“Family spots family,” Dawnmother said.
Across the room, Reinholt snorted. Ma glanced over her shoulder at him. “We’ve sent for the grandchildren,” she said, “to make sure…”
“To make sure they’re out of their mother’s clutches or those of her sycophants,” Reinholt said, not turning.
Katya nodded, guessing the rule about the entire family being in the same place at the same time had to be broken occasionally. Reinholt’s little children had hidden Fiends, more Umbriel than her. Clenching her fist, Katya told herself to stop being such a child. They were all alive. Gone as she was, Maia was alive, too, and they’d find her. “Is Hugo the only one we caught?”
Starbride’s brows turned down at that, but Katya couldn’t take anything for granted at the moment.
“Cassius is dead. And we, um, we found Layra,” Brutal said.
“The gray-skinned woman.”
“Hid her pregnancy from everyone, from what Hugo told us,” Da said. “When she was away on Order business, young Hugo stayed with her relatives in the country.”
Crowe snorted. “The year Hugo was born, she told me she had a sick relative to take care of, and I believed her. I should have known better. Now I know why she was gone for so long initially and why she had to make so many ‘family visits in the countryside.’ I assumed she and Roland were just sneaking away to tryst.”
“She’s dead?” Katya asked, trying to sort out the conversation.
“She’s been dead a long time,” Crowe said. “Roland used a pyramid on her somehow, to…preserve her? Control her? I’ve no idea how he did it. He’s gone beyond anyone I’ve ever heard of. He’s a mad genius.” He shook his head slowly. “If I had to wager a guess, I’d say she was an experiment. We’ll need to keep our eyes open.”
“A walking corpse?” Katya asked. “Well, I imagine that didn’t make Hugo too charitable toward his father.”
“It’s a damn lot to sort out, my girl,” Da said.
“No time like the present.” Katya swung her legs over the side of the bed. A jumble of voices assailed her as everyone protested at once. “I’m tired of lying here. I’m going to see Brom.”
“Why?” Reinholt asked.
Katya didn’t back down from his gaze. “I need to see how far she was involved with Roland, Rein.”
“I’ll come with you,” Starbride said.
“You’ll need someone with a Fiend or that I’ve specifically tuned the pyramids to recognize,” Crowe said.
Hurt and loss whispered through Katya’s mind. Ma said, “I’ll come, too.”
“No, I’ll go,” Reinholt said.
Katya shook her head. He turned away, his face thunderous. Da put a gentle hand on his shoulder and murmured something in his ear. Ma and Starbride helped Katya dress before they descended into the palace depths once more.
In the dungeon, Katya paused in front of the door to the cells. “I want to see her alone.”
Starbride squeezed Katya’s hand. “I’ll wait here for you.”
Katya felt her sense of absence lighten slightly. Ma pressed her hand to the door pyramid, and Katya let the sobs that echoed down the hallway guide her. When Ma opened the door to the first cell on the right, Brom leapt up, manacle chains jangling. Ma retreated without a word, and Katya stepped inside with a single lamp.
“Katya! Let me out of here. I don’t belong here!”
Katya swallowed, surprised at the sorrow that came from seeing her buoyant sister-in-law in chains. “You betrayed us.”
“I had to save my children!”
“You knew!” Her anger pushed Brom back a step. “You knew about the Aspect when you married Reinholt.”
Katya expected Brom to shrink, but Brom surged forward to the end of her chains. “I didn’t know how bad it was! I never saw the Fiend, not until Roland showed me!” Spittle flew from her lips, and she backed up until she could wipe her tear-stained face. “He told me how the Fiend thinks, how it becomes a part of you! My children will not be monsters.”
“You refused because you’re a coward.” Katya thought for a moment. “No, Roland was clever when he was alive, but as a Fiend, he’s grown devious. He wouldn’t let you live just for refusing to Waltz. What did you do for him?”
Brom shook her head.
Katya’s mind raced. “Hugo couldn’t come into the royal quarters, couldn’t take the secret passages from there to the dungeons…but you could.”
“I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”
Katya stepped forward. “You set Darren and Cassius free. Your dormant Fiendish essence let you open the doors. Did you escort them down there before we arrived? Did you sneak Roland into the palace?”
Brom snarled, the white of her teeth shining against her reddened lips. “I did it for them.”
“What did he promise you? What did he give you that you’d risk the lives of everyone in Farraday?”
“One monster or another, what’s the difference?”
Katya clenched her fist, but she kept her control. She’d been keeping it too long to lose it now. Besides, there were other ways to hurt a person. “Your children are on their way here now.”
What little color remained in Brom’s face drained away. “No.”
“We need four to Waltz. Unless you want to take their place?”
“What are you talking about? You’d make my children Waltz so you don’t have to? Monster! Evil, murdering monster!” She jumped forward again, and the chains took her feet from under her, sending her to the ground where she curled around herself and sobbed. “Leave them alone. They won’t be like him. You can’t, you can’t!”
Katya didn’t bother to explain. She had what she needed, anyway. Brom was not opportunistic. She’d colluded with Roland, had met him before she’d come to Marienne. Katya turned and closed the door as Brom cried out her name. Daughter of a noble or not, they’d use a pyramid on her now. Maybe Roland was right about a few things. Maybe Crowe should make her loyal against her will; it was what she deserved.
Katya shook the thought away. She couldn’t become like him in order to fight him.
Starbride alone greeted her at the entrance.
“Where’s Ma?”
“A discreet withdrawal, I think.”
Katya took Starbride’s hands, gathering comfort. The stitches in her back pulled and stung, echoing the pain in her chest, the deep ache of loss. “I’m glad you stayed.”
Starbride kissed her softly for half a minute. “I’m here, and I’m not leaving you.”
Looking into her eyes, Katya thought for the first time that she had all the strength she needed, Fiend or not. “I love you, Star. Never forget that.”
“I won’t. Even with all the secrets and plots floating around, I’ll believe it. And I love you, too.”
Katya kissed her hand and tucked it into the crook of her elbow as they left the dark place behind.
About the Author
Barbara Ann Wright writes fantasy and science fiction novels and short stories when not adding to her enormous book collection or ranting on her blog. Her short fiction has appeared twice in Crossed Genres magazine and once made Tangent Online’s recommended reading list. She is a member of Broad Universe and the Outer Alliance and helped create Writer’s Ink in Houston.
She is married, has an army of pets, and lives in Texas. Her writing career can be boiled down to two points: when her mother bought her a typewriter in the sixth grade and when she took second place in the Isaac Asimov Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing in 2004. One gave her the means to write and the other gave her the confidence to keep going. Believing in oneself, in her opinion, is the most important thing a person can do.
Books Available From Bold Strokes Books
Month of Sundays by Yolanda Wallace. Love doesn’t always happen overnight; sometimes it takes a month of Sundays. (978-1-60282-739-4)
Jacob’s War by C.P. Rowlands. ATF Special Agent Allison Jacob’s task f
orce is in the middle of an all-out war, from the streets to the boardrooms of America. Small business owner Katie Blackburn is the latest victim who accidentally breaks it wide open but may break AJ’s heart at the same time. (978-1-60282-740-0)
The Pyramid Waltz by Barbara Ann Wright. Princess Katya Nar Umbriel wants a perfect romance, but her Fiendish nature and duties to the crown mean she can never tell the truth-until she meets Starbride, a woman who gets to the heart of every secret, even if it will be the death of her. (978-1-60282-741-7)
The Secret of Othello by Sam Cameron. Florida teen detectives Steven and Denny risk their lives to search for a sunken NASA satellite-but under the waves, no one can hear you scream . . . (978-1-60282-742-4)
Andy Squared by Jennifer Lavoie. Andrew never thought anyone could come between him and his twin sister, Andrea…until Ryder rode into town. (978-1-60282-743-1)
Finding Bluefield by Elan Barnehama. Set in the backdrop of Virginia and New York and spanning the years 1960-1982, Finding Bluefield chronicles the lives of Nicky Stewart, Barbara Philips, and their son, Paul, as they struggle to define themselves as a family. (978-1-60282-744-8)
The Jetsetters by David-Matthew Barnes. As rock band The Jetsetters skyrocket from obscurity to super stardom, Justin Holt, a lonely barista, and Diego Delgado, the band’s guitarist, fight with everything they have to stay together, despite the chaos and fame. (978-1-60282-745-5)
Strange Bedfellows by Rob Byrnes. Partners in life and crime, Grant Lambert and Chase LaMarca, are hired to make a politician’s compromising photo disappear, but what should be an easy job quickly spins out of control. (978-1-60282-746-2)
Dreaming of Her by Maggie Morton. Isa has begun to dream of the most amazing woman—a woman named Lilith with a gorgeous face, an amazing body, and the ability to turn Isa on like no other. But Lilith is just a dream…isn’t she? (978-1-60282-847-6)
Speed Demons by Gun Brooke. When NASCAR star Evangeline Marshall returns to the race track after a close brush with death, will famous photographer Blythe Pierce document her triumph and reciprocate her love—or will they succumb to their respective demons and fail? (978-1-60282-678-6)
Summoning Shadows: A Rosso Lussuria Vampire Novel by Winter Pennington. The Rosso Lussuria vampires face enemies both old and new, and to prevail they must call on even more strange alliances, unite as a clan, and draw on every weapon within their reach—but with a clan of vampires, that’s easier said than done. (978-1-60282-679-3)
Sometime Yesterday by Yvonne Heidt. When Natalie Chambers learns her Victorian house is haunted by a pair of lovers and a Dark Man, can she and her lover Van Easton solve the mystery that will set the ghosts free and banish the evil presence in the house? Or will they have to run to survive as well? (978-1-60282-680-9)
Into the Flames by Mel Bossa. In order to save one of his patients, psychiatrist Jamie Scarborough will have to confront his own monsters—including those he unknowingly helped create. (978-1-60282-681-6)
Coming Attractions: Author’s Edition by Bobbi Marolt. For Helen Townsend, chasing turns to caring, and caring turns to loving, but will love take five steps back and turn to leaving? (978-1-60282-732-5)
OMGqueer, edited by Radclyffe and Katherine E. Lynch. Through stories imagined and told by youth across America, this anthology provides a snapshot of queerness at the dawn of the new millennium. (978-1-60282-682-3)
Oath of Honor by Radclyffe. A First Responders novel. First do no harm…First Physician of the United States Wes Masters discovers that being the president’s doctor demands more than brains and personal sacrifice—especially when politics is the order of the day. (978-1-60282-671-7)
A Question of Ghosts by Cate Culpepper. Becca Healy hopes Dr. Joanne Call can help her learn if her mother really committed suicide—but she’s not sure she can handle her mother’s ghost, a decades-old mystery, and lusting after the difficult Dr. Call without some serious chocolate consumption. (978-1-60282-672-4)
The Night Off by Meghan O’Brien. When Emily Parker pays for a taboo role-playing fantasy encounter from the Xtreme Encounters escort agency, she expects to surrender control—but never imagines losing her heart to dangerous butch Nat Swayne. (978-1-60282-673-1)
Sara by Greg Herren. A mysterious and beautiful new student at Southern Heights High School stirs things up when students start dying. (978-1-60282-674-8)
Fontana by Joshua Martino. Fame, obsession, and vengeance collide in a novel that asks: What if America’s greatest hero was gay? (978-1-60282-675-5)
Lemon Reef by Robin Silverman. What would you risk for the memory of your first love? When Jenna Ross learns her high school love Del Soto died on Lemon Reef, she refuses to accept the medical examiner’s report of a death from natural causes and risks everything to find the truth. (978-1-60282-676-2)
The Dirty Diner: Gay Erotica on the Menu, edited by Jerry L. Wheeler. Gay erotica set in restaurants, featuring food, sex, and men—could you really ask for anything more? (978-1-60282-677-9)
Sweat: Gay Jock Erotica by Todd Gregory. Sizzling tales of smoking hot sex with the athletic studs everyone fantasizes about. (978-1-60282-669-4)
The Marrying Kind by Ken O’Neill. Just when successful wedding planner Adam More decides to protest inequality by quitting the business and boycotting marriage entirely, his only sibling announces her engagement. (978-1-60282-670-0)
Missing by P.J. Trebelhorn. FBI agent Olivia Andrews knows exactly what she wants out of life, but then she’s forced to rethink everything when she meets fellow agent Sophie Kane while investigating a child abduction. (978-1-60282-668-7)
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