Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
“We should return to the palace,” Kathras says, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “I think we both know that this can never happen again.”
My heart sinks, but he’s right. It’s too dangerous. Even being here with him now is a mortal gamble. I think of the cephalopire’s teeth and shudder.
As if he can read my thoughts, he lifts my chin. “I promised you that you would never suffer that terror at my father’s hands again. I do not break my promises, Cenere.”
He steps from the pool, and I look about for my gown. “I can’t return to the palace naked—”
My words are no sooner uttered than I am blinking in the harsh white of my new chambers, reclined in the crescent pool, now filled with water from the faery bath.
* * * *
The next morning, the court is called to assembly by a rage of bells in the corridors.
It takes me some time to find my way out of my mirror-paneled room. The door isn’t readily apparent. I begin to panic that perhaps there is no door, and that I am here at Arcus’s whim, to be released as he deems necessary. But finally, I find the handle and push out, directly into the hall leading to the throne room.
I think of how the door to Luthian’s house opened onto the hall to the king’s chambers when I needed to go there. Perhaps all the rooms in the palace function in that way, anticipating where one needs to be.
I’m not certain it’s something I can get used to, but I suppose I will have to, once I become Arcus’s queen. And then Cassan’s.
Because Kathras will be dead, too. I swallow down the panic that rises in my chest. I still feel his hands on my body, his strong arms holding me suspended in the air. There must be a way to dissuade Luthian. Some way for him to install Cassan on the throne without harming Kathras.
Perhaps if I tell Luthian that I owe Kathras my life…
The crowd of courtiers moving along the hall sweep me into the throne room, but once inside, they part to let me move toward the dais. I am, after all, their future queen.
Arcus stands before his throne, fury scrawled over his expression with a heavy hand. He looks coldly over the assembled courtiers. Though he sees me in the crowd, he doesn’t motion me forward.
“A great wrong has been committed against me.” As he speaks, his voice rises in anger. “One of you has stolen from me and returned the item in deeply damaged condition.”
The sylphs appear from behind the dais, bearing dripping, severed tentacles and the pallid head of the cephalopire. Its jaw gapes. All of its teeth have been pulled.
Relief mixes with fear at the sight of it. The smell of blood and rot and the foul dampness of the monster’s cell which still clings to its mutilated corpse, causes the courtiers around me to cover their noses. I cannot. I’m frozen in fear at the sight of the monster. The chatter and alarm that surround me fade to a high, ringing noise in my ears.
Only Arcus’s voice cuts through. He is red-faced with his rage. “I will find who destroyed my property, and you will suffer exactly as it suffered before it died!”
As he stalks from the throne room, I spot Kathras in the crowd. His eyes meet mine before he turns and leaves, too.
“I promised you that you would never suffer that terror at my father’s hands again. I do not break my promises, Cenere.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
I don’t know why I seek out Kathras. It feels as though I’m bringing danger to him, as if every eye in the palace is upon me. For the first time, though, I am not the object of fascination. Everyone is on edge, picturing their own heads with gaping, toothless mouths.
What do I mean to say to Kathras? What can I say? That he’s angered his father? He knows that already, even if his father hasn’t yet deduced who is responsible for the cephalopire’s death. Am I going to shame him for killing the creature? I wanted it dead.
And yet, by killing it, Kathras has only increased the danger I’m in. Arcus is unpredictable at the best of times. Now, I can become a convenient outlet for his rage. It’s a thing I could have endured before, when it felt like I was working toward a purpose. Now, the king’s cruelty can break me.
I find a door and go through it, trusting that the palace will bring me to the place I intend to go. The place where I will find Kathras.
The Court of Pleasure and Torment boasts an impressive library. The subjects of the books, I am told, are mostly prurient tales and instructions on interesting things to get up to with one or more partners. And that knowledge has filled a hall so long and so tall, I cannot see to the end of it, nor can I see all the way to the top of the shelves. The ceiling vanishes into darkness high above the towering windows, which light only the first few floors.