The Dead and the Dusk (The Nightmare Court Book 2)

by Val Saintcrowe

  Absalom stopped tapping his fingers and clenched them into a tight fist.

  Jonas’s jaw twitched.

  “I suppose I could let him out,” said Ciaska, turning on Absalom. “What do you think? Would Lian be a good fit for the play?”

  Absalom only nodded.

  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” said Ciaska, cocking her head to one side, her voice almost tender. “It would be a fitting reward for you for coming up with such a wonderful idea for me, this play. Even if you might be manipulating me a little bit.”

  “I… I swear to you, Exalted One, I didn’t—” Absalom’s voice wasn’t strong.

  “It’s fine.” Ciaska waved him off. “I’ll wake him. It’s probably time, anyway. It’s been decades.”

  “Th-thank you, Exalted One,” murmured Absalom.

  “You’re welcome,” said Ciaska. “Anything for my favorite.”

  * * *

  Nicce started when she heard Eithan’s voice at her ear. “Don’t turn around,” he said. She didn’t. They were in the throne room. It was early the next morning. Everyone had been called out of bed and told to dress, and they’d been gathered here. When they arrived, the crystal was floating in front of the throne. Nicce was horrified at the sight of it. Lian seemed so small and so helpless, and to think that the goddess used her own son as a pawn, it was disgusting.

  Septimus, Jonas, Absalom, and Philo had been lined up directly in front of the crystal. Apparently, Ciaska wanted a front row seat for their reactions when the boy was awakened.

  “She’s not paying attention to me for once,” Eithan said. “She knows my reaction isn’t the same as theirs.”

  “But you care what happens to Lian,” Nicce said softly.

  “I do,” said Eithan. “Of course I do.”

  “But you care about the knights more than the boy?”

  “It’s just… different,” said Eithan. “I don’t know why it is exactly, but it is.”

  Nicce couldn’t help that she’d already scrutinized the boy’s face, trying to determine which of the knights he most resembled. Unfortunately, he seemed to look more like Ciaska than anything. He had her features and coloring.

  “This was smart,” Nicce said. “Getting him out. And now, we’ll attack.”

  “Yes,” said Eithan.

  “How?”

  “Patience,” said Eithan. “We have to make sure we get this right.”

  “You could tell me the plan, you know.”

  “I will.” His hand found hers.

  She let out a little gasp at the press of his cold skin.

  “But we can’t talk about it here,” he murmured. His voice was looser.

  She squeezed his hand lightly.

  “I miss you,” he said hoarsely.

  “Me too,” she breathed. “I think about you.”

  “All I think about is you.”

  She swallowed.

  They were silent for several moments, and she was sensible to nothing except the pressure of his hand on hers.

  Finally, she spoke, her voice light. “You’d best be thinking of other things besides me. You’d best be thinking about the plan.”

  He chuckled, pressing against her. “Well, it’s difficult to stop thinking about you, anyway.”

  She started to turn to look at him.

  And he backed away, dropping her hand. “Careful,” he murmured.

  No one was paying attention to them, but she supposed that if anyone glanced and saw her staring forward, they would think that Eithan was standing near her without her knowledge, that he was taking advantage of Absalom’s absence to further his obsession with her.

  Even still, this was dangerous, the two of them talking this way. “We shouldn’t be doing this,” she whispered.

  “I know,” he whispered back. She heard him let out a shaky breath, and he took two steps away. Now, he was standing a few feet away, and he wasn’t behind her. He was too far away to touch, but he was next to her.

  She could see him out of the corner of her eye. It took everything not to turn to look at him.

  Ciaska entered the throne room, clapping her hands above her head, and everyone in the room turned their attention to her.

  Ciaska climbed up on the dais where her throne sat, and she ran her fingers over the clear slab of crystal. She smiled at the Knights of Midian, and Nicce couldn’t see their expressions, but from how stiffly they all stood there, she could imagine that they weren’t smiling.

  It was awful that Ciaska made this into a spectacle. All of it was awful.

  Ciaska’s voice rang out. “I’m so glad that everyone is here today for this momentous occasion, when my son Lian will be awoken. We’ve all missed him, though I imagine that it’s these knights who’ve missed him the most. Today, I will reveal which of them is actually Lian’s father, and that way, the other three can stop feeling so worried about him.”

  Nicce turned to look at Eithan, shock in her expression. She knew she shouldn’t look at him, but what was this that Ciaska was saying? Nicce could see from the behavior of both Absalom and Jonas that the men both had bonded with Lian, that they loved him. They were willing to put everything on the line to save him. Ripping that bond away in favor of only one of the men seemed cruel.

  Of course, what was Ciaska if not cruel? Did this truly surprise Nicce?

  She turned back before Eithan met her gaze.

  Ciaska started to laugh. “I’m joking. I have no idea who the father is. How could I know? I was screwing all of them, one right after the other most of the time. There’s no way to know.” She put her hand back on the crystal, and where she touched it, the crystal melted into white, silvery light.

  Nicce furrowed her brow. That was odd. It reminded her of the light from the topazes. Of course, this light wasn’t the same. If that light had resembled sunlight, this resembled moonlight.

  She didn’t know anything about the topazes, she realized. Where did they come from? She assumed they came from mines somewhere, but how had the Guild come to have so many of them? She knew it was a certain kind of topaz that contained the power, that not all were imbued, and she’d been taught to tell the difference. It was in the color. The topaz that were magical had a particular hue.

  What was this crystal, and was it similar at all?

  If Ciaska had put the boy inside the crystal, did that mean she’d had the crystal and somehow transported Lian into it, or had she made the crystal around him? And if Ciaska could make a crystal, did that mean that Sullo—or some other god, she supposed—had made the topazes?

  And if gods could make crystals that contained their power, could Nicce also do it with the sunlight in her blood? How would such a thing be possible?

  At the front of the throne room, the crystal melted away, beams of light shooting out of it as it disintegrated.

  Ciaska pulled it down to the floor at one point, so that when the crystal completely disintegrated, Lian was lying on the floor and not floating in the air.

  The little boy began to twitch as the last of the crystal broke up and turned to light. He rolled over onto his side, a moan escaping his lips. Then he vomited all over the dais.

  “Ugh,” said Ciaska, backing away. “I forgot this happens.”

  All of the knights rushed forward to the little boy. Jonas was using his own shirt to wipe at Lian’s mouth. Philo was cradling the boy’s head in his lap. Septimus and Absalom knelt in front of him, and they spoke to him, their voices too soft and too far away for Nicce to make out.

  Lian looked frightened. A tear rolled down his cheek as he struggled to sit up. Then he threw himself into Septimus’s arms.

  Nicce was astonished to see how tightly Septimus hugged the boy. It made tears come to her own eyes.

  Septimus stood up, still holding Lian, who was clinging to the knight’s neck. The other three men stood behind him, all of them giving Lian reassuring pats.

  Ciaska was taking it all in, her arms folded over her chest. She had a sour expr
ession on her face. “I always think this is going to be more fun than it is.”

  She was jealous, Nicce realized. She didn’t like how the knights obviously loved that little boy. They didn’t love her at all, and this made it plain, and that hurt Ciaska. Nicce felt unsettled at the realization. The goddess was a complicated creature. She was cruel and she had no respect for life. She deserved to die. But she was also somewhat pathetic, wasn’t she? Nicce wasn’t going to feel good about killing her.

  She didn’t feel good about any of the killing she’d done, of course, but she had killed in battle, sword to sword. The other fighters had known the risk when they engaged. It was different than this. This wasn’t a fight. It would be… murder.

  “Well, Lian,” said Ciaska, looking the boy over. “Do you have a kiss for your mother?”

  Lian buried his face in Septimus’s neck.

  “Put him down,” Ciaska said.

  Septimus didn’t move.

  “Septimus.” Her mist roared out into the room, growing huge, like a terrible shadow.

  Septimus set Lian down. The boy wobbled on his feet. Absalom came forward and took Lian’s hand. Septimus took the other. Together, the two knights helped Lian approach Ciaska.

  She knelt down and scrutinized the boy’s face, looking at him long and hard, as if she was searching for something there, something she couldn’t seem to find. In the end, she kissed Lian, a quick peck on the forehead, and then she patted his head. She rose to her feet. She scanned the crowd. “Eithan? Where are you?”

  Eithan shot forward, obviously worried Ciaska would see his proximity to Nicce.

  “There you are.” Ciaska saw him. She snapped her fingers. “With me.” She swept out of the room.

  Eithan hurried after her.

  Nicce’s heart squeezed. She drew in a breath and then turned her attention to Lian and the knights. Lian was in Jonas’s arms now, and the other knights were crowded around him. The boy was smiling, and his expression was so joyful, it made the entire throne room seem lighter.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Eithan caught up to Ciaska just outside the doorway to the throne room.

  “Go back and find Maick, would you?” she said. “Have him come along.”

  “Of course, Exalted One,” said Eithan. He went back into the throne room and collected the guard. The other knights were absorbed in Lian, and he was glad the boy was awake. With any luck, that child would never go back into the crystal.

  Maick trudged after him. When they got into the hallway, Ciaska wasn’t there, but Eithan knew better than to think this meant she didn’t still want him.

  He and Maick had a quick discussion and decided to seek her in her chambers first, more out of a bit of pointless optimism than anything else. She was just as likely in one of the torture rooms.

  But they were lucky. She was in her rooms.

  She had a suite of rooms, several sitting rooms and a vast room that contained her bed and various couches and chairs that she’d had customized for her needs and experiments. When they got in there, she was already taking off her clothes. She yanked Maick over and unlaced his trousers. She pulled him onto the bed and lay down, her head facing the foot of the bed as she spread her thighs. “Eithan, come closer,” she said. “How else are we to talk?”

  He hadn’t been looking at her, not really. Her nudity made him uncomfortable. He should be used to it by now, he supposed, but he never got used to it, and that was why she made him look. She enjoyed whatever power she had over him.

  Hopefully, she’d allow him to remain clothed. If she didn’t, it might be unbearable.

  She looked over at Maick. “What are you waiting for? Get up here and fuck me.”

  “Apologies, Exalted One,” said Maick, who came closer knelt between her thighs.

  Eithan looked at the floor.

  “Eithan,” Ciaska snapped.

  He looked at her. She was upside down from from his vantage point. Now, every part of her was bouncing. It was actually a little comedic. He shouldn’t laugh, though. She wouldn’t like that.

  “Has Absalom included you in this play of his?”

  “I think Jonas is the director,” he said.

  Ciaska shut her eyes, moaning a little. “That’s good, Maick. That’s very good.” She opened her eyes and looked at Eithan. “You didn’t answer my question. Are you involved?”

  “Yes, of course,” he said.

  “Good. I want you and Absalom to be done with this tiresome conflict, do you understand? He’ll be occupied with Lian. He won’t have time for women. We both know he only does that to distract himself. You could learn a little from him.”

  “Indeed, Exalted One.”

  Ciaska grunted. “One moment,” she said in a breathless voice, her hand darting between her legs. She shut her eyes, gasping and writhing for a moment and then her whole body tightened and she yipped. Immediately, she relaxed. “Mmm. Good,” she said in a loose voice. She raised her head to look at Maick. “Don’t stop. I want more than one.”

  “Of course, Exalted One,” said Maick.

  “And don’t even think about coming either,” she said to him. “If you come too quickly, I will cut your cock off myself.”

  “Noted, Exalted One,” said Maick.

  Ciaska looked back at Eithan. “Are you going to resist making peace with Absalom?”

  Eithan sighed. “I will not.”

  “I don’t believe you.” She shook her head.

  “Absalom and I have been too close for too long to allow this to come between us,” said Eithan.

  “Exactly,” said Ciaska, who was still bouncing. “So, about the play. Have you read it? I don’t want to, because I want to be surprised.”

  “I think you’ll be very pleased with it, Exalted One.”

  “I hope so.”

  “There is the matter of a rehearsal space,” said Eithan.

  “Rehearse in the throne room,” said Ciaska.

  “Then you’ll see all the rehearsals,” said Eithan. “If you want to be surprised, you should give us a rehearsal space.”

  “Oh, all right, I suppose.” She shut her eyes and let out a breathy moan. “I think I’m getting close again, Maick. Speed up.” She sighed again. “You can use the orange room for rehearsals. It’s quite big enough, I think.”

  “Excellent choice, Exalted One.”

  Ciaska was lost to a few more moans, and then her eyes snapped open. “Lost it. You’re distracting me, Eithan.”

  “Would you like me to leave?”

  “No, no, that’s fine,” she said. “You stay right there.” She gazed at him, and she still bounced, but her lower lip was trembling. “He was afraid of me.”

  Eithan didn’t say anything.

  “Maick, stop,” said Ciaska, lifting her head to look at him.

  Maick did, withdrawing from her.

  “Get out,” she said, waving him off.

  Maick bowed and hurried out of the room.

  Ciaska sat up on the bed, throwing an arm over her breasts. “Why do you think that was, Eithan?”

  He shifted on his feet. “I don’t know what you’re…”

  “Lian.” Her face twisted. “Why was he afraid?”

  “I thought you wanted him to be afraid of you,” Eithan said quietly.

  She considered. “Yes, to a point, I suppose. It just… it didn’t feel good. It felt sort of bad, and I thought that if I came to a climax, it would make it better, but it didn’t. It isn’t better. Can you make it better?”

  His lips parted, and he was silent.

  “You’re useless sometimes.” She flopped back on the bed. “Most of the time, in fact. You’re have your strengths, Eithan, but you have a lot of glaring defects.”

  “Apologies, Exalted One.”

  She rolled over onto her side, picking at the coverlet on her bed. “Do you ever wish he was yours?”

  He swallowed.

  She turned her gaze on him, expectant.

  “Sometimes,
” he said. He wasn’t lying. Having a child, it wasn’t an unappealing idea. But the situation with Ciaska was monstrous. He couldn’t say it was something he wished for.

  “I do too,” she said. “Maybe it would be different if he was. Maybe if we had something together, you know? Maybe that was why I didn’t feel what Sullo felt, because of the way Lian was conceived.”

  “Maybe…” He cleared his throat. “Maybe you’re asking too much of yourself, Exalted One. You obviously do care about the boy. Perhaps that can be enough. Don’t think too much on it.”

  She looked up at him, surprised. “Do you really think that?”

  “Of course.”

  She smiled a small smile. “Well, maybe you’re right. Maybe it is enough.” She rolled back onto her back. “You can go. Find Maick on your way out, though, and tell him to come back and finish the job.”

  * * *

  Xenia had been badly affected by the little boy in the crystal in the throne room. It had stirred things within her, and when she understood the story of it all, that Ciaska kept her own child locked up in that cold slab, she hadn’t even know what emotions she felt.

  It was a mixture of rage and sadness and helplessness.

  She’d retired to her room and lay on her bed, and she’d sobbed, thinking of Pati, and thinking of how long it had been since she’d seen her daughter, and wondering if she’d ever see her again. She hated herself for not having tried to leave, not even having tried.

  She didn’t know how to get past the guards, it was true, but maybe there was another way out of the palace. Maybe she could go to the lower levels. There was supposedly a dungeon underground. Maybe she could tunnel out from beneath the walls. Maybe—

  A soft knock on her door.

  What if it was Nicce again? Maybe Nicce had changed her mind, had been moved by the little boy as well, and she was going to help Xenia.

  Xenia got up, wiping at her eyes, and went across the room to open the door.

  It was Revel. “Are you all right?”

  Xenia didn’t want to see Revel right now. Revel made her feel guilty. She was the badge of all of her failures.

  But Revel pushed through the door and wrapped her arms around Xenia.

  It broke something inside Xenia and she burst into fresh sobs, clinging to the other woman, burying her face against Revel’s dress.