Page 33 of Beyond Those Gilded Walls

I shut the doors and pulled the curtains tightly closed, drenching the room once more in darkness.

The memory of my mother’s body clung to my mind. The memory of cleaning her limp body, knowing she would never open her eyes again. I desperately tried to think of anything else, trying to recall the ballroom from the night before, what the decor looked like and what outfits people wore, but nothing would stick, nothing would drive that image out.

Despite the parting words between Emyl and me, that experience was something I would never wish on anyone. I did not want him to have to clean and wrap Rhyon’s little body, to have to take our baby brother to the crematorium and get him back in a jar.

My mother had asked me to protect my brothers, to care for them, and I had done nothing but fail since her body had been taken. I had thought I would havetimeto find a solution, to be able to settle and integrate into the castle before tearing it apart brick by brick beneath everyone’s noses.

But fate was fickle, and death was cruel. Rhyon had no time.

Pulling on my shoes, I left my room. I would find the secrets this castle held, where the prince held the treatment, if I had to pull it out of the walls myself. Zaharya had said I would not be willing to pay the price, but she did not know me. She did not know how much I was willing to sacrifice for those I loved.

I had already danced with death. I did not fear it.

The infirmary Zaharya mentioned, the one we were not welcome to, seemed like the most logical place to keep a cure to me. But yet, if the prince hoarded it like he did everything else, perhaps it would be best to start my search in his tower. Indecision had my steps faltering at the junction in the hallway.

Voices echoed loudly down the halls before I could decide, and I jerked back into an alcove. Whoever it was would be in the hall in seconds, and it was too long of an empty stretch to escape unseen. My heart thumped wildly in my chest, and for a moment, I feared whoever was coming would be able to hear it. Pressing my hand over my mouth, I pushed back into the wall, pressing myself as far into the shadows as possible as footsteps sounded across the stone floors. It sounded like they were already here, but the footsteps still came ever closer.

Sweat beaded on my upper lip, that cold sweat that always came at the most inopportune of times and rolled down into the corner of your mouth, salty and dank.

The footsteps slowed to a stop as they neared the alcove, yet no one had passed. Bile burned at the back of my throat. I tucked my elbows into my ribs, biting down on my lip as the movement tugged at the wounds in my shoulder.

“What is it?”

A deep voice hummed. Two more steps sounded, louder than ever before, and I stopped breathing entirely.

They retreated. “I thought I heard something.”

My eyes widened at the familiar voice, and I had to tense every muscle in my body to keep from jerking. Of course Tallon was here, of course he would be the one to find me. I didn’t dare look, but likely the Soulshade cat was nearby, telling him exactly where I was. Now, the only question was if he would reveal me to whoever he was with. It was a male voice, for certain, but not one I recognized. Not that I would have been able to recognize anyone at this point. But Tallon’s voice was unmistakable, rich and dark.

“No one isawake, Tallon. It was likely just the castle.” An amused huff came from Tallon’s companion. “By all means, please investigate, though. You know it loves when you poke around where you shouldn’t be.”

There was no response from Tallon, but the footsteps started up again and finally they passed. Tallon never turned his head into the alcove, and neither did his companion who was hidden by Tallon’s tall frame, but the smirk that lifted the corner of his mouth as he passed told me everything I needed to know. He knew I was here.

Only once the footsteps had faded and they had to be nearing the end of the hall did I let loose my breath, sucking down air and lowering my shaking hand away from my mouth.

My thighs wavered and I clutched on to the rough stone at my back to keep upright. It seemed my journey into the castle was finished for the night. Now that Tallon knew I was out, I doubted very much that he would let me continue. Once he was finished with whatever he was doing, he would seek me out. And I did not want to be sought by him.

Ash and smoke exploded on my tongue, making me gag with the thickness of the sudden taste. I barely had time to swallow back the burning and bitter taste when an icy finger trailed down the side of my neck.

Flinching away from the wall at my back, I stumbled out of the alcove, tripping over my own feet and falling to the ground, biting my cheek to stifle the cry. Tallon and his companion were not that far away yet that they would not hear me. My eyes darted to the side, trying to see if they had returned, but I kept my head forward, focused on the Soulshade emerging from the stone I’d just been pressed against.

As it solidified, it took the shape of a woman, but instead of coming after me like the others had, she tilted her head and stared. Her mouth opened and her lips moved, but no sound came out. She stopped talking abruptly and frowned, tilting her head the other way.

Slowly, as she watched me and I watched her, I picked myself back up from the floor. Her dress was similar to the ones we wore beneath the shrouds, thin-strapped and silky, sheathing from breastbone to ankle. Long hair flowed down to her hips. But it was her neck that caught my eye. A wide gash, nearly from ear to ear, took up her entire throat.

My eyes widened as I pieced together what was happening. Biting down on my tongue to keep from speaking, I slowly backed away. I wanted to ask her, to ask her who had slit her throat. But in the depths of my pounding heart and the roiling pit of my stomach, I knew the answer.

With jerky movements, she slowly reached out towards me. My body was screaming at me to run, the wounds on both my hand and my shoulder throbbing in time with my racing heart. But every fiber of my being wanted to see what would happen, what she wanted.

Her mouth opened and then with a quickness I hadn’t been expecting, she rushed towards me, and as she made contact, a burning cold washed over me. Gasping, I stumbled back further into the hallway, clutching at my chest where the icy sting had settled.

In a flash, my vision turned white and a feeling of bone-deep fear petrified me where I stood. Anger, sorrow, fear all coursed through me on rotation, changing one after the other rapidly enough to make me dizzy. Brief glimpses of memories that were not mine, from places I’d never been and people I’d never met, ran through my mind.

I felt my body, was aware of someone coming up behind me, but I could do nothing. My movements were not mine to control. My body was not mine.

Firm hands wrapped around my waist from behind. “Get out of her. Now.”

The ice writhed beneath my skin, vibrating beneath the flesh and thrumming up into my throat. I gagged and retched as it crawled up further, burning at the base of my tongue as the familiar emotions yet unfamiliar memories cycled through my mind again and again, faster now.

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