Page 60 of Beyond Those Gilded Walls

“Come,” Zaharya murmured, tugging me by the hand until my feet understood her intention and followed her. She tucked a tray beneath her arm. “You need a moment. Webothneed a moment.”

I let Zaharya guide me from the ballroom. Tallon remained by the prince’s side on the stage, but I felt his eyes on me still, heavy and watching me all the way until I turned the corner and entered the hall that would lead us back to the kitchens.

Zaharya pushed me into a chair in the kitchens, setting the tray down and nearly collapsing into the chair beside mine. Neither of us spoke. I wasn’t sure I could have found the right words if I’d wanted to, despite questions flying through my mind. My hands shook where they rested in my lap.

“Are you well enough to continue working?” Zaharya finally asked after what felt like hours but could have been only minutes.

She squeezed my hand when I did not answer immediately, and I tore my gaze from the table. My voice was like I’d swallowed glass. “Yes.” I cleared my throat, swallowing past the sour taste of shame and horror. “I can work.”

Standing, she rested her hand on my shoulder. “I am sorry this is how you had to discover his truth.”

Her words pulled the haze from my eyes and I looked up at her. “Why did you not just tell me from the beginning?”

“You wouldn’t have believed me,” she said. I saw the soft smile beneath the veil. “They never do, until they see it.”

“What…” I trailed off, not really knowing what I was going to ask, or if I truly wanted an answer to it at all. I shook my head.

“I’d suggest staying away from him tonight, if you can.”

“Why?” It wasn’t argumentative; I agreed with her, after all. I wanted to know her reasoning, though.

“If Prince Eadric learns how close you two have gotten, he may order Tallon to do the same to you,” she said quietly. “I’d prefer not to watch another one of us die like that.”

“What will happen to her body?” I asked, again not really wanting to know the answer, but I couldn’t bear the thought of her being left on that stage all night or of her being tossed aside like garbage.

“I told you, the walls are hungry. The castle will take her.”

My thumb found its way to the still-healing wound in my hand. Yes, they were. Taking a deep breath that shuddered its way through my lungs, I stood. “They’ll be missing us soon. We should return.”

“Stay close tonight, please. I’ve seen how Tallon watches you. Tonight is not a night for any mistakes, Odyssa.”

I nodded my agreement and once more, we gathered our things, new trays filled with food and drink, and returned to the ballroom.

Talyssa’s body was no longer on the stage, and for a moment, I thought perhaps I’d imagined the whole thing, given how the party had resumed and those in attendance were acting as if nothing had happened. But as the crowd flitted about, I saw the pool of blood still shining on the onyx floors, and I knew it hadn’t been in my head.

I kept my eyes off the stage as I worked, trying to keep my mind present and not wander. Every time I slipped up, every time I closed my eyes to regain a sense of control, red filled my vision. Sometimes it was Talyssa’s body, but others it was Talyssa’s face on my mother’s body, in my mother’s bed, and sometimes it was my mother on that stage.

Only a few moments had passed before I felt the heavy gaze on my back return. Tallon was watching me again, and I wanted to be angry at him, but nothing flared in my chest. The pit in my soul was empty, hollow of all things, even a deserved rage. Despite my lack of anger—my lack of any emotion— I refused to acknowledge his gaze and refused to let my own eyes wander in his direction.

Every time my mind conjured up Talyssa or my mother in their last moments, Tallon was now there. He’d caused Talyssa’s death, caused her to die choking on her own blood just as my mother had, just as I almost had. Seven minutes instead of seven days hardly made a difference, and Tallon could control it. I wanted to vomit, to scrub my skin until it was raw and pink and had no trace of his touch on it, but just like the rage, nothing would come beyond utter apathy. So instead I hurled myself into my work.

The night faded quickly around me, and soon, the party was over. Elena and Maricara had quietly offered to clean up the ballroom, though Zaharya assured me they would not have to clean up Talyssa’s blood. Following Zaharya to the kitchen, I froze as the taste of ash burst across my tongue.

The clattering of the tray falling to the floor echoed in my ears as Talyssa’s Soulshade appeared in the corner she always preferred.

I lunged to the trash bin as I ripped at my veil and then promptly vomited.

Zaharya rushed to my side, and by the time I’d stopped, I was panting, eyes and throat stinging.

“What happened?” she asked, her eyes fixed on the corner. Talyssa’s Soulshade was gone, and I hated that I was grateful for it.

I couldn’t bring myself to tell her, so I shook my head. My heart thundered in my ears, sweat beading on my spine as cold as ice. “I’m sorry,” I croaked as I ran from the kitchens. I needed out of this place.

Tallon had won yet again, and I was starting to realize that losing his games would cost me far more than my pride.

ChapterTwenty-Nine

The halls were a blur as I raced through them, seeking the refuge of my room and a door that locked. It would hardly keep Tallon out if he truly wanted in—and I had a feeling he would be showing up eventually tonight—but for a moment, I would let myself believe that I had control over my room. Over myself.

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