And it was intoxicating.
“What is this from?” she asked breathlessly.
He nearly laughed with relief. She was talking to him again. He turned his right arm and pulled up the sleeve. He could hear her sharp intake of breath as the moonlight caught the raised scars and gave them shadows.
“Never think you’re faster than a casum ball,” he said wryly as he rolled his sleeve back down. “Particularly when you’re on a moving ship.”
“So you really did go to battle.”
“Far too often.” He leaned his head forward until it touched the top of hers. “Now won’t you tell me what you’re doing?”
She looked down and shook her head.
“And why not?”
“The entire kingdom depends on your survival. It’s too dangerous. My fate holds very little weight comparatively. This is my duty and my duty alone.”
Something inside Nicholas snapped, and he took her by the shoulders and leaned down until they were face-to-face. “There are two things you need to understand about me,” he said in a tone he had never used with her before. But he was too angry to care. “First of all, my safety is not your decision to make.”
Her eyes widened, and for the first time, uncertainty flashed in their blue-green depths, but Nicholas wasn’t finished.
“Second,” he said, “an entire world rests on your fate.”
“What world?” she breathed.
“Mine.” And before he could think better of it, Nicholas pulled her against him until his lips found hers.
If asked, Nicholas wouldn’t have been able to count the number of kisses he’d shared before finding Elaina. The gesture had been fun and exciting, each one doled out with little value or consequence. He would have thought nothing of it if a passing pretty girl had asked him for a peck or even something more. But no kiss he had ever given or received had ever felt like this.
Because the girl he had searched and prayed and longed for, the one he had never deserved but wanted more than life itself, was kissing him back.
The gentle curves of her lips were like rose petals in full bloom, soft and pure in their innocence. He ran the backs of his fingers down her temple, cheek, and jaw before cupping her face in his hands and pulling her closer.
Trembling under his touch, she wrapped her small hands around his wrists and held them tightly, and the relief they brought made Nicholas want to weep.
She was here.
She was safe.
She was in his arms.
She was kissing him, too.
“I hate to interrupt the moment, but I’m afraid I see something,” King Everard called in a low voice. When Nicholas and Elaina turned to look at him, he was peering into the trees below the balcony, his sword already drawn. He looked pointedly at Elaina. “Don’t leave his side.”
As soon as the king had climbed over the edge of the balcony into one of the trees below, Nicholas turned back to Elaina. “I need you to tell me what you’re looking for. We can look together, but we need to do it before my father returns.”
Still trembling, she nodded, a half smile still on her face, and Nicholas couldn’t help reaching out to touch her once more.
“The stars have told me to find something called the Dagger of Power.”
Nicholas felt the blood drain from his face as he recalled the orbed dagger he’d witnessed in Solwhind. “Are they telling you where?” he whispered.
She looked up at the nearest palace tower. “Up.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“But we’ll find it faster if we look separately.” The old stubbornness had returned to her eyes.
“While you were in Solwhind, did you happen to learn how to use a sword?” He folded his arms and cocked his head.
Her shoulders stiffened.
“Because if you did, I might actually believe that you have a plan to get the dagger from the Shadow once you find it.”
She huffed and crossed her arms. “Fine.” Then her voice fell. “But I only have until midnight. So we need to search fast.”
Nicholas and Elaina slipped back into the ballroom, and Nicholas prayed that no one would notice them. To his surprise, few even spared them a glance as they moved along the edge of the room.
“I’m surprised no one has recognized you yet,” Nicholas whispered as loudly as he dared.
“My mother created a sort of . . . disguise for me. Only those really looking for me and who know me well should be able to recognize me, at least until midnight.”
“Wait, your mother?”
“A long story for a later day. Let’s focus on finding the dagger for now.”
They had just started up a set of winding steps and rounded the first turn when Nicholas heard a dreaded sound.
“Nicholas!”
They both froze, Elaina hidden in the shadows ahead of him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw his father walking toward the stairs as though he intended to follow them up. A young woman and her parents were right on his heels.
Wait for me, Nicholas mouthed to Elaina.
“Please,” she whispered, shaking her head. “Don’t go.”
He swallowed hard, holding her gaze for a second longer. On her face was a mixture of dread, pain, and fear.
“Nicholas!” His father called him again.
Nicholas gave her hand a quick squeeze before turning and running back down the stairs. He hoped she would understand. He couldn’t risk his father seeing her again. Not now when they were on the brink of escape.
“What are you doing sneaking around at your own ball?” his father asked as he approached Nicholas at the foot of the steps. “I threw this ball for you to find your future wife, not hide from her.”
“I was actually—”
“Let me introduce you to the special guests I told you about,” his father boomed, gesturing to the man, woman, and girl behind him. “This is Lord Seamus, his wife, Lady Seamus, and their daughter, Lady Amelia.”
Nicholas glanced back up into the darkness of the stairs. As his father continued to drone on, and Nicholas tried to think of a way to get out of his predicament, he got the sinking feeling in his gut that he should have never left Elaina alone.
57
Lost
Elaina’s heart fell as she listened to the king introduce Nicholas to Lady Amelia Seamus, whoever that was, and the old anger flared inside her chest. This scene was too familiar, and she was short on time. Another minute she waited, listening to them talk with indistinct words. Then two minutes. And still Nicholas did not return.
I’m trying, she told the Maker as traitorous tears threatened to come to her eyes once more. I’m trying to let him help.
Her mind was made up, however, when she peeked around the marble column to see him bowing to the girl and her parents. The girl’s hand was in his.
No. She wasn’t going to relive that horrid moment. Rather than watching him choose another woman again, she would just proceed the way she had planned all along. By herself.
Because with King Everard gone, apparently she was the only person she could count on.
All wistful thoughts dissolved when she reached the top of the staircase. There were so many rooms. A dagger could be hidden anywhere. Elaina ran to the nearest window and pulled until it creaked open. She stuck her head out as far as it would go.
“Is it on the second level?” she whispered.
Up, the stars called back.
And so Elaina continued to climb the palace, pausing at each level to find a window and consult the stars. It wasn’t until she had reached the fourth level that the stars stopped answering. Unfortunately, Elaina realized as she looked around, the fourth level was where the personal chambers began. There would be more places than ever to look here.
To her relief, however, very few of the rooms were locked, and those that were often opened with a little shove. If she somehow survived this, Elaina decided she would leave a note for Nicholas telling him to get the palace locks repa
ired, if not for his sake, then for the sake of the kingdom’s security.
There were few servants and guards around to see her as she slipped in and out of the rooms, and that was a good thing, as her progress was slow. Every little space that might possibly contain a dagger had to be searched. Curtains, beds, drawers, wardrobes, chests, and even misshapen rugs had to be examined.
Not only was the work monotonous, Elaina also found herself often distracted by the buzz of feelings running amok in her head and heart. Anger and awe warred and interrupted her focus.
As frustrated as she was, she couldn’t suppress the wonder that bubbled inside her chest. Nicholas had always walked with a swagger, but there was a new confidence in the way he carried himself, the same kind of stern assurance her father had always worn like a medal. And Nicholas’s dizzying new height and the impressive breadth of his shoulders made her legs feel like sea foam. The way his hands had caressed her face as blue eyes had searched her soul made her heart ache from within. His hands had grown hard and calloused over the years. She could only guess it was from all the fighting, but that had simply served to heighten her admiration for him. His touch had been so tender, and yet so full of yearning that it had made her wonder how she ever could have doubted him. She had wanted him to pull her closer so she could hide in his chest forever.
Then he had been offered another woman. Again. And as she continued to pause and listen for steps every few minutes during her search, hoping he had followed, her heart cracked a little more each time she heard nothing.
Elaina slammed a drawer shut just a little too hard. This was like searching the waves for a lost boot in the middle of the sea. Why couldn’t the stars just tell her where it was? Why did the Maker have to be so cryptic?
“Can I be of help, my lady?”
Elaina jerked upright to see a young servant girl standing in the doorway.
Elaina tried desperately to think of a good explanation as to what she was doing so far away from the ball in some stranger’s room. “I . . . am looking for something that was lost . . . last time I was visiting the palace.”
“In the duke’s visiting chamber?” The girl looked blankly around the room.
“I’m afraid it’s not mine. It belongs to someone else. They knew the area of the palace, but not the actual room.” Elaina prayed the servant girl wouldn’t report her straight to the guards.
“If it’s something lost, I might be able to help.” The girl twisted a strand of blonde hair between her fingers. “My mother wouldn’t like me taking strangers around the palace, but since she’s serving at the ball . . .” She bit her lip then gave Elaina a small smile. “If you want, I’ll take you.”
Elaina hesitated. She had been searching for a long time already. How much time did she have left? As if answering her unspoken question, the bells tolled eleven times. Elaina looked at the girl and nodded. She was getting nowhere this way. And the stars had said to go up. Perhaps this girl was the answer to her prayers.
“Thank you for helping me,” Elaina called ahead of her as they left the chamber and headed toward the northwestern part of the palace. “I wouldn’t have bothered, but I’m afraid I will not be returning to the palace for quite some time after this.”
“Not to worry, my lady,” the girl called back. “We have a pile of lost objects we keep in one of the upper towers. It just sits there gathering dust really. Won’t be doing any harm by just looking at it.”
The pile of objects turned out to be more than just a little way up. Up into the tower they climbed, passing level after level, Elaina’s nerves growing with each step they took. Just as she was about to find a way to excuse herself and go back down, however, they reached a little round room with windows going all the way around and a door on each side that opened up to a narrow balcony.
Elaina moved over to the window and stared out at the scattered lights in the valley below. When she turned her head to look back at the girl, the girl gestured to a pile of varied objects in the center of the room. “Sorry for the long climb, my lady. Still, maybe you’ll find what you’re looking for here.”
But Elaina couldn’t answer. There, in the middle of the pile, lay a short, twisted dagger. And at the end of its hilt was a glowing little orb smaller than a plum. As she ran to the pile to examine the dagger more closely, Elaina wondered how the servant hadn’t noticed it as well, or at least thought it out of place. Surely anyone who had seen the weapon wouldn’t have left something so suspicious sitting out in the open.
“Have you ever seen this dagger before—” Elaina started to ask, but as she turned around, the servant girl began to melt away.
And in her place stood Alistair.
58
Light the Color of Blood
Alistair smiled and folded his hands in front of him. “I really do wish I could convey to you how much I appreciate your mother’s gift. I only regret that I wasn’t able to gather it all. Most gifts I sell in order to maintain a natural balance, you see. But hers was one I couldn’t bear to give up. Her death was such a shame.” He gave her a beatific smile. “But was it really? Now, I suggest you give me that knife.”
“And if I don’t?” Elaina wrapped her hand securely around the dagger’s hilt and pulled it close to her chest.
“You see this?” He held up a long tube of red clay with a small bit of string hanging out of its end. “I’m not sure if your father ever took you to the far east, but even if he didn’t you might recognize this. You see, if I light a fire to this string,” he struck a match and held it beside the string, “all I have to do is throw it high in the air. My assistant, whom I’m sure you remember, will see it, and he will leave his hiding place outside your aunt’s home and truly end your mother’s life.”
“How do you know about my mother?”
“Well, her attempt at veiling you from me was sweet but rather foolish, considering I possess what’s left of her power.” He frowned. “I know exactly what such power looks like. Besides, I have it on good word that an unusual carriage was seen heading toward your aunt’s home last night.”
Don’t listen to him, the stars warned Elaina through the open balcony, but Elaina stood frozen, still holding the knife to her chest. No matter what the cost, you cannot let him have that dagger.
“I have no choice,” she whispered.
“They’re talking to you now, aren’t they?” He took a step closer, his eyes half closed and his voice nearly inaudible. “What a spiritual thrill that must be. I can’t wait . . .” He shook his head. “I’m afraid I’m getting ahead of myself.” He held his hand out. “The dagger, please.”
Elaina felt as though she no longer occupied her own body. The part of her mind that still made sense screamed at her not to do it, but the thought of her mother dead and cold, all alone in a barn, seemed to have taken control of her faculties. And as soon as she handed him the dagger, she knew she had made a dreadful mistake.
Where was Nicholas?
Elaina backed up until she was leaning against the railing of the balcony. As she did, Alistair pulled a little clay jar from his cloak. Elaina tried to bolt past him to the stairs, but he caught her by the arm and yanked her back so hard she fell to the ground, smacking her head against the stone. As the world tilted around her, she could feel his hands on her shoulders. She was pushed up onto a chair, and despite her attempts at kicking him and freeing herself, he managed to bind her firmly to it.
“I truly am sorry for the rope and everything. If I had some sort of guarantee that you would just listen to me . . . give me a fair chance, I wouldn’t have to begin our conversation this way.”
Elaina wanted to shout that she knew his designs already and would never join him. But getting him talking would give Nicholas . . . King Everard . . . anyone more time to find her. So she played dumb. “What do you want from me?”
“Not from.” He gripped the arms of her chair and leaned in toward her. “I want you to join me!”
“Doing what?”
“Don’t look so disgusted now. You and I were fair friends once, weren’t we? I have to say, you were one of the most impressive young ladies I’d ever met, and that’s still true to this day.”
“You haven’t answered my question.”
He sat back on his haunches. “I told you the truth when I said that my friend was murdered, the gifted one who served in the king’s court. But I’m afraid I didn’t tell you the whole truth. What I didn’t tell you was the kind of villain my friend became as he began to explore his powers. In just a few years, he was able to fool and extort nearly everyone in the court while blinding them with his natural charm.
“After several years as his personal assistant, I realized that if I didn’t stop him, he would end up more powerful than the king.”
She searched his face for regret, for any sign of remorse. “You killed him, didn’t you?”
His voice shook for the first time. “I might have killed my friend, but we are better for it. If I hadn’t, our dear Prince Nicholas would never have been born.”
“What does this have to do with me?”
He held up the dagger again, studying its pulsing orb closely. “I need you to help me spread equality.”
“What?”
“Before you say no, think about it. I know you well enough to know that you won’t be content to stay here in Kaylem. You want to travel the world! Well, come with me, and we’ll do just that!”
“Doing what?” she cried.
He leaned in again. “Making sure everyone has access to wonderful gifts such as your kind has been given.”
“You mean kill the gifted.”
“Look.” He shook his head as though explaining something simple to a small child. “After my friend’s death, I went searching, hating myself for what I’d done. It became such a burden that I nearly ended my own life as I wandered. But I found my salvation when an enchanter discovered me and taught me how to see beyond my pain.”
Cinders, Stars, and Glass Slippers: A Retelling of Cinderella (The Classical Kingdoms Collection Book 6) Page 40
