Page 41 of Beyond Those Gilded Walls

If Rhyon was dead, there was no use in going on with this plan.

That thought had only lingered for a moment before the voice of my mother had shaken it from my mind. “You will protect your brothers, Odyssa,” she’d have said. “Both of them.”

And whatever gods had brought down the curse of the blood plague had also made it so my greatest fear was disappointing my mother. It had never been easy to win her approval, and I’d sought it wherever and whenever I could. Now was no different and, even trapped here in this living catacomb, I wanted to please her.

The voice that sounded like my mother reminded me that Rhyon might not be dead yet, as well. Giving up now would certainly ensure he would be, though.

I pushed my fingers through my hair, clasping my hands at the back of my head and letting out a heavy breath. My next step was clear: I needed to get to the prince’s quarters and find the treatment. Tonight, while there was still a chance that I could get it to Rhyon in time.

The cat jumped onto the bed and stretched out long, nearly taking up the full expanse of the bed. Those wide yellow eyes peered at me, unblinking and waiting patiently for me.

“I suppose you’ll tell me this is foolish,” I said, sitting down on the edge of the bedspread. My hand wavered over its head, instinct pushing me to pet the creature. I pulled my hand back to my lap. “I don’t suppose asking you to keep from alerting Tallon of this will do me any good, will it?”

It blinked at me.

The soul-deep weariness pulled another sigh from my lips. “As I thought.”

I lingered on the bed a moment longer, but I could delay no more. If I wanted to infiltrate the rooms before Prince Eadric retired for the day, I needed to go now. Again, only hope was my companion.

The silver slip of a dress I wore beneath the veil would stand out in the dark stone halls of the castle, but changing into a different dress required far more energy than I could muster. I settled for pulling on a robe of black silk that hung in the closet, a luxury I’d thus far been avoiding. Belting it around my waist, I set out from my room and in the direction I assumed the prince’s quarters would be: in the belly of the largest tower.

Music still echoed faintly in the halls as I set out, winding through the passageways with a confidence I could barely summon. I passed no one, all of them likely still in the ballroom and drowning in the fountains of gluttony and greed furnished by Prince Eadric.

Finally, I was at the base of the stairs to the tower, and without a doubt, it would lead to the prince’s rooms. The doors in front were the most ornate I’d seen yet, flanked on either side by towering candelabras and fresh flowers that made my nose itch with their heavy perfume. I could think of no one else that would boast such wasteful beauty in front of a stairwell.

My journey saw no Soulshades, no burst of ash across my tongue or ringing in my ears. The cat had accompanied me, a shadow at my side, but nothing else had been amiss. Perhaps that should have been an omen.

I’d only just reached for the door handle when a large hand and arm wrapped around my waist from behind, another settling over my mouth and nose, and then I was being lifted, carried away from the door.

I kicked and thrashed, hands going to claw at those holding me, but it did no good. The grip did not falter. My heart pounded in my ears, faint dizziness following the blood rushing through my body.

“Stop struggling, Odyssa,” my captor hissed in my ear. “Or I will throw you over my shoulder.”

Tallon.

The threat made me stop thrashing and kicking, but I would never stop struggling. The portrait of calm, I allowed myself to be carried down another hallway. Halfway down it, another alcove shot off to the side, this one with cushioned benches as well as a table. He set me down, keeping his hand over my mouth as he spun me around to face him.

Still in his outfit from the party, still in his mask, he looked every bit Prince Eadric’s right hand. Except for his eyes, alight as they were. “If I remove my hand, will you let me speak first?”

I narrowed my eyes and gave no indication of my inclination one way or the other.

“As I thought.” His hand remained over my mouth, firmly and yet intentionally careful so as not to press down on the cuts across my face, and his other hand went to my lower back to keep me from backing away, just as I had moved to do exactly that. My skin burned where he touched me, even through both my dress and robe. “Do you truly have a death wish, Odyssa? What are you doing here?”

Though I wanted to kick at him again, I raised an eyebrow as I pointedly looked down at his hand.

I’d expected suspicion to cross over his face, to narrow his eyes and for him to refuse, but what was there in his eyes was something far different. Almost concern, curiosity perhaps. He lowered his hand, though he kept it hovering in the space beneath my chin, ready to move back up in an instant. He raised a brow at me, nodding to prod me to answer his questions.

“Are you asking as Tallon, or as the prince’s advisor, my lord?”

The hand that had been lingering beneath my chin moved to rest against my unmarred cheek, and the one on my back pulled me closer until we were flush against each other. My heart sped and I gasped before I could swallow it back. Heat spread up my neck and chest.

His fingers traced over the swell of my cheek before splaying wide, his thumb under my jaw. “Were I asking as the prince’s advisor, little wolf, I would not be asking at all.”

“And if I do have a death wish?” I asked. My thoughts were a tangle; all I could focus on were the two blazing points of his hands on me and the way our bodies fit together. My mouth was too dry, I was too warm, and yet all I could do was meet his gaze through the skull mask. I wanted to remove it. “What would you do, then?”

“I would advise you it would be far more difficult than you might think, though I suspect you would give it a valiant effort.” He leaned down slightly, eyes flicking to my mouth and then lower, where I knew the robe did nothing to conceal the indecent neckline of the dress and the space between my breasts. His words were a whisper across my nose and cheeks, soothing the stinging that still radiated from the cuts on my face. “Now, what were you doing here?”

Leaning up on my toes, our lips were a breath apart and brushed ever so slightly together as I spoke. “No business of yours, my lord.”

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