Page 10 of Beyond Those Gilded Walls

As he stroked his chin, he let out a hum. “No, no, it shouldn’t be any issue. There are other survivors on the staff.” He clapped his hands once more, and I could not stop the flinch that time. “Let’s be off then.”

From the shadows on either side of the table, two guards stepped out, flanking us as the man turned sharply on his heel and made way for the back entrance of the pub. No more words were uttered as I followed them out of the pub and back into the streets of the city.

Each step through the winding streets was like a knife in my stomach. A reminder that I had failed at the one thing my mother asked of me. I couldn’t dream of protecting my brothers while I was sequestered inside the dark hold of Castle Auretras. Maybe, if luck was on my side, I would be able to see our home from one of the windows. But I’d not been in the graces of fate thus far in my life, so expecting that to change was for naught.

I was alone. At least they had each other.

I could only hope Mother would forgive me. That somewhere in the afterlife, she would see that this was my only choice, and she would approve. If ever there was a time for a Soulshade to appear, I wanted it to be now, and I wanted it to be my mother. It was selfish, but I did not care.

Running into the back of the pageboy was my only clue that he had stopped.

“Do not speak unless spoken to. Do not make eye contact with anyone.” He paused and looked me over head to toe. “Do you understand?”

I nodded. As he turned back around, I fortified the walls around my heart, around my mind, around my soul. Brick by brick, I sealed off my emotions, letting myself turn into a mere statue of a person, one unaffected by anything. Emotionless. Blank.

My mother had always told me that my forced apathy wasn’t the solution to my consuming anger. One extreme was not the solution to another, and that for someone who felt everything so strongly, I would only be making things worse when those emotions finally broke through. She’d said I needed to find balance if I was to thrive in this world.

But my mother was gone, and this was all I had. This was my only weapon in this battle.

It would keep me alive.

ChapterSix

The gates in front of me stood tall, laden with twisted wrought-iron bars that spanned the vertical length. At the tops and bottoms, sharp and glittering gilded spires thrust up towards the heavy iron bar that stretched across it. The guards heaved the bar up, and those immaculately gilded gates opened with a silence that shouldn’t have been possible. The pageboy bowed, stretching his arm to invite me inside first.

“What have you brought me, Corbyn?” Pin-straight lengths of dark hair fell to frame the softly rounded face of the woman who crowded us before we could even step entirely through the gate. She reached forward and grabbed my chin, her long fingernails digging into the skin. I kept my eyes down and let her move my head from side to side.

She tipped my head back and tutted, pushing my face away rather than just releasing it. My stomach flipped, churning as I tried to keep from cowering in the face of that disappointed tone.

“She’s marked. Visibly and far more than any of the others have been. What am I supposed to do with this? They’ll think she’s bad luck.” She pointed her finger at me. “You. Take off your cloak.”

“She can still work, Camelya,” replied the man who’d brought me here. He did not look like a Corbyn to me; he carried himself too highly to have such a common name. “That was my instruction.”

“See if he’ll ever let you out again,” she muttered. The woman snapped her fingers at me. “Off, girl.”

I followed Camelya’s instructions, counting the stone pavers at her feet as I undid the button at my throat to keep from looking up and meeting her eye. I was too slow, apparently, and she ripped the cloak from my hands and shoved my hair off my neck. She hummed as she inspected me, reaching out to yank my sleeves up and my neckline down.

She pushed the cloak back into my hands. “Disgusting marks, they are. But I suppose we will find a way to cover them. Your veil should do most of it. And perhaps we can get you gloves.” She hummed again, and I could hear her nails clicking on her teeth as she tapped them. My blood simmered in my veins, but I forced myself to let her words slide off me like water over oil. Nothing she could say would hurt me. “You’ll do. What’s your name, girl?”

“Odyssa.” The unsaid words, the ones protesting being calledgirl,sat heavy on my tongue, though if one cared to listen closely enough, they could hear it in my voice. Neither Camelya nor Corbyn cared enough. This was my chance to save my brothers, and my temper would not ruin things for them. For me.

“You’ll do,” she repeated.

I knew better than to ask what I would dofor.

Her hand wrapped around my wrist, the delicate bones shifting beneath her tight grip as she hauled me down a corridor and further into the castle. I grimaced, but managed to catch any noise before it could escape.

Behind me, I heard the gates slam shut and the bars descend across them, sealing it once more. I’d thought my home was a tomb, but it was nothing compared to this. Castle Auretras would be my grave, and those jutting spires my headstone. I was sure of it.

My fool of a brother had just signed all three of our death notices. But at least we would be with our mother again soon.

I was ushered through hall after hall, winding deeper into the depths of the castle with every step. Stone walls arched around me, and even these insignificant basement halls were adorned with more wealth than I could have hoped to see in my lifetime. A feeling I couldn’t put a name on rose up from the pit of my stomach, oily and hot as it curled around my spine and simmered in the back of my throat.

Each gilded frame, each alcove table groaning under the weight of fresh flowers, golden candlestick holders, and heavy iron sculptures, every symbol of wealth the woman herded me past was a reminder. He who elected to waste money decorating a musty corner in some forgotten hallway was the same as he who sat idle as his kingdom transformed into a charnel ground.

I would not forget why I was here. I could not afford to.

Thunder boomed in the distance, rattling a vase on the table as we passed. Something flickered in the corner of my eye beneath the table, a shadow that was there and then gone before I’d truly had a chance to see it. Nonetheless, it sent chills down my spine and raised the hairs on my arms. The taste of smoke was absent, but I could feel someone watching me despite no one else being in the hall.

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