Priestess Bound

by Lidiya Foxglove

  “Perhaps she does,” Niko said. “But sometimes the most obvious course isn’t best. She might not be trustworthy.”

  “Niko…,” Gilbert said. “I know how much the fortunes mean to you, but I think Priscilla’s brother is my father.”

  I don’t think Niko was used to having his actions challenged. His nostrils flared in a slight but dangerous sort of way, and for a minute I saw the monster in him again. His eyes had a cold, almost snakelike fury. “I know what I’m doing. Look at fate like a labyrinth. Most of the paths you might choose will kill you. For whatever reason, I was born with the power to tap into the map. I can thread the path that will keep you alive.”

  I looked at Forrest. Let’s play along for now.

  “I might just stand here and drink,” Forrest said, giving me a knowing look in return.

  “Wise choice.” Niko seemed to calm down enough to be charming again, although I was not exactly charmed when he acted like this. He led me off into the depths of the house, slipping an arm around my waist. Then he stopped me in the hall for a moment and put his hands on my shoulders, regarding me. He pulled a curl down from my hair. “Good,” he said. “You look lovely, pet. Just remember, let me take the lead. Emmaline likes the girls around her to be pretty, but she also likes them to be very deferential to her.”

  I slapped his cheek.

  My hand stung. I’d never slapped a guy before. But every time I tried to talk it out with Niko, he ignored me.

  “What was that for…,” he said, but I think he already knew.

  “For calling me ‘pet’, again. And for treating me like I actually am your pet. This is the first I’ve heard that I need to be ‘deferential’ to Emmaline.”

  “Well, I knew you wouldn’t like it…” There was a slight huskiness in his voice as he leaned close to me that made me entirely expect at least a small kiss. Which I didn’t really want. Or at least, I probably shouldn’t really want. Niko was no less sexy when he was being an ass. “Are you sure you don’t like being my pet, now that you’ve seen how well I treat my pets?”

  “I might like it, if I thought you would actually listen to me at the same time.”

  “I don’t listen to anyone, darling…”

  I’m not sure if I wanted a kiss or I wanted to slap him again. I had a feeling I could probably get both.

  But it didn’t happen anyway. He put his hand back around my waist. “You are right, I could have warned you about Emmaline. I’ll say now, I’m not sure what will happen here, but we need to get close to her. She likes young women—I don’t mean romantically, more like a mentor, except not quite that either. She likes attention even more than you do, let’s say. Think of her as an older, more annoying version of you.”

  “What? I don’t care that much about attention!”

  The wealthy and famous Emmaline was lounging in a back room, looking very wealthy and famous indeed. She already had some other young women around her. They were all younger and prettier than her, so at least you couldn’t call her the jealous type. They held cards, and wine was flowing, but whatever game they were playing had been halted as Emmaline spoke about some time she did something with a guy who bred horses.

  “Here she is,” Niko said, by way of introducing me. It seemed like he’d already been telling Emmaline all about me. “She was just listening to the music.”

  “Oh, certainly.” Emmaline waved us in. “Sit here.” She motioned to the sofa next to her chair. “So I hear you’ve gotten on Leony’s bad side. Haven’t we all!”

  “Leony?”

  Emmaline laughed. “The Emperor.”

  “Oh. Of course.” I laughed too. Leony?

  “I was just telling Miss du Barien that I’ve been trying to find you a safe place to hide from him, Phoebe,” Niko said, “but it’s been hard to get the ships out of harbor.”

  “Oh…yes,” I said.

  “You’re so polished for a smuggler,” Emmaline said to him. “Smugglers are usually more rough around the edges.”

  “Well, I smuggle women,” he said. “I don’t want to frighten them. Diamonds are hard, but still polished.”

  “Very true.”

  “Smuggling women?” one of the girls asked suspiciously.

  Emmaline patted her head. “Yes, keep up, Melody, he helps them escape this place.”

  “But don’t mind us,” Niko said. “You’re in the middle of a game.”

  “Oh, hardly! I was telling the girls how I got into raising race horses. You must be a gambling man, Mr. Lucky Dragon?”

  “I am, in fact, quite a gambling man,” he said. “If the stars are aligned.”

  “Well, maybe we could make our card game more interesting.”

  Niko produced a few coins, Emmaline returned with some coins of her own, and all the cards were gathered up and reshuffled for a game between the two of them. The girls watched. I wasn’t actually sure how the game was played, nor did I care about a handful of coins, so my mind wandered. There was definitely something cutthroat about Emmaline and her sharp brown eyes seemed a match for Niko’s golden ones. I wasn’t sure I liked her, in the way that I just didn’t like people sometimes, but I think it was because of all the young women watching her every move. (Or was it because she really was like an older, more annoying me? Nah. I didn’t see it.)

  I actually saw a lot more of myself in the other girls surrounding her. Before I found out I was the priestess, I was in awe of all the rich people in the capital and the Emperor especially. Maybe I was just feeling jaded now. I was starting to feel sleepy too. Last night had taken a lot out of me. But Niko would kill me if I nodded off.

  A few games in, and they had traded wins with Emmaline coming out on top. The bets were getting higher. “How about this? If I win, you will secure passage abroad for one of my girls. Arminta’s father was exiled and she really has no prospects here.” She pointed out the oldest girl—or woman? She was quite pretty but she might have been almost thirty, dressed like she was still coming of age, and exceedingly shy in appearance, hiding behind her hair and some thick spectacles.

  “If I win,” Niko said, “I would like a private meeting with you and your grandfather. I think we could have some of the same business goals.”

  “That isn’t something I usually give to smugglers,” she said. “But I do think your little companion is very pretty. She could join my attendants and replace Arminta when I send her away, if you can give her up. I’m not sure how close you are.”

  “Phoebe would love to be your attendant,” he said, looking at me like, We’ve got her either way.

  I stirred from my haze. “Uh…yes?” What was happening here? I didn’t want to be one of Emmaline’s attendants! When he said I could be in her entourage, I thought he meant I would just, like, have coffee with her or go to a play or something. Was this even safe? Hopefully Niko was going to win the game.

  The cards flew between them as they drew and traded with cool expressions while one of the girls called out card lingo like it was a dance.

  Emmaline spread out all her cards. “Well?”

  Niko dropped his down. “Even the Lucky Dragon doesn’t always win.”

  “Well, Phoebe, it looks like you’ll be staying here with me,” Emmaline said, turning the full force of her sleek smile on me. “My other girls will tell you what to do.”

  “We’ll talk a moment,” Niko said, stepping out with me. I must have had quite an expression of horror.

  “You’ll be safe here,” he said in a low voice as soon as the door was shut. Emmaline is tough, but she will bring us good fortune and I think it will all go just as planned. The Emperor would never breach her walls, and when she realizes how special you are she’ll take ownership of you and the du Bariens will back us.”

  “I don’t want her to take ownership!” I hissed. “How long do you suppose this will take? Forrest and Gilbert would never let you leave me here tonight!”

  “Don’t you trust me?” he said, looking down at me with those damn
near perfect features of his. The golden eyes that always sucked me in like a vortex, framed with a little ridge of dark lashes and slightly hooded lids that said, I can handle anything you throw at me. The smile of perfect white teeth that I always somehow expected to be fangs. No matter where I looked I couldn’t find any imperfections, like somehow every little tiny piece of his body had been formed by a master sculptor and then brought to life, and then he moved as if he knew it.

  And yet, I had finally known him long enough to get a teensy bit used to it.

  “No,” I said. “Not really.”

  “You know I could never hurt you because of the sigil.”

  I shook my head. “Is that the only reason?”

  He pressed his face against mine, taking a deep breath, drinking in my scent. “And we share a cat,” he said. His fingers brushed my temple and traced the line of my cheek to my chin, touching lightly. “I enjoy your body. I don’t love the situation in which I find myself.”

  I swatted his hand away, taking a sharp breath of anger. “Okay, and tell me again why I should trust you?”

  “It’s just business. You don’t love me either. But you would never let anything happen to me. My motives are even stronger. My life is bound to yours now.”

  “You need my power,” I said. “If I’m gone, you’ll lose strength.”

  “We were already pretty strong before we met you; I think we’ll manage.”

  “I don’t want to go with her,” I said.

  “If you like, you can be stubborn. You can choose another path. But I know Emmaline has access to the muscle we need and I know you can charm her. Tell her about your days as a Strawberry Girl, ask to see her puppies, stuff like that. Butter her up for a day or two, and then plead for her help. She’ll eat that up, and I’ll seal the deal. Take a moment and consider, are you refusing this offer for the right reasons? The card game was part of it all along. It’s how she does business.”

  Puppies. Damnit. “I don’t need puppies, I have a cat at home already.”

  What if he was right? I had noticed that the idle rich of Capamere always talked like that, making a game of everything, like nothing mattered. All of us in the troupe would make fun of how stupid and frivolous the rich people were. But they still had all the money. I wanted to say this was beneath my dignity, but I ended up thinking of my dad, calling out his pots and pans sellers’ song from town to town, on the dangerous roads. I’d never known he was doing it to escape after his sister was killed. I certainly wouldn’t be the first person in the family to choose survival over dignity.

  “All right. But I want to see Forrest and Gilbert first.”

  “They won’t let you do this,” Niko said. “Forrest doesn’t trust my luck. You can take his side and stay, but you can’t have it both ways.”

  “Fine. But only for a night or two and then you’ll come get me?”

  “Of course. If I don’t, you can be sure, Forrest will storm the doors.”

  We went back in the room. Emmaline and the other girls were back to the cards. It was a strange contrast, I thought, the lovely young women amusing Emmaline versus the big bodyguards surrounding Priscilla. I guess the du Barien women never had to be alone; they could buy their company.

  “That took a little while,” Emmaline said without looking up. “I hope the outcome of that discussion was good. You just look like you belong here with me.”

  “Oh, I would never break a bargain,” Niko said. “And Phoebe is excited for the honor.”

  I managed to smile in a way that was more “Yep!” than truly honored, but…good enough.

  Emmaline rose and kissed Niko’s cheek. She whispered something in his ear and he nodded solemnly. “Go with him, Arminta. He’ll find you a husband in the free lands.”

  “Fare well, Phoebe,” Niko said lightly, and now I was feeling devastated even though I knew this was part of the plan and he would be back.

  “Don’t cry, sweet, of course you’ll see him again,” Emmaline said, handing me a handkerchief. “We’re going to have great fun. We barely sleep on the weekends, do we girls?”

  “Oh, yes, we have so much fun,” one of the girls said with enthusiasm. “All the games and boys and wine and new clothes you could ever want or need.”

  I’m pretty sure I had all those things already, if I wanted them, but I nodded anyway.

  Everyone settled back down and they gave me another drink. Emmaline showed me how to play the card game but I was feeling very sleepy again.

  “Almi, would you show Phoebe to her room?” Emmaline said, pointing me toward a little dark-haired girl with flushed cheeks. She handed the girl a ring of keys. “The one I showed you earlier?”

  “Yes, my lady.”

  I followed Almi out to the hall. I could still hear the party going on and I wondered what Niko had told Forrest and Gilbert. They hadn’t come after me.

  Soon I was lost in the depths of the mansion, trekking up broad, dark staircases lined in carpets. Almi carried a lantern, which cast light on old portraits and ominous furniture, and the keys jangled in her hand.

  “This really sets a mood, huh?” I tried to joke.

  “It’s scary up here at night,” Almi said.

  “Do you live here with Miss du Barien?”

  “Yes. It’s a great honor to be chosen to work for her. Usually when her girls get older she finds them work elsewhere in the company, so we don’t have to worry as long as we live.”

  “So what do you do for her, exactly?”

  “We’re just her companions!” Almi sounded surprised that I had to ask. “It’s the easiest job in the world. All we have to do is make her happy and have fun.”

  “She doesn’t have friends?”

  “I don’t know. No one seems to like the du Barien women. I guess they’re too rich and too ambitious. She worked the whole time she was pregnant and everyone talked about it, my mother says. I rather admire her. She works hard too, you know. She says more women should work in finances.”

  “That’s very nice,” I said, starting to think better of her, just as Almi pointed to a door. “This is your room,” she said. “It’s one of the prettiest rooms in the mansion, actually. I’m jealous; she must think well of you. Go take a look.” She handed me the lantern.

  I had an idle thought that it was strange Emmaline already had a nice room prepared for me, but I was so sleepy I didn’t really question. I lifted the handle and stepped inside, only to hear the door slam shut hard behind me and the keys being jammed clumsily into the lock.

  In the shadows, a figure rose from a chair in the corner.

  Maybe it was time for Niko to get his dice recharged with luck or something, because Abel was waiting for me.

  Chapter Twenty

  Abel

  I spread my hands. “I have no weapons. I’m just here to talk.” I had come unarmed, as Leonidas told me to do, wearing simple clothing, not even a belt or tall boots to hide knives in.

  Leonidas wanted me to win her over. He wanted me to have her for my own and give me a walled manor to live out my days.

  Every time I saw her, my response to her grew more urgent. My entire soul was screaming for me to stay close to her. Absurd.

  “Emmaline let you in,” Phoebe said weakly. “I thought she didn’t like you.”

  When I took a step toward her, she immediately stepped back. “Stay away.”

  “I’m not going to touch you or kidnap you or do anything to you. I just…had to see you one more time and…”

  “And what?”

  “Phoebe, he wants to kill the others.” That wasn’t what I was supposed to say. It poured out of me. My usual restraint failed. All I wanted to tell her was the truth. “I don’t know how to stop him. He will protect you because of me. Only because of me. So I have to stay loyal to him just to protect you.”

  “You don’t really care about protecting me.”

  “I swear that I do.”

  “I guess you have to,” she said. “At least there
’s that. But if he kills them, it will shatter me… Please, Abel…stop him.”

  “I could run away with you now, and your other guardians will want to kill me, as Leonidas wants to kill us all. I am begging you…” I walked up to her and I slowly extended one of my hands. She didn’t take it, but she didn’t shy back either. Something within me wanted to touch her so badly that it was painful. I reached for one of her hands, her fingers slightly curled and rigid with fear. I swallowed her hand up in mine and felt her grip slowly soften.

  “It’s worse now than it was,” I said. “Your magic will always protect you from me. I can never hurt you. I truly don’t want to see your other guardians killed. But…” He paused. “The du Bariens won’t be able to protect you. You have to leave.”

  Her smile was agonized. “I’ve seen all the little ways people suffer. I have to try and do something about it. I don’t think I could stop now if I tried, and I need to know the truth.” She looked at me. “Did you know, there is another set of ornaments out there like the ones the Elders give to the priestess? Only these are different. They stir up dragon blood inside me. And now I know my father’s sister Margaret was a priestess too, and she loved Forrest’s great uncle, and…this priestess thing really feels like more than just being the Elders’ pawn. I think there’s something to it all. You were the one who told me the legend about the goddess of peace, and I can’t get it out of my head. Not that I think I’m a goddess. Just that something is working through me.”

  Margaret. Suddenly a memory lanced through me. An innocent young woman, trying to keep up her spirits in a prison cell. The guards heard her crying at night. She kept asking if her family would be safe.

  You won’t kill her, will you? I asked Leonidas.

  Of course not! She’s an innocent girl.

  Two weeks later she was dead. I never even saw her body; they said the poison turned her face black. But no one was even talking about that. The city gossips were in a tizzy over the sudden death of the then-heir of the du Bariens, Percival. Leonidas was his cheerful self that week. More cheerful than ever, I think. He went to performances at the theater every night and he was carrying on a flirtation with a courtesan; he drank himself into a stupor a few times. When I asked him who poisoned her, and he said he didn’t know, I wanted so badly to believe him. He seemed so far from capable of ordering a woman’s death.