Page 57 of Beyond Those Gilded Walls

“You’re staring at me,” he said, still facing away from me. “I assumed you had a question.”

I had many questions, but I couldn’t bring myself to voice any of them. Irritation sprang up suddenly, prickling hot against my cheeks. Tallon’s games were never ending, and despite my best efforts to rise to his challenges, he was sweeping me away and he knew it. Yet I continued to fall for the bait. I snatched the gloves from the bed. “You can turn around now.”

He stood and faced me in one smooth motion before I even had finished speaking, his eyes roving over my body before narrowing in on the black lace gloves I was pulling on. “Why do you wear those?”

Surprise halted my movements. Of all the things for him to ask, that certainly had not been one I’d expected. I searched his face for any signs this was a test or another part of his games, but found only genuine curiosity and a touch of anger. Slowly, I continued pulling on the glove. “I was told my marks would offend Prince Eadric and his guests and was instructed to keep them covered during the parties. Between the gloves and my hair and the veils, and the darkness in the ballroom, they blend in well enough to be missed.”

He hummed but didn’t reply immediately, watching carefully as I pulled on the other glove and picked up the veil. He nodded at the gauzy fabric and crossed his arms over his chest, pulling the maroon silk even tighter across his shoulders. “I despise those things.”

I could not read his expression now. A careful answer was best. “I imagine anyone would.”

Another hum, but he stayed still, arms crossed and feet apart as he stared at me. “Ask what you wanted to ask, Odyssa. You do not have to bite your tongue around me. Not when we are alone.”

I only had a moment to decide if I wanted to fall deep into the well of anger or stay afloat atop the sea of incredulity. Choosing the latter, I let out a soft huff and raised an eyebrow. “That does not mean you will answer the question, Tallon.”

The smile that stole across his face was bright and wide, and I knew I’d passed some sort of test. “Of course not, but you can ask it regardless.”

Tugging my bottom lip between my teeth, I considered what I wanted to ask. I had a plethora, beginning and ending with the treatment and my brothers, but I hesitated as I considered it. The evasion, the secrets, the lies… they were wearing on me. If I asked again for the third time, would he tell me? I wanted an answer, for once. The truth. And I wanted the conversation to continue, and any questions about our bargain would likely end it.

As with Sylviana, who was stretched out across the bed still, watching us, when Tallon was not being an arrogant prick—and perhaps even when he was—his presence made me feel less lonely.

“How do you know the prince? You seem quite close.” Itwassomething I’d wanted to ask, and perhaps the answer, if he even deigned to give one, would be helpful in getting the treatment myself once I’d figured out a way to get back to the prince’s quarters without Tallon’s knowledge.

He tilted his head. “That is not what you originally wanted to ask me, but I’ll allow it.” He walked slowly to the bed, settling down on the corner of it. “I admit, I am not here at Prince Eadric’s behest. I was acquainted more with his father and we had business together occasionally. I was staying in the castle to complete a job for him when he died. After he passed, Prince Eadric invited me to remain in the castle.” An indifferent shrug. “I had no other plans and nothing more intriguing to attend to, so I stayed.”

It took a moment for the words to settle in my mind. And then the well of anger I’d avoided earlier swallowed me whole. “‘Nothing more intriguing?’ You say it as if this plague is nothing more than dinnertime entertainment. As if families aren’t being torn apart and the stench of death hasn’t settled into the land’s very bones.”

His eyes flashed. “I do not know these people, Odyssa. Nor do I owe them my grief or reverence for dying. Death is a part of life, and you must learn to embrace its inevitability before your own grief tears you apart.”

I felt sick to my stomach. “You are so callous. Your humanity?—”

He barked out a laugh. “Humanity? Humanity has given menothing.It has given younothing. There was no humanity in Veressia long before this plague descended, and there will be no humanity after it is gone. I have waited,beggedfor humanity to show its face in this city, and yet here we are.”

There was truth in his words, but they stung like a slap to the face all the same. “Humanity is what you give to others, not what is given to you. Your indifference will damn you, and I cannot wait to see it.”

Boots echoed in the room, and then he was in front of me. “How do you know I am not already damned, little wolf? How do you knowyouare not already damned?”

“Do you even care that my brother might be dead?” I asked, my voice cracking with unshed tears born of anger more than grief. It made the anger grow, frustrated with myself and how my emotions had been so twisted since coming to the castle. “Did you even take the letter to them?”

“Why do you care more for their lives than your own?” His voice was softer, despite the tension still in his jaw and forehead.

“Did you take the letter?” My words were spat through gritted teeth. My life was forfeit the moment I stepped through the gilded iron gates, but I could still appease my mother’s last wish.

Like a curtain snapping shut, Tallon’s mask was on once more. Not the skull mask that sat beside the chair he’d occupied, but the one that dulled his eyes and yanked any emotion from him. “I told you I would. I did.”

“Well?”

He shook his head, stepping away and moving back to the chair where he pulled his coat on and fastened the mask around his head, settling it into place across his face. “Anything I tell you now, you will not believe. We’ll discuss this later.”

The bells tolled, signaling I was already late to the kitchens. Narrowing my eyes at him, I clutched the veil in my hands and ran from the room, letting the door slam into the wall behind me as I left. He could lock it behind him when he left. There was nothing polite I could say to him now.

ChapterTwenty-Eight

Iswept into the kitchens only minutes later than I should have, out of breath and sweaty. Zaharya was the only one to look up, looking at me for half a moment before sliding the tray she’d just filled across the counter.

Elena and Maricara were finishing their own trays, huddled together with their backs to us. I focused on taking deep breaths through my nose and filled the second tray Zaharya had set out. The plague had left my lungs weak, and it took far longer than I appreciated for my breathing to steady back out. By the time it had, the sun had settled behind the mountains for the evening and it was time for us to start our work.

I furrowed my brow and looked around, but there was no sign of Talyssa. Arranging the shroud and picking up my tray, I leaned in to Zaharya as we followed Elena and Maricara out of the kitchens. “Is Talyssa alright? Has someone checked on her?”

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