“You’re welcome,” he said. He turned to look at Eithan. “Does he eat?”
“He can,” Nicce said. “He doesn’t have to.”
Sullo sighed. “Well, Sir Eithan, you might as well get up. It’s making me uncomfortable to watch you kneeling like that. Come and sit down with us. Get food if you wish.”
Eithan stood up. He eyed the food but didn’t get any. He sat down closer to Sullo than to Nicce.
Nicce tried to catch his eye, but he was deliberately not looking at her.
“Ciaska seems to have been unique in her ability to make…” Sullo gestured toward Eithan. “Whatever these things are. She called you hunters, didn’t she?”
“She did,” said Eithan in a quiet voice, eyes on the table.
“I don’t know why she could do such things,” said Sullo. “But seeing as you were involved in killing her, you can see how your existence makes them nervous.”
Nicce furrowed her brow. Hmm. Maybe there was more motivating Sullo to harm Eithan than trying to protect his daughter from corruption. Maybe the other gods wanted to get rid of all the members of the Nightmare Court.
“Seeing as you have pledged your allegiance to me, however, Eithan, I think that will go a long way to easing their concerns.” Sullo gestured. “Are you sure you don’t wish to eat anything?”
“Would it please you for me to eat?” said Eithan.
Sullo laughed. “I can’t decide what I think about this one, Nicce. Either he’s very devoted to you and willing to do whatever is necessary to be with you, or he’s attempting to manipulate me, or he’s truly very frightened that I’m going to kill him.” Sullo munched on some bacon. “Which do you think it is?”
Eithan spoke up. “You’re smart to be wary of me. Ciaska was never so smart. That is why we were able to move against her. But I can see manipulating you would not be nearly so simple.”
“No, indeed not,” said Sullo, giving Eithan an appraising look. He was obviously flattered.
It took everything for Nicce not to snicker. After all, the opposite of what Eithan had said was obviously true. Ciaska had been intelligent and wary, and Sullo was clearly not. Eithan had the god eating out of his hand already. Even the fact that he’d revealed what he had about the other gods bespoke Sullo’s ease around the two of them.
“I also see that you’ve gone a step beyond what Ciaska has done to protect yourself,” said Eithan. “She kept her crystals hidden here in the palace, all in one place, but yours are broken up and scattered, which makes it impossible for them to be used against you in the same way.”
“Oh,” said Sullo, nodding sagely. “Well, yes. I admit that was a mishap between Phir and me originally. Phir became very wretched at the end. Everything was pointless. Nothing meant anything. It was all very sad. Probably better that he did himself in, I suppose. But I can’t claim all of the credit for that. He is the one who broke the crystals originally. However, I did see the intelligence in it. The truth is that the crystals are of no good to me. Why keep them close at all?”
“Why indeed?” said Eithan.
Nicce wondered where he was going with this. She could see that he wanted to find the jewels, but wasn’t he being a little obvious about it?
Sullo didn’t seem to notice, however. He finished whatever was left on his plate and then sat back in his chair. He surveyed them both. “You think you’re in love with him, Nicce, but I need you to understand that you aren’t.”
Nicce set down her fork, swallowing her protests.
“Whatever was occurring between the two of you, it stops now,” said Sullo, turning to include Eithan in this statement. “You will leave my daughter alone. You will not touch her. Do you understand?”
“I do,” said Eithan.
“Nicce has been through a great deal in her young life,” said Sullo, “and she must learn how to respect herself and respect her body. You have allowed your great treasure to be tarnished, sweetpea. I still love you, of course, but only because I’m your father. No respectable man would want a slut like you.”
Nicce tightened her grip on her fork.
Eithan’s face twitched, but Sullo didn’t seem to see it.
“Don’t worry,” said Sullo. “It’s hardly common knowledge that you constantly seem to fall over with your legs spread. We’ll keep it to ourselves, and with time, well, who knows what might happen? If you please me, Eithan, and if I am sure I can trust you, anything is possible.”
“I am grateful for your kindness, Your Radiance,” said Eithan.
Sullo gave Nicce a pointed look.
She tried to smile but couldn’t quite manage it. Her voice was choked. “I’m so happy you’re here now to point out the error of my ways, Father.”
“Yes, of course,” said Sullo. “You just need a strong, paternal hand to guide you to the right path.”
“Thank you,” she said tightly.
“Anything for you, sweetpea.”
CHAPTER FOUR
After breakfast, Nicce wasn’t sure what to do with herself. She didn’t want to waste the entire day fuming in her new bedroom, thinking of all the awful things that her father had said about her at breakfast, but she didn’t seem to have any other recourse.
Her father’s acolytes seemed to be everywhere, and whenever she peered into the hallway, they were there, watching her.
She felt trapped.
She wanted to talk to Eithan, but how was she going to manage that?
Thinking of her father reminded her of Rhodes, who had long been the only father figure in her life. She had often contemplated what Rhodes would think of her having a relationship with Eithan, but never for long, because she always felt as if it was a betrayal of Rhodes, who had killed himself to protect her from Eithan.
She thought that Rhodes would hate her if he knew that she’d fallen into Eithan’s arms.
But now, presented with the horridness of Sullo, who professed to care about Nicce but clearly did not, she knew that if things had gone differently and Rhodes had seen Eithan the way she did, he would have come around.
All the evil things Eithan had done had been in service of Ciaska. He hadn’t had a choice. He couldn’t be blamed for them.
If she thought of it that way, she realized that Rhodes’s death wasn’t Eithan’s responsibility, anyway. It was another death she could lay at the feet of the nightmare goddess.
If Rhodes were here, he would help her against Sullo, though she remembered that his plan had been for them to seek the man out for help against Ciaska. She was glad that had never come to fruition. She wouldn’t want to be in the sun god’s debt.
The day wore on, and she periodically checked the halls for the acolytes.
The moment there were none in sight, she left her room and went to the end of the hallway.
She paused there, peering around the corner, looking to see if anyone was there. She saw some of the brides, who were clustered outside one of the bedrooms, talking in low voices. Nicce couldn’t make out what they were saying, but she could hear that they sounded concerned. They couldn’t be pleased. They’d been here under the thumb of the nightmare goddess, and they had thought they would be free, but now here they were, under the thumb of the sun god instead. From their perspective, nothing had changed. In fact, things might be worse, because the sun god might be interested in bedding them, where Ciaska had not been.
It might not be wise for them to see her, but it would be better than the acolytes, who were likely to report her every move to Sullo. She was already out of her room. She decided to risk it.
She walked past them, and they stopped talking to look at her.
She wanted to reassure them in some way, give them some unspoken sign that she had a plan to get rid of Sullo. But she didn’t have a plan. Eithan was the one who made plans, and he was notorious for not sharing them. She needed to speak to Eithan.
She had picked a room close to his, so when she rounded the next bend in the hallway, she was on the wing where h
e lived.
It had appeared empty, but once she was moving, an acolyte burst out of one of the rooms.
She wanted to freeze in place, but she knew that would look suspicious, so she kept moving, her heart thudding loudly against her rib cage.
But the acolyte walked briskly past her, not giving her a second look.
Once he was out of sight, Nicce tugged open the door to Eithan’s room and hurled herself inside. She shut the door behind her.
The room was empty.
Where was Eithan?
Well, it didn’t matter. He’d come back eventually. She’d wait.
And wait she did, for hours upon hours.
When he finally appeared, she had started to become worried about him, terrified that Sullo had decided to kill him after all and that she hadn’t been around to give him her blood and heal him.
But eventually, he came through the door, and he wasn’t hurt at all, but whole and beautiful and hers. She hugged him hard, burying her face against his shoulder. “I was starting to think something had happened to you.”
He pulled away. “What are you doing here? It’s dangerous for you to be here.”
“We have to talk,” she said. “We have to plan. Do you have some kind of plan that you’re not sharing with me?”
He gazed at her, tenderness in his eyes and hunger too. He always looked at her like that. He always wanted her. “Not much of one, no.”
She was as affected by his longing for her as ever. “Where have you been all day?” Her voice came out breathy.
He took both of her hands in his and led her over to sit with him on the bed. “I was watching Sullo’s acolytes.”
She sat close to him on the bed, her thigh pressed into his. “Why?”
“I was hoping that he’d send someone after his supply of crystals,” said Eithan, putting his arm around her.
She lay her head on his shoulder. “That’s why you were saying what you said to him at breakfast about the jewels.”
“We knew that Phir had split his crystals,” said Eithan, fingertips stroking her shoulder and upper arm.
Shivers went through her. “Feteran told us.”
“So, when I implied that he’d been splitting them himself, I hoped he hadn’t been doing that, and that my words would make him decide to adopt the practice.”
“You thought he’d have an acolyte go and get the crystals? Or even split them?”
“Exactly,” said Eithan. “I don’t know how difficult it is to split the crystals. Maybe only a god can do it. Maybe he has to do it himself.”
“But nothing like that happened?” said Nicce.
“No,” said Eithan. “I watched every single acolyte he spoke to, and none left this palace.”
She sighed. “It was a good thought, though. Maybe he’ll still send someone.” She raised her head. “Should you be watching now? What if he’s sending someone now?”
“I had a lot of time to think while I was watching,” said Eithan. “And I’ve decided that if we can gather together enough of the topazes, it might be all right. Do you know where the Guild got them?”
“I don’t.”
“But we could go back to the Guild and ask them,” said Eithan.
“I don’t think Sullo is going to let us leave this palace,” she said. “Especially not together.”
He buried his face in her hair. “You picked up on that, too, hmm?”
“What?” She wasn’t sure what he was talking about.
“Oh, all of the things Sullo was saying about the other gods,” said Eithan. “That you made them nervous and the existence of the hunters made them nervous.”
She sat up straight, dislodging him. “The gods are afraid of you and me together.”
Eithan reached out and feathered his fingers over her cheek, smiling at her. “We’re terrifying god killers, after all.”
She smiled too.
“Sullo’s determined to keep us apart,” said Eithan. “He needs to think he’s in control of both of us, and if he believes that, he thinks he’ll be able to convince the other gods that he’s got it all in hand.”
She touched his face. “Eithan, what about the other gods? If we kill Sullo, they’ll come after us.”
“Probably.”
“And it won’t only be us in danger,” she said. “What about the other knights? What about Lian?”
“Believe me, I’ve thought about this.” He wasn’t touching her anymore. “I was thinking about a lot of things today, and it’s clear to me that we must get free of this place. Not only to find the jewels to fight Sullo, but also to make sure the others are somewhere safe where no one can find them.”
“But if Sullo doesn’t want us to leave, then how do we do that?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Maybe if we could convince him to leave,” she said. “If there was some kind of perceived threat he needed to deal with, and he had to go. We could get past his acolytes easily enough, I think.”
He furrowed his brow, thinking this over.
She ran a hand through her hair. “I guess I should go. You’re right that it’s dangerous for us to be together.”
“You could stay,” he said.
She turned to him, eyebrows raised.
“The way I see it, you’re here now,” he said, “and moving around through the halls is only going to be suspicious. Besides… I missed you all day.”
She was smiling again. “I missed you too,” she whispered.
After that, there wasn’t much talking for a while, because they were too busy kissing. She loved the feel of his solid, cold body against hers, loved the way his mouth moved against her, loved everything about him. They ended up horizontal on the bed. He was over her, and then she pushed him onto his back and climbed over him, her legs on either side of his body as she kissed him.
He had his hands inside her tunic. (She’d changed out of that stupid dress. She hated dresses.) Everywhere he touched her, her skin tingled.
She gasped as they kissed.
Soon they had divested each other of their shirts and the sensation of their bare chests against each other was wondrous.
She kissed his chest. It was pale and cold and firm, and he had a tantalizing strip of hair that pointed like an arrow to his breeches, which she set about unlacing.
He brushed her hair out of her face.
She looked up at him, giving him a mischievous smile as she freed him and stroked him.
He threw his head back, making a noise low in his throat.
She turned back to his unlaced breeches and gazed at him, uncovered and thick and long and intriguing. She remembered the first time they’d made love, how he’d put his mouth between her thighs and she’d asked him if she could do the same to him.
She surveyed him, trying to determine whether all of that was somehow going to fit in her mouth and then she decided she should find out.
He sucked in a sharp breath at the sensation of her mouth on him.
She giggled, her mouth full.
“You don’t…” He choked. “You don’t have to do that.”
She pulled off, kissing the tip of him. “I want to. I’ve grown rather fond of this part of your body.”
He groaned.
He didn’t stop her again.
At first, she wasn’t entirely sure what she was supposed to be doing, and she simply did a lot of exploring, but then he made an involuntary thrust, after which he apologized, and she started to find a rhythm, realizing that would pleasure him the best.
He said, “Gods.” And then nothing more for a long time. His breath grew labored, and when she looked up at him, his eyes were closed, and the expression on his face made her feel powerful and pleased and her entire body convulsed in a new feeling of excitement that she rather liked.
He spoke again, near the end of it, his voice ravaged. “Gods,” he said again, and he was loose and undone and hers, and she loved him even more in that moment for reasons she couldn’t quite fat
hom.
When it was done, she rolled over and pillowed her head on his thigh and stared at the ceiling and smiled until he reached down and pulled her up next to him.
He kissed her and said he would need a minute before he could reciprocate, but that wasn’t why she’d done it, and she told him to go to sleep.
They both slept, and she woke up to his hands and his mouth. Her body twisted under his ministrations. He wrung pleasure out of her, leaving her gasping and sated and lost, and when they fell asleep again in each other’s arms, she thought about how she should leave.
But she didn’t.
* * *
Eithan woke to the sound of the door opening, and he panicked, sitting up and bunching his covers as he did, covering Nicce entirely, tossing his pillow over her covered form.
Sullo was standing in the doorway.
Eithan’s mouth was dry.
Idiot, he thought. You’re an idiot.
He hated himself. This wasn’t even like him. He wasn’t the sort of man who took stupid risks, but there was something about Nicce, and he couldn’t think when she was around, let alone when she put her mouth—
Should have stopped that. Should have made her leave then.
He rubbed his face, refusing to look back at the bed, refusing to see if it was obvious that there was a woman-shaped lump in his bed. He eyed the sun god instead. “Your Radiance.”
Next to him, he could feel the heat of Nicce’s body through the covers. She was still, unmoving, but he could barely hear her breath.
Sullo wasn’t looking at the bed. He was across the room at the sink, turning the spigots. “I always found these amazing. Humans across the sea did this, you know?”
“Did they?” said Eithan, who had never understood the way the water came through the pipes in the palace.
“It’s all done with pumps,” said Sullo. “Ingenious, really.” He turned the spigots off. “Humans in the Four Kingdoms, though, worthless in this regard.” He shrugged.
Eithan wondered if that was because they were constantly terrorized by gods and prevented from traveling over the seas. It had been over a hundred years since he’d been changed, and the Four Kingdoms remained much the same.
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