Page 21 of Beyond Those Gilded Walls

Tallon confused me still. The other partygoers had looked afraid of him. Zaharya had warned me away from him, and Elena had said his name with a touch of fear in her voice. The mystery around the man only grew.

He hadn’t seemed overly intimidating when I’d observed him from the balcony the night before, but he had been able to somehow see me and speak to me as if he were beside me. A trick of sound and angles, perhaps, or perhaps something more.

Whatever he was, whoever he was, he commanded fear and that put him firmly on the side of the Coward Prince.

My curiosity had already earned me a quiet reprimand from Zaharya, so I would not ask about him again. But I had to learn more. Especially now with the knowledge of the treatment. Perhaps he was the key. If I could get close to him, I could get to the prince undetected and get the treatment for Rhyon.

The bells began to toll, signaling three in the morning and the official end of the party. If the previous night was to be the pattern, the guests would take nearly another hour to completely disperse from the ballroom to wherever else they chose to entertain themselves until the sun rose.

Before long, the others had returned to the kitchen with empty trays and pulled the veils from their heads with heavy sighs and deep frowns.

“Are you feeling better?” Talyssa asked quietly. Her face held true concern, which gave me pause. She waited for my response, eyes wide and earnest.

“I’ll be better tomorrow.” Deflecting the attention off any emotions was the best course of action. “I apologize for letting you all down tonight. It won’t happen again.”

Maricara shoved two bottles of wine into my hands. “Here, then make yourself useful now. You can take these back down to the cellar for tomorrow.”

I clutched the bottles to my chest, standing slowly as I nodded once, though her focus had already shifted to some other task. A maelstrom of emotions was still swirling, my mind still attempting to catalogue all that had happened. Still, I welcomed the escape and the task, though I knew it was meant to be insulting. Gathering my thoughts would be far easier without an audience, and I slipped out of the kitchens to little attention.

I’d only made it down one hallway before I stopped short. The wine cellars were not somewhere I’d gone yet, and I realized I had utterly no idea how to get there. I looked around for the Soulshade cat, hoping that once again it would guide me through the twisting halls of the castle, but there was nothing.

Resigning myself with a heavy sigh, I turned back towards the kitchens. Asking for more help was the last thing I wanted to do, but I was not keen to waste time wandering around the castle, especially not when the party had only so recently dissipated.

My steps slowed as voices filtered out of the kitchens.

“Why did Camelya hire her?” Maricara’s voice was the first one I was able to make out. “She should have been turned away before she even set foot inside this place. She’s going to get us all killed.”

“We needed the help.” Zaharya's voice was drier than I’d heard it thus far. “We cannot afford to be choosy now.”

“She will learn.” Talyssa. “It’s only her second party. We all had much more grace when we started.”

“She was doing rather well before the incident with Tallon,” Elena admitted. “But I will not get my throat slit because she cannot take a hint that someone does not want a drink.”

“We’re lucky the prince was so distracted tonight and was not there yet.” Maricara again. “Otherwise, we might have all been punished for her speaking.”

“Tallon was going to hit her, wasn’t he?” Talyssa’s voice was quiet, but I could still make out the words. I held my breath, waiting for the answer. “He wasn’t just trying to touch her shoulder, was he?”

“Of course he was going to hit her, Talyssa. Don’t be naive.”

“Like Talyssa said,” Zaharya interrupted. “It’s only her first night serving. She was doing well before this. She just needs to be more careful. We all need to be more careful.”

“I will not be killed because of her.” Maricara’s voice was venom. “I need to stay alive for my daughter.”

“We all need to stay alive, Maricara. She will learn. Or she will die. It’s how it’s always been.”

Murmured agreements sounded from all of them.

My fingers tightened around the neck of the bottles, embarrassed that yet again, I could do nothing right. And that yet again, all I seemed to want was their approval.

Upset with myself, I stalked back down the hallway. I would find the damned cellars on my own, and I would keep my chin high and my shoulders back as I did. Their words burned in my soul, in the gaping pit where my heart used to be. With each step that took me further into the castle depths, my anger grew, festering, throbbing, and replacing any shame as their words echoed in my head.

I’d thought Tallon had been about to strike me as well, yet he had looked confused by my flinching away. This place, these people, confused me. Nothing was making sense, and no one was doing a damn thing to help me understand. Perhaps it was by design.

Hallways turned blurry and my vision tunneled as I kept stomping my path. Before long, I came to a junction, the hallway splitting in front of me and stretching down in long arms to either side. Both choices looked exactly the same, and neither looked like anywhere that would lead to a wine cellar. I was hopelessly lost.

Frustration now took the place of anger and before I could stop myself, before I could remind myself that this castle was not safe for letting out these emotions, I hurtled the wine bottles against the wall in front of me with a cry and watched as the glass shattered.

Wine gurgled out of the remains of the bottles, pooling on the floor and spreading across the stone like blood.

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