hands together. “You look outstanding, Nadya. Just gorgeous.”
“Thank you.” Maybe Isla was right about this look and I’m just being paranoid. “Any change?”
“No, I’m afraid not. The wound is still open and he’s unconscious.”
“Maybe I should try healing him again?” A panicky feeling rose in my stomach. “Maybe we need to postpone this whole thing?”
“Absolutely not. There isn’t time now to heal him or to back out. You must get in position. Fiona and Eleanor will be here soon.”
I followed her from the room, shaking off Isla and the other girl as they tried to make last minute adjustments to my dress and hair. Mrs. Graves and I were escorted by two guards through the castle to the grand hall. Just before we reached the doorway I stopped and said, “I’d like Colleen to accompany me.”
“She has an assignment.”
“Well, give her a new one. I’m not going in there alone.”
“Fine,” Mrs. Graves said, her voice a shade cooler. She turned to one of the guards. “Cover her position and send her in. Dressed appropriately.”
I approached the grand hall and peered in. The room sparkled as though it had been scrubbed clean. The lamps shone bright from brass fixtures, the marble floors gleamed, and the tapestries on the walls looked freshly cleaned. A roaring fire blazed in the pit, giving the cavernous, stone room a warm feel. Nothing about this place implied it had recently been trapped in a purgatory type vacuum and considering the lack of modern cleaning devices, the result was impressive.
To my surprise, the room was already filled with groups of people—or Sidhe to be more accurate. They sat in groups around the fire and at small tables arranged around the room and were dressed in various states of finery.
“Who are these people?” I asked.
“Your guests. Supporters of your kingdom. Some are members of the rebellion. Others have worked quietly in honor of your grandmother and mother for years.”
“Oh, should I meet them all?”
“No,” Mrs. Grave said. “Not today. Today is about you making an appearance and meeting with the other Queens.”
“And we do this in public? That seems…strange.”
“Maybe in the human world, but here things are a bit more transparent. Plus you’ll dine at a private table. You can take care of business there.”
Isla and the hair and makeup team emerged from nearby and immediately began adjusting my dress and hair to their liking.
“Stop,” I finally said, slapping them away with my hands. “God, I feel like I’m on Real Housewives or something.”
“Real…excuse me ma’am?”
“Never mind.”
“Television,” Colleen said, entering a side door. “These Sidhe will never understand it. Don’t even try.”
“You made it. Thank goodness,” I said, taking in her “appropriate” outfit. She looked stunning in green sheath dress. Not exactly formal, and definitely not a gown or even military uniform, but it looked like the type of outfit a political aide or personal assistant would wear.
She gave a curt nod to Mrs. Graves, who turned to leave. “After you’re announced, you’ll walk to the throne. As your confidante, I’ll follow at your side and then stand to your left. Once the Queens arrive you’ll offer Eleanor and Fiona one of the seats to your right or you can just go directly to dinner.”
She nudged me forward and a servant stepped forward and rang a bell, gaining the attention of room. The crowd hushed and stood. In a smooth, loud voice he announced, “Nadya, the Lost Queen, Daughter of Claudia, Granddaughter of Celeste, Niece to Eleanor and Fiona, Heir of the Original Goddess.”
“That’s you,” Colleen said, pushing me into the room. She followed closely behind, whispering encouragement and information in my ear, including the directive to “look royal.”
“I don’t know what that means,” I hissed, keeping my eyes forward and a plastered grin on my face. I didn’t want to look at the people bowing as I walked by. My people, as Liam would say. Liam. I hoped he was improving.
“Perfect.”
I’d only been seated for a moment when a commotion at the door caught my attention. “They’re here,” I heard from an unknown source. My stomach churned with nerves.
After all this time I would face them. Fiona and Eleanor. My mother’s sisters. Her murderers. The ones who set all of this into motion.
