Page 40 of Beyond Those Gilded Walls

Another body brushed against my back, not hard enough to truly be considered a glancing blow, just how people might pass by each other in a crowded room. I thought nothing of it, but in combination with my limited vision due to the shroud and the precariously balanced glasses I was holding, though, the movement sent me stumbling.

I maneuvered to keep the movement from jostling the tray further, my eyes fixed only on the glass as it tilted and finally settled. Rhyon’s face was the only thing on my mind—the crowd around me simply did not exist, a sea of faceless bodies.

A large hand wrapped around my wrist and pulled me around hard, sending me tumbling to the floor. The clattering of the tray and the glasses echoed through the ballroom, sending out some preternatural signal to the rest of the party as all conversation and music halted.

My eyes closed as I let my reality sink in for a moment. The letter tucked inside my dress may as well have been torn into shreds. It would never see the outside of this castle now. Rhyon’s last memories of me would be the hateful words slung between us. Emyl would never speak to me again, even if I did somehow make it out of this tomb.

The silence had weighed long enough, and my fate would not be patient much longer. I raised my gaze, meeting that of a fair-haired man with an elegant half-moon mask on and rage blazing in his ice-blue eyes. The silver crown atop his head completed the portrait that sealed my fate.

Prince Eadric had been the one to bump against me.

To his side, Tallon stood, again in his silver half-skull mask, watching me with dull gray eyes and an indifference that made something in my stomach twist.

“Who dares to touch me?” The prince sneered down at me, his visage everything I’d expected and more, opulence and waste personified.

I did not apologize, did not point out that it washewho touched me as I’d been attending to his guests, but I also did not bow my head in submission. Instead, I held his gaze through the veil, daring this Coward Prince to be the devil we all knew him to be.

Cold brushed against my wrist and arm, and Tallon’s eyes narrowed as they flicked down to where I knew the cat would be curled against me.

Prince Eadric’s nostrils flared. “Are you truly so ignorant that you can’t manage towalkwithout failing?”

I bit down on my tongue hard enough to taste blood. Every ounce of willpower I had was thrust towards not speaking and keeping my face a blank and impassive slate. I would not ruin my chances at writing to Emyl by letting my anger get the better of me. I had done nothing wrong, and though the Coward Prince would certainly not see so, I had to hope Camelya would listen to reason.

I saw his hand moving before it reached me, and even though I fought back the flinch, my body was still not prepared for the force he struck me with. The jewels on his ring caught against the fabric of the veil, tearing into it and the skin of my face beneath. Time slowed to a crawl as my head jerked around to the other side.

Blood welled in my mouth and crimson stains spread across the white veil. Beneath it, I watched the stain grow for a heartbeat. Somehow, the blow had lessened my anger—at least, it had extinguished the anger from a raging inferno—one hot enough to melt the silver and gold that peppered this monument to arrogance—into a blistering cold fury, colder than the icy talons of the Soulshades as they clutched at my heart.

I looked up at him beneath the veil, not bothering to raise a hand to wipe the blood away.

His eyes widened, then narrowed, and he moved to strike me again. But Tallon stepped forward, gripping Prince Eadric’s wrist before he could lift his arm once more. He leaned in and murmured something in the prince’s ear. The gray of his eyes was no longer still and the weight of his gaze fell heavily on me even as he whispered to the prince. To his friend.

Prince Eadric leaned back, rocking on his heels as Tallon stepped back to his side. “Well, it seems as if you are new to my service.” Without warning, he bent and grabbed a handful of my hair through the veil, twisting it and yanking at the roots. I bit down hard on my tongue to keep from crying out, making sure I kept my face neutral and my eyes forward. His breath was disgustingly hot and moist against my face, dampening the veil along with the blood he’d spilt. “Do not let this happen again. Or you will learn what it is like to choke on your own blood.”

I already have, I wanted to tell him, but I only looked up at him.

He pushed my head away, wiping his hand on his jacket as he turned, dismissing me entirely. To the room, he bellowed to resume the party, and the musicians began their song anew.

The crowd dispersed, Tallon lingering only slightly before following the prince back into the fray.

Once everyone’s eyes were off me, I pulled myself to my feet, curling my toes in my shoes and tensing my stomach to keep from falling as the dizziness took over. The Soulshade cat curled around my ankle, looking up at me, its normally large yellow eyes and wide black pupils narrowed to slits. The hair was raised on its back, but still it curled around me, trying to comfort me as I found my balance at last.

I felt the eyes of the others, faceless against the backgrounds, as good servants should be. The walk to the ballroom entrance felt like a thousand steps, though I knew it was far less. Crimson dotted my vision, and as soon as I had made my escape from the ballroom and entered the vacant halls, I tugged off the veil, letting it flutter to the floor behind me.

Prince Eadric was not a threat to me. Not anymore. I’d signed my death warrant, and I had absolutely nothing left to lose.

I would tear this castle apart and him with it if I needed to find the treatment and get it to Emyl. The letter in my dress pressed against my skin, reminding me of its presence. Pulling it out, I unfolded it carefully and let my eyes roam over the words, the words that my brothers would never get to see. I’d ruined my chances at that, and I’d have to live with it for eternity. I folded the letter back up and returned it to its place against my skin.

The cold presence of the cat seemed to vibrate, as if it were trying to purr against me as we walked. The oddness of it reminded me yet again that this cat was a Soulshade and had likely met a gruesome end inside these very walls. It filled me with a different kind of anger, the kind that was far more melancholy and sorrowful.

Perhaps I would tear everything and everyone inside this castle apart regardless.

ChapterTwenty-One

By the time I had returned to the small solace of my room, my mind was spinning. Prince Eadric’s blow had been harsh, and the wounds on both my face and shoulder throbbed with each movement, but I was hardly thinking about it. The treatment—I needed to get it now.

As I wiped the blood from the cuts on my face, I knew I could not hold out hope that Rhyon was still alive, no matter how much I wanted to. Perhaps if I had been there to care for him, he might have made it the full seven days before the blood plague took him, but with Emyl caring for him, I had to believe my youngest brother had already passed.

For a moment, I wanted to give up and surrender, leaving Emyl to whatever fate he had designed for himself. The only thing we’d ever seen eye-to-eye on was Rhyon, and all I could see now was Rhyon’s face in my nightmares as he tore into my flesh and his face that day in the kitchen when he’d told me he wished I had died instead.

---