Page 79 of Beyond Those Gilded Walls

Icy arms gripped me from behind, and then Soulshades were on me. At least half a dozen of them, piling on as I stumbled and fell to the floor. I slashed and stabbed, but still more surrounded us. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see, and without a doubt, I was going to die.

Warmth battled back beneath my skin, and then my marks erupted. The magic unfurled like a broken wing and grew, shifting and multiplying until it surrounded me and all the Soulshades in the onslaught. They staggered away from me, fearful eyes on the undulating mass of black that surrounded them.

At last, with a final, desperate effort, I pushed all the intent I could at the magic, screaming at it in my mind to help us, to destroy the Soulshades and get them out of the castle for good. The magic responded, growing ever larger until it blacked out the entire rotunda and I could not see anything, not even the hand in front of my face. My chest heaved, still begging the magic to continue, to not falter in the face of my exhaustion.

Finally, the magic struck. The mass of black expanded ever so slightly more and then collapsed back into my chest with a rush that sent my head spinning. If I’d not already been on the ground, I’d certainly have fallen. And when all the mass had cleared, the room bright by candlelight once more, we were alone.

The Soulshades were gone, and the eerie feeling of being watched from the walls had vanished, too, dissipated into the night like smoke on the wind. Breathing heavily, I glanced at Tallon, our eyes meeting in silent acknowledgment of the horrors we had faced and the fight still yet to come.

“Odyssa, my wolf, what in the name of the Beyond wasthat?” Tallon asked, struggling to catch his breath.

I looked up at him with wide eyes. “I was going to ask you the same. Did you know I could do that?”

He shook his head, hauling himself to his feet and straightening his jacket. “I certainly did not. Though I’m not even positive I know what it is that you actually did, to be quite honest with you.”

“You can’t do that? How did you banish the Soulshade who tried to possess me then?”

He shook his head again. “It wasn’t a banishment, not like what you just did. I can dissipate them, but it’s temporary. They always come back. When I commanded those out of you, I hardly used any magic, merely a threat of it.”

My mouth fell open slightly. “Youthreateneda Soulshade to stop possessing me, and itlistened?”

“Well, yes.”

Hysteria was bubbling up in my chest but I pushed it back down, taking deep breaths to calm my racing heart. My hands trembled as I straightened my dress and mask. “I’m sure I’ll have far more to say about that later, but we’re likely short on time.”

“Yes, that did take far longer than I was expecting it would,” he said with a sigh. The bells began to toll, signaling midnight, and Tallon’s face transformed, a wicked smile pulling at his lips as his shoulders melted down his back. Chills echoed down my spine. This was Eadric’s Tallon—the version of Tallon I’d come to associate with Eadric, at least. And it meant nothing good for the Coward Prince, now that he no longer held the reigns of Tallon’s magic. “Are you open to a slight change in plans?”

The panic that had been cresting subsided with this casual confidence exuding from Tallon now. It was a mask, I knew, but knowing that he was choosing to become this Tallon forme… Something in my body trusted him, even if my mind was not always so quick to do the same. In any case, this I did trust him with implicitly. Our goals were the same. “Do what you think is best. You know him far better than I.”

“We should get to the ballroom then, before the bells finish.”

ChapterThirty-Six

The bells were on their last three tolls when we slipped through the private doors along the side of the ballroom that opened right next to the stage. The same doors Eadric had dragged Talyssa through.

The musicians had already begun to falter from the eerie chiming of the bells, but our presence only quickened their fall into silence. What a sight we must have made, though we fit nicely into the decor. It was almost ironic, that tonight’s theme was red and black, and I was itching to spill Eadric’s blood across the black mirrored floors. Fate, perhaps.

Those closest to the stage were the first to notice us, a woman giving a strangled gasp and stumbling back as she pressed her hand to her chest. It didn’t take long after that. Murmurs exploded through the ballroom, traveling back through the crowd, and by the time the twelfth toll sounded, and the lingering noise reverberated through the stone of the castle, the room was silent and all its two thousand or so eyes were solely on us.

Fear radiated off the entire room in waves. For a moment, I felt an uncomfortable prickling at the back of my neck as if someone were behind me, and I shifted minutely.

“Steady,” Tallon reassured. “It is only his magic and the castle watching. There is no sign of Cethin here. Yet, at least.”

“If he appears, you promise to tell me?” I asked out of the corner of my mouth.

“You would know.”

I curled my toes into my shoes to keep from fidgeting. Whatever Tallon’s plan, he’d certainly gotten the attention of everyone left in the castle. Along the side walls, I saw Zaharya, Elena, and Maricara standing together. Blood-red veils shrouded their faces, though I knew they were staring directly at me.

Finally, after an eon it seemed, Prince Eadric noticed us from his spot at the entire other end of the ballroom. Even from this distance, I could see his shoulders tense and his fists clench at his sides. Beneath his mask, I imagined his face growing ruddy.

“You dare show your faces here?” His voice boomed, echoing off the walls in spite of the black velvet that hung from the ceilings. The revelers flinched at his anger, and many were looking rapidly back between us and him. “You dare make a mockery of me? I shall have you hanged by dawn.”

“We dare,” Tallon replied. His voice was not loud to my ears, though I saw the faces of those throughout the ballroom as it carried through the room regardless. He tilted his head slightly. “And I shall like to see you try it, Your Highness.”

Eadric’s eyes darted to the doors to his left before returning to us. A flicker of red in my vision, and I saw Zaharya subtly moving down the wall to stand in front of the doors, her chin held high beneath her veil. Eadric’s eyes snapped back to us and I let my mask of composure slip enough to allow my feral grin to appear. He would find no allies here tonight, even amongst those he’d thought were loyal.

My heart soared when Maricara and Elena followed Zaharya’s lead, moving to stand in front of the other two sets of doors. It would not stop anyone from leaving should they want to, not really. Three could not compare to a thousand. But the imagery, the imagery Eadric himself had created, was a far better deterrent than force ever could be. Three faceless figures, standing guard at the doors, shrouded in blood and oh-so-clearly on our side.

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