Page 38 of Beyond Those Gilded Walls

Wind whistled through the partially open window.

“Return to your duties, Odyssa. See to it that you don’t mess up again.” This time, she turned fully away, hands clasped in front of her.

Escape could not come quick enough, and I left the room behind, intent on returning to my room. The others could clean up the party themselves. After all, if some of them had their way, they would be without help again soon enough.

Turning the corner towards the stairway, I stopped short at the sight of Tallon leaning against the wall. His shoulder pressed against the stone, his body tilted at an angle and one ankle crossed over the other. He lifted his head when he heard me, the skull mask firmly in place across his jaw. Still in his costume, it seemed.

Neither of us moved, intent on waiting the other out.

Slowly, so slowly, he reached up and unfastened the mask behind his head with one hand, letting it fall to dangle in his fingers by the strap. “What did you see that made you drop the glass?”

He may have removed the physical mask, but the dull gray in his eyes and the tightness in his brow revealed he was still in his persona of Tallon, the prince’s companion. I raised an eyebrow, the most defiance I could risk in the public view of the hall, still so close to the end of the ball. “Grief, my lord. It was merely my own grief.”

His eyes narrowed. Powerful muscles carried him off the wall and into my personal space. Fingers traced up from my wrist to my inner elbow. His voice was hushed, words meant only for me. “What did she say to you in that room, Odyssa?”

Despite the shivers that erupted on my arm where he touched me, and the heat that flared at the base of my spine, I stepped away. “Nothing out of step, my lord. A reminder of what is at stake should I cause problems again.”

“And what exactly is at stake for you?”

“Besides my own life, you mean?”

“Do not concern yourself with that,” he said, stepping back up into my space and twisting a piece of my hair around his finger loosely, letting it fall away. The gray of his eyes swirled, no longer flat and dull as before. He tucked the hair behind my ear, fingers trailing down my neck along the marks. “No harm will come to you under my watch.”

I scoffed, pulling my shoulder back to force his hand away. “Pity you cannot be constantly watching me, then.” Twice now, I had been physically injured in this castle. Twice now, I had been run through by a Soulshade, subjected to the cold burning sensation of whatever they had done to me. The latter incidents had both happened in his presence, under his watch.

“Odyssa—”

“Why do you care, Tallon?”

He stopped short, narrowing his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Why do you care if I am harmed or not? You do not interact with any of the others, and you’ve said yourself that everyone fears you. Why concern yourself with me?”

I did not expect him to answer. I expected more diversion, more avoidance, but he surprised me yet again. “I told you before, you are not what I was expecting. And it intrigues me.”

Somehow, the answer made me even angrier. I curled my fingers into the silk of my dress at my hips. “You do not need to feel responsible for me, my lord. I can take care of myself.”

I spun on my heel and left, intent on finding another path back to my room that did not involve Tallon. Intriguing, he said. And once he’d figured me out, I would be tossed aside and left to the whims of the castle along with the others. If I survived that long.

Cold brushed against my ankle, the gruesome cat arching its back and stretching up to rub its head against my knee while still keeping step with me. Its tail curled around my calf and then it sped up, keeping a step in front of me.

A smile curled on my lips, and I followed the unnatural creature through the castle.

ChapterTwenty

The cat lounged on my bed the rest of the night, though sleep was reluctant yet again to claim me. The cat was a small comfort, but it was a comfort I hadn’t known I needed. It had no weight to it as it stretched across my legs and feet, but its wide yellow eyes and the too-cold patch of air reminded me of its presence. I hadn’t realized how alone I was, even in a house with my mother and brothers, even knowing I was on my own here in this castle. I hadn’t truly understood the depths of my isolation until this oddly shaped, once-black Soulshade cat had appeared at my side.

I did not even care that it was likely under Tallon’s control or influence.

In another life, I would have cried, would have raged and thrown things and cursed at the sky until I was exhausted and calm. But now, some of the fight had bled from me, had been leeched out by grief and further stamped down by imposed responsibility I had not wanted, had not asked for. My fingers found my temples, rubbing circles to try to ease the unfettered tension that had been building there all night.

My eyes caught the unfinished letter to Emyl on the desk and I faltered, lowering my hands slowly.

The cat lifted its head, peering at me from where it lay across my shins.

I had not asked for the responsibility of caring for my family, yet I’d taken it on anyways. And perhaps that was the nature of responsibility: taking on something you do not want, yet knew you must. I’d made excuses for Emyl all his life, trying to take what little responsibility he had off his shoulders and onto mine. It had not been fair to either of us, and now Emyl would have to bear the responsibility of Rhyon’s death alone.

My first instinct was to rush to the letter and apologize for failing him, for letting him evade his own growing up and leaving him so selfish. But it was far too late for that, and I suspected he was still basking in his anger. Still, I did not want the last words spoken as I left the house that morning to be the last words we ever spoke to each other. I rose from the bed and settled into the chair to finish writing the letter.

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