Millie stretched out her hand to Fiori. “Let me see what you have.” She scooted closer as the princess opened up one of the magazines to a page she had dog-eared. While they put their heads together and Fiori prattled on about hem lines and hand bags, I began with what I thought was an innocuous question.
How did she know the Dark City was horrible?
Because Leonardo had taken her there. Apparently there were several secret viewing platforms in the Dark City. She screwed up her face with distaste before sharing that she had only been eight years old at the time. She told us that there had been no pods back then, no clean clothes, no running water and no evening meal.
“I convinced Daddy that upgrading the living conditions in the La Ville Sombre would make the Dark Immortals who served us more productive.”
“When you were only eight?” I asked as wide eyed as Millie.
She nodded. “And it took me two years after that to convince him to form the administration. He’s not a big fan of delegating. But he eventually saw the wisdom in improving work environments and matching jobs to Dark Immortals best suited for them. Since then morale is better and on the job injuries are down. My father is not a fool. He understands economics.” She blew a strand of gold out of her eyes. “He’s finally agreed to have non-security related complaints between masters and slaves handled independently instead of in court.”
“Why?” Millie asked.
“I think he’s planning to devote more time to building outside alliances with other Progeny now that he has an oracle again. A very talented one,” Fiori added, looking my way.
I recognized the flattery for what it was. More importantly, I had learned that the princess seemed to have a tender heart toward her father’s slaves and had used her position to influence him to improve their lot. But her motives were more important. “Why, Fiori?” Was it only economics that swayed her? “What makes you want to help the slaves?”
“Don’t you see that it’s wrong for one race to enslave another?” She gave me an incredulous look. “We might appear to be different on the outside. My father might believe that lights are superior. But I don’t share that viewpoint. I believe that we are more alike than different. We all have the same dreams, the same underlying desires to be accepted, to be loved. Delphi. Aunt Hemera. My mother. Leo. You. Your sister. And me,” she concluded in a whisper.
I cocked my head to the side regarding her in a completely different way, already making plans inside my head to join forces with her to improve the conditions in the La Ville Sombre. I might be in the palace now but I refused to abandon my brethren.
For over an hour we flipped through pages and thumbed through fabrics. By the time dinner rolled in on a cart like room service, we had decided on several outfits. Fiori was going to lead the clothing revolution since the elves historically emulated her. Millie chose a couple of casual things at Fiori’s insistence, and I went with some elegant business suits for my court attire. Though the written protocol I had already skimmed indicated Phoebus wanted me covered head to toe in a scarlet robe, I hoped that if I dressed professionally beneath it he would start to look at me more as an employee and less as a bauble.
“Do not be taken in by his looks or fooled by his charm, Cici.” Fiori seemed to read my thoughts. She set her napkin on her empty plate. “He’s clever. You must always be on your guard. He has mentioned admiring your strength, but I would caution you not to push him too hard. He can turn on you very unexpectedly.”
Had he turned on her? His own daughter?
Looking at her, noting her serious expression, seeing the harsh reality in her gaze, I knew that he must have. In that moment my view of her shifted. Fiori feared her own father. She might not be a slave but she was as trapped as we were. Far from naïve, I suspected that she had learned to play her father’s game in order to survive.
“His prejudice runs deep.” I saw resignation and acute loneliness in Fiori’s overly bright eyes. “It has always been there. But after we lost Aunt Hemera, it’s become more overt.” Sadness rolled off her in waves. “There’s no changing it. Don’t bother trying. He has an evil ambition to enslave all Dark Immortals. It’s a desire that consumes him. Above all watch out for his dark spells. They come without warning. Avoid him then if you can. He goes quite literally mad, and no one, not even Leonardo can reason with him during those times.”
“Millie, honey, wake up.” I kissed her cheek, frowning when my lips registered how flushed her skin was this morning.
“Mmm,” she said without opening her eyes, mumbling something I couldn’t make out.
Over the past several weeks, I had come to realize that we had only exchanged one prison for another. True, our accommodations were more luxurious, silk sheets, feather beds, freshly laundered traditional clothing instead of polyester uniforms. But we were never unguarded. An armed Sun Elf stood outside our suite at all hours. Our movements within the palace were more restricted. We needed permission to venture anywhere outside our shared quarters. We had to endure the undisguised lustful stares of our captors, and they didn’t seem to care if I heard their crude insinuations about my relationship to the Sun King. They were no better than Roderick’s ilk.
And Millie had gotten much worse, more difficult to arouse in the morning and more lethargic during the day. But she had to get up now or she would make me late again.
“Millie,” I spoke firmly, grasping her shoulders and gently shaking her while trying not to notice how thin she had become.
She blinked her eyes. They were glassy for a long moment before she focused on me. “What time is it?” She cast her gaze toward the window.
“It’s late,” I informed her.
“But it’s Saturday.”
“No, it’s Monday,” I corrected. She was getting forgetful, too. “I’m expected at court today.”
“I’m so sorry, Cici.” She pushed the covers back and started to push herself up from the bed. Her breathing was harsh and her arms trembled beneath her.
“No, it’s ok.” I pressed her back. It wasn’t difficult to do. She collapsed heavily. My heart squeezed tight.
“Stone,” she called, her voice as insubstantial as her wispy form.
“Here.” Her head swiveled toward the sound of his voice, her troubled gaze softening as it locked on his face. Physically she might be weakening but the love between them had only grown stronger. He angled between us taking the hand she extended toward him, turning it over and pressing his lips to the pulse point inside her wrist. “Stone is right here, Amelia.”
“Thank you,” she whispered to him before her eyes slid to me. “Go, Cici. Stone will take care of me. I’ll get dressed. I don’t want to make you late. I’ll meet you downstairs.”
“You should stay. Rest. I’ll be ok by myself.” My voice sounded as pinched as I felt inside.
“No.” She shook her head. The black stripe was bleaching out the platinum color in the surrounding strands, a disturbing overnight development. “You shouldn’t be alone with him,” she added weakly. Stone’s concerned gaze met mine. My heart faltered. The fear in his expression magnified my own. Something had to be done. She couldn’t go on like this.
“Stone will help. Stone will bring Amelia to Cici. Go, Seer. But even if the opportunity does not arise…”
“Yes,” I cut in, straightening my spine after I moved from the bed. “Today.” It had to be today. We didn’t have the luxury of waiting any longer.
“You look fantastic, my pet. Palace life is certainly becoming to you.”
“Thanks,” I replied automatically. I couldn’t have cared less about how he thought I looked in the Christian Dior wrap dress knock off or the suede boots I had worn under the hooded robe. My concern for Millie took precedence over everything, of course. But I had to pretend to be flattered. I had to balance just so on the razor thin edge in all of my interactions with him.
“But I’m displeased with you.” He suddenly turned, overshadowing me with his weight and ba
cking me into the door to the outside corridor. Throwing his arms out on either side of my head, he caged me between them.
“I don’t understand.” I gulped. I had prophesized for a half dozen visiting diplomats today. He had reaped a mindboggling assortment of new weaponry for the Sun Elves as payment.
“I think you do.” I could smell burning wood behind me. Smoke billowed around us. “This is the last time I will allow you to refuse to use your talents when you are bidden.”
Por supuesto. He was talking about the girl, the pretty woodland elf. She had stabbed a shop owner who had tried to rape her. I hadn’t told him what I had seen. I had feigned defiance instead. He would have executed her if he had known the truth. “I’m sorry.” I was going to have to get better at lying and better at managing him. I wasn’t learning those skills fast enough. I wished that Leonardo and Fiori were back. They buffered me from him whenever his moods became dire. But they had left the city to visit her grandmother in Normandy. Since their departure the Sun King had grown more demanding and contentious.
“Apologies do not please me, Cecily.” He brought one of his arms down. It took everything I had in me not to cringe when he stroked across my lips with his thumb. The heat in the pad was intense, just shy of burning me. “You know what would.”
I nodded. I knew. He had not let up in his pursuit to eliminate the physical boundaries between us.
“Tonight then.” He tilted his head. “You will eat your dinner with me. Afterward, I will explain exactly what will happen should you disobey me again. I know you think you are invaluable. You are certainly, but I’m beginning to believe you might be more malleable after you have been reacquainted with the concept of pain.”
Remembering how badly it had hurt when he had branded me, my thoughts were in a scramble as I followed him out the door. Stone and my sister waited in the hall. She was dressed now, but she was frightfully pale and gripped Stone’s arm so tightly I knew he was all that was keeping her upright.
Phoebus’ gaze slid over her as he passed without acknowledging her presence. I knew he had no regard for her beyond using her to get what he wanted from me. Even though I knew he expected me to remain at his side, I stopped in front of her. My feet refused to go further.
“Millie, you look awful.” I reached for her. My heart felt like it was held in a grip tighter than the one she had on the gargoyle’s arm. Her breath rattled in her chest. Her lips were a startling blue.
“Seer,” Stone warned inclining his head over my shoulder, and I knew without him saying that the monarch was behind us. I could feel his heat. I turned. Phoebus was watching me intently. I had to press him for assistance. Despite his current mood.
“Can I talk with you a minute?” I asked, the portrait of him slaying a Cyclops feeling like a grim omen over our heads.
“Absolutely, Cecily, my pet. Whatever you desire. But let’s go in here so we can converse privately.” His voice was smooth, his expression eager as he motioned me toward the library. “Stay out,” he ordered the guards who always accompanied him to Court. “Allow no one to disturb us.”
“Cici,” Millie called in a weak voice, stopping me before I could follow him in. “What’s going on? I thought we were going to eat lunch together. What are you doing?”
“You’re in no condition to eat lunch, Millie,” I told her honestly. “I’m going to ask him to help. We can’t pretend anymore. You’re not getting better. Don’t deny it.” I shifted my gaze to Stone then back to her. “Stone and I are in agreement on this. You don’t get to vote.”
“You’re right. I won’t deny it.” Her eyes flashed, fiercely proud, even though she could barely stand. But the fact that she wasn’t arguing about her condition terrified me. “I just don’t think you should do it now. He’s been so volatile lately.” Her fingers curled so tight on Stone’s arm that her skin blanched. “Everyone leaving the court was talking about how mad you made him today. What if he burns you? I couldn’t bear it if he hurt you like that again.”
“Cecily!” Phoebus shouted from inside the room. I jumped. I didn’t want that to happen, either. I didn’t tell her that it almost had a moment before. She didn’t need to know that I would endure that or worse for her.
“Don’t worry, Millie. It’ll be ok.” I didn’t have time to reassure her further. Straightening my shoulders, I went inside.
Looking like a GQ model with his charcoal suit jacket unbuttoned, Phoebus stretched his arms out on either side of him on the desk, lounging back and crossing his long legs at the ankles. “Shouldn’t you close the door?” He raised a perfectly shaped brow.
“Why?” I didn’t follow his meaning for a minute. My thoughts were too fixed on Millie. But I shook my head vigorously as understanding dawned. “That’s not necessary.” I smoothed my damp palms on my skirt. His lips lifted. He was amused by my nervousness. “I don’t know if you have noticed, but my sister is ill.” I pulled in a deep breath and forged on ahead. “Since you touched her…”
“Since I punished her you mean,” he corrected. “A punishment she deserved.”
“Yes, well.” I swallowed. “She’s been getting weaker.” That swath of black in her hair was so hot steam rose from it as she showered. “She needs a doctor. A healer.”
“To do what exactly?” Why did I feel like he was a serpent about to strike?
This wasn’t the time to hold secrets. He probably already knew anyway. He had information on all of us. Leonardo. Catonia. Evercy. Roderick. He even had a file on his own daughter, though I had never seen it.
“My blood has a healing component to it, a genetic gift from my mother. If I can get some of my blood into Millie I think it will make her better. But I need equipment and the assistance of appropriately trained medical personnel.”
“So…you want something from me? Is that right?” The orange flame began to smolder in his desert eyes.
I nodded.
“A favor.”
Santa mierda.
“Yes.” I became a little light headed, as if my blood rushed to warm the icy grip of fear that had seized my heart.
He was going to write my name in that little black book of his. The price of his favors never came cheap.
But this was Millie.
“Yes.” I lifted my chin. “I’ll do anything. Anything you ask. Anything at all.”
“Done.” The serpent struck. “Take her to your chambers. I will send the palace physician to meet you there.”
“Ok.” I swayed a bit as he pushed away from the desk and moved past me barking quick orders to the two guards outside in the hall. “Thank you.”
“You can thank me later,” he stated victoriously.
Unfortunately, Millie got worse before the doctor arrived. Stone helped me get her under the covers, but she was so cold three layers of thick blankets couldn’t keep her warm. I had to climb into the bed with her holding her against my body while chills rattled her teeth and rocked both of us.
Then the fever came. One minute I was stroking her cheek and humming softly to her, the next moment she was on fire, though the lock of ebony in her hair turned strangely cold. It was as though the heat from it transferred to the rest of her body.
By the time the physician arrived, Millie was asleep, her skin too hot for mine to touch hers.
“Good evening, Seer.” His fingers tightened on the black bag in his hand. “I’m Dr. Thibodeaux.” The grimness of the Sun Elf’s expression as he came into the room pierced my faltering heart. “How long has she been like this?” he inquired.
“You mean with the fever?”
Millie moaned softly, and her legs moved restless under the covers, but she didn’t open her eyes.
“Yes, approximately how many hours would you say?” He moved to her side and put the back of his hand against her brow.
“At least a couple,” I answered.
He shook his head slowly and set his bag on the bed beside her. “And did she also have chills prior to the fever?”
> “Yes. Yes, she did.” I watched him use his stethoscope to listen to her heart and lungs before he took her pulse.
His frown deepened and he folded his stethoscope and put it away. “Has she been asleep since the fever?”
“Yes.” Increasing panic made my reply shrill.
“Her symptoms indicate she has already entered the accelerated stage of UV toxicity, though she’s moving through them at a faster pace than any patient I have ever seen before.” His bleak expression as his eyes met mine chilled me. I climbed into the bed and drew Millie to me. Her body was a raging inferno of heat. “At this rate I fear she won’t make it through the night.”
“No!” Stone echoed my cry from where he stood at the foot of the bed.
The doctor’s gaze slid back and forth between the two of us. The desperation he saw must have touched him. He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry to be the bearer of such terrible news.”
“Set up the transfusion right away then.” I rolled back my sleeves pointing with my chin at his bag.
His brow creased and he shook his head. “I’m sorry, child. I was told you have a healing component in your blood. But it’s too late for that now. It won’t do her any good.”
“I don’t believe that. We have to try.” When he didn’t speak, I begged. “Please. My parents are gone. She’s all I have left.”
“I’m sorry for your loss and for the one to come. I’ve seen too many cases like your sister’s. The hair discoloration is a classic sign, then the gradual physical decline before the chills and fever eventually manifest. After that it’s only a matter of hours.”
I suddenly couldn’t breathe. The walls closed in on me. I pulled Millie to my chest. Her body was limp. My silent tears slid down my cheeks and into her mussed hair.
The doctor’s eyes suddenly brightened as he looked at us. Stone made a low sound in his throat that sounded like he was dying inside. “I can set up an IV with fluid that’s infused with a single drop of the nectar of the gods. It’s not something I would normally do. It’s not a cure and it’s extremely costly. But it will ease her passing.”
Dream Magic Page 16
