I laughed, swaying where I stood. The little green pod was empty now—I had squeezed its contents into his drink. Only a drop or two, but that was all it took. “Perhaps you’re right. Forgive me for intruding, my lord.”
“No forgiveness necessary, my lady. Take care.” He raised his goblet to me, then drank again.
I gave him a little wave and slipped back into the crowd, feeling like a traitor. Such a nice man. So much more approachable than Lord Thistle, who would have been more likely to throw his wine into the face of anyone drunkenly falling on him than to drink a toast to them. I pushed my way through the dancers, eager to be gone now that the deed was done. How long would it take for the starbright to take effect? I couldn’t remember how long I had. Three minutes? Five? I remembered it was fast acting, but the stress of the moment had driven the details from my head. Best to be far away before anything happened.
I saw the Lord and Lady of Spring on their thrones through an opening among the dancers. Lord Thistle had leaned over to say something to his wife, but her gaze was elsewhere as she listened. She appeared to be watching Lord Nox, and a shiver of doubt ran through me. Had she seen me talking to him? Would she realise what I’d done?
I turned hurriedly in the other direction and bumped into a couple twirling past.
“Careful!” the man cried, shoving me none too gently out of his way.
A man in a black feathered mask looked over, his attention caught by the commotion. “Sage!”
Oh, shit, I was in trouble. It was Raven.
I admit it—I panicked. I turned and dived into the crowd, but a moment later, he caught my arm and spun me around to face him.
“Sage! Where are you going? Lady’s tears, I thought you were dead.”
And then he swept me into his arms and kissed me long and deep. I was so surprised that my body took over and I fell into the kiss. One strong arm around my back pressed me against him, the other hand tangled in my hair, cupping my head as if it were the most precious thing he’d ever held. His mouth on mine was soft as silk and sweet as all the sugared confections of Faerie. I melted against him, my knees actually trembling.
And then my brain rebooted, and I struggled away from him.
He stared down at me, eyes wild behind his raven mask. “Where have you been? What are you doing here?” He had released me at the first sign that I wasn’t as into the kiss as he was, but he hadn’t quite let me go—his hands still gripped mine, as if he was afraid that I would disappear into the crowd again if he didn’t keep a firm hold on me.
“The Vipers caught me,” I said, gazing up at the full lips I’d just kissed, more than a little bemused. That had certainly been an … enthusiastic greeting. Raven’s dance partner stood behind him, her mouth open in surprise. She didn’t appear too impressed at being shoved aside without a second thought, but it was clear Raven had forgotten all about her.
He began to drag me through the crowd, leaving her stranded alone among the dancers. “But you escaped?”
“As you see.” I looked down at my feet as we navigated a path through the swirling crowd, the music thrumming through my body. I felt giddy, unmoored from reality. His reaction had completely thrown me. I needed to shake him off, but how?
He glanced back at me over his shoulder. “You couldn’t get word to me?” There was more than a hint of accusation in the words, and I tried not to bristle at his tone. He must have gone through hell. I could hardly blame him for being upset at finding me apparently free as a bird in the middle of the party to welcome his father to Spring. “When did you get here?”
“Only a moment ago.” That much, at least, was true. Should I tell him the rest of it? He was my friend—hell, more than a friend, if that kiss was anything to go by—and he would help me.
There was a break in the dancers ahead, and Raven was steering us toward it. Beyond lay the trees and one of the other public pavilions—a smaller dining hall. Evandir moved out from behind the trees, and suddenly, I pulled back against Raven’s grip. No doubt Evandir had seen me with Raven, but I didn’t need to deliver Raven to him like a present already wrapped and tied with a bow. Evandir was no friend of mine, and I didn’t want him close to the people who were. Who knew what he would do to them, if he thought it would hurt me?
Raven looked back enquiringly, though he didn’t release my hand. “What’s wrong?”
I glanced back toward the banquet tables where I’d spoken with his father. There were too many people in the way to see if he was still there, and no time to explain the whole mess to Raven. And how could I even begin to explain Ash and my complicated feelings for him to a man who had just kissed me like that?
“I thought I heard something,” I said, rather lamely. Better to stick with the original plan and get out of here as fast as I could before the whole shaky house of cards came tumbling down on my head.
And then I did hear something—an unholy shriek. Half the dancers stopped in their tracks, heads swivelling towards the sound.
“Help! He’s dead, he’s dead! Somebody help!”
Raven stared at me, an odd look on his face. Damn. If I’d waited another moment, that wouldn’t have looked so dodgy. Then a name rippled through the crowd. Lord Nox. Lord Nox has fallen.
Raven’s head came up like a hunting dog who has caught the scent, a stricken look on his face.
“Your father. Go to him,” I urged.
He hesitated, though the gasps and cries of horror were building. A little knot of onlookers was growing bigger by the moment, and the Lord of Spring had plunged down off his dais and was forging through the crowd toward it.
Raven changed direction, dragging me back through the crush of people towards his father. The flutes had fallen silent, the drums had ceased to pound. The only pounding now was my own heart thundering in my ears. I had to get out of here.
I jerked my hand savagely, freeing it from Raven’s grip. He looked back at me, fear for his father mingled with concern for me.
“Go on.” I made shooing motions at him. “I’ll get help.”
Help. What a joke that was! I didn’t know what use he thought I could be among all these powerful fae, but he nodded as if reassured and disappeared.
I stared after him for a moment, guilt gnawing at my insides at the trusting look on his face. Then I turned and ran into the trees, looking for Ash.
32
I headed away from where I’d last seen Evandir. If I was lucky, I’d never see him again. Once Lord Nox fell, he should have left for the rendezvous point. We were all supposed to be meeting back where we’d come through the gate. I just had to catch Ash before he got there.
A tall figure stepped out from the shadow of the trees into the moonlight, and some of the tension in my chest relaxed as I recognised Ash. Wordlessly, he took my hand and pulled me along with him. We hurried away from the crowd, passing others running towards the commotion. Hopefully, we looked like a couple seeking privacy and not criminals fleeing the scene.
When we were nearly back at the hedge where we’d entered, he said, “I didn’t think you would go through with it.”
I glanced up at his face, still masked, his expression stiff and unreadable. “Were you watching?”
“Oh, yes,” he said softly. “I saw everything.”
He bit each word off as if it had personally offended him, and an uneasy feeling stole over me. I scooted under the hedge and waited for him.
When he stood up, he was dressed once again in his plain clothes, the masked pirate gone. Without the mask, the chill in his grey gaze was clear. “Do you still contend that you have no feelings for Raven?”
“What do you mean?”
Anger sparked in his eyes. “I saw you kissing him. He was practically eating you alive, and you didn’t exactly look unwilling.”
Did I have feelings for Raven? The memory of that kiss lingered on my lips, sweeter than strawberries in summer, like the caress of night-dark feathers on my cheek. I liked Raven very much. I was gra
teful to him for the help he had given both me and Allegra in the past. I would even admit that I found him attractive. But did I care for him as more than a friend?
Before that kiss, I would have said no. Now? There was a spark there, sure, a possibility that something might grow between us, but, hell, if I was completely honest, I could say the same about Ash.
Not when he was being a total butthead like this, of course.
“I can’t believe we’re having this conversation now. Really? You think now is the appropriate time to discuss my relationship with another man, when we’re fleeing the scene of an assassination?” I glared at him. “But if we’re going to talk about our feelings, let’s start with yours. Why do you care who kisses me? Are you jealous?”
I got no reaction, not even a blink.
Time to state the obvious. “But surely that would mean you must have feelings for me?”
I stared at him, hands on hips, a challenge in my eyes. If he was going to come over all possessive, he should at least admit that there was more between us than an Adept-apprentice relationship. And maybe then we could move on to what I really wanted to talk about. Would he agree to leave the Vipers and come away with me? Nervous butterflies fluttered in my stomach. What would I do if I revealed the truth and he still refused? Would I have to fight him?
“It’s my duty to keep you safe,” he said after a moment, “and to see that you don’t get distracted from your task.”
Stubborn bastard. He wouldn’t admit anything. Fine.
“So what if I kissed you instead?”
I moved closer, so close that my breasts pressed against his hard chest. A little shiver of excitement ran through me as I felt the heat of his body through the flimsy fabric of the dress I wore.
“You seem indiscriminate with your kisses. Will you bestow them on every man in Spring?” His eyes glittered as he stared down at me—but he didn’t push me away.
His expression was still stern, so I reached up and trailed my knuckles down his cheek. Could he really be that angry about the kiss with Raven? A cautious hope flared to life in my heart. That was a good sign, right? If he was pissed off about another man kissing me, that must mean he had feelings for me. Would he be open to my plan?
“Ash, you hate being a Viper. Leave them. Come with me—you could have a better life. A normal life.”
A shutter came down over his face, and I felt his muscles tense, as if he was preparing to reject me. “You think either of us are free to choose a different life?”
I clutched at his shoulders. “Don’t push me away. You’ve done nothing but push people away since Hattah died, and what has that got you? You’re miserable. You have no life beyond killing and obeying the father you hate. What kind of life is that? You deserve more.”
His face in the moonlight looked as though it had been carved from granite, but I forged on anyway. “You’re worried about the dagger and its power over us. But I can get us to a safe place where we won’t be able to answer its call. The king will move against your father and then it won’t be a problem anymore.”
His eyes widened. “You will bring Rothbold against the Vipers? Against my father?”
I licked my lips nervously, and his eyes followed the movement. Possibly telling him I meant to kill dear old Dad wasn’t the best way to sell my plan, but I was counting on his hatred for his father to carry the moment.
“When you put it so baldly, I admit it doesn’t sound good. But you don’t care for any of those people. You hate your father, and you would never have joined the Vipers if he hadn’t tricked you into it.” I poured all the passion I felt into my voice, holding his gaze so he could read the sincerity in my own. He had to understand how important this was. “I’m offering you a fresh start. All you have to do is come with me now.”
“Come where with you now?” another voice asked.
Lord Celebrach stepped out of the darkness under the trees, a look of polite enquiry on his face.
Bloody hell. Where had he sprung from? And how much had he heard?
Ash gripped me warningly. “My lord,” he said. “She was only making sexual suggestions. She hasn’t yet learned her place.”
“And yet you don’t seem averse to those suggestions,” Celebrach observed dryly, pointedly eyeing how close together we were standing. “Is this the degree of professionalism I can expect from my Vipers when they are out on a job?”
Ash let go and stepped away, but not that far. He positioned himself between me and his father, though he made it look casual. “I didn’t expect to see you here, my lord. Is there a problem?”
“It’s quite clear you didn’t expect me,” Celebrach said with a sneer. “But there is no problem. This is an important hit, so I thought I would check up on my troops. Where are Evandir and Atinna?”
“We are to meet them back at the gate,” Ash said.
“I see.”
I began to breathe a little easier. Celebrach wasn’t acting like a man who’d overheard my whole pitch to Ash. Maybe he’d really only arrived in time for that last, impassioned come away with me.
Or maybe he was playing a deeper game. I still had my knife in its sheath on my thigh, and Ash was undoubtedly armed to the teeth, but I didn’t see what use any of our weapons would be against Celebrach if he decided to move against us. Not with Ni’ishasana hanging at his side. I could feel the power emanating from it from where I stood, its faint whisperings at the edge of my hearing.
“And yet you delay here with your personal business.” Storms brewed in Celebrach’s eyes. “Since when has personal business come before Viper business?”
“Our Viper business has been successfully concluded, my lord,” Ash said.
How the hell did he remain so calm in the face of his father’s fury? I could feel it beating at me like a wave of heat when you stood too close to a fire. And Ash’s link with the Lord Serpent was stronger than mine, since I was only an apprentice.
Shadows rose around Lord Celebrach, and I glanced at Ash in alarm. Was this the harbinger of an attack? Ash appeared unfazed. Could he not see them?
“So Nox is dead?”
“He is, and at Sage’s hand,” Ash said, meeting his father’s gaze without flinching.
The shadows boiled and took on familiar shapes. I repressed a sigh. No, I was guessing Ash couldn’t see them. There was Snake Lady, again, and her two silent friends. This time, they were joined by others, as if the dagger kept putting more and more power into its efforts to entice me. They stood arranged behind Lord Celebrach like ghostly bodyguards, only way more threatening. I was sickened by what they represented and turned my eyes resolutely away from them.
“That is excellent news.” Celebrach glanced my way, some of the fury leaving his face.
So, crisis averted? For the moment, it seemed—but now I was left with a new dilemma. How long had passed since we left the Spring pavilion? The starbright I had used would keep Lord Nox in a suspended, death-like state, but not forever. How long did I have? Five minutes? Ten? It all depended on the dosage, but of course I hadn’t measured anything accurately. Nor did I know how much of the poisoned wine he’d actually drunk. For all I knew, he was already up and walking around as if nothing had happened. The sooner we were all out of here the better. But how to evade Celebrach and make my escape with Ash now?
“We should move to the rendezvous point,” I said. “Evandir and Atinna are probably already waiting there for us.”
“Finally, one of you comes to your senses,” Celebrach said. He glared at Ash. “We shall speak more of your behaviour when we return to the Nest. I have no objection to you dallying with your apprentice on your own time, Ashovar. But not when you are working. I thought better of you.”
I glanced at Ash, but his face remained impassive. His father’s censure was hardly likely to cause him any concern.
The shadows moved restlessly, catching my eye again. As we followed Celebrach into the darkness under the trees, the snake-haired woman fell into st
ep beside me. Or as much into step as a being without feet could, I supposed.
“This is your chance.” Her voice whispered in my mind. “He rarely leaves the Nest. We brought him here to you so that he would be vulnerable. Move quickly. His back is unprotected.”
I swiped sideways at her, trying to banish her, but my arm slid harmlessly through her shadowy form. It only billowed and drifted back together. Ash glanced at me curiously but said nothing.
Was it truly that easy? With Ni’ishasana on my side, could I overcome the bonds that were supposed to hold me loyal to the Lord Serpent? Would a knife in the back prove just as fatal to him now as it would to any normal fae?
Part of me itched to find out. With his death, the Vipers would be thrown into disarray. I wouldn’t even need King Rothbold’s mighty magic and all his troops to bring down their hateful organisation. Just one single death would do it. My fingers crept towards the slit on my skirt and lingered on the hilt of the dagger in its sheath.
Could I really do it? Could I really murder someone in cold blood like that? Fired up by Nevith’s death, there’d been no question in my mind that I could, but I’d found my limits since then. And yet … would it really be a murder to rid the world of this poisonous man? More like a goddamn public service.
My fingers closed around the hilt of the dagger, but still I hesitated. If I killed him now, I owed it all to his hateful dagger. What would be the consequences for me? Ni’ishasana expected something in return for its betrayal of its current bearer, something that I was absolutely not prepared to give.
“Do it,” the shadow woman urged. “Hurry, before it’s too late.”
I let my hand fall away from the dagger. There had to be another way. Ash and I could shake the others off somehow. We’d create a different gate, leave them all behind, and go straight to Rothbold, or to Willow’s sith. Anywhere but the Nest of the Night Vipers. My hand was wet with perspiration, and I wiped it surreptitiously on my dress. I just had to create an opportunity to get clear of Celebrach—now, before we ran out of time.
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