Page 82 of Beyond Those Gilded Walls

The ballroom was silent as I pulled away from Tallon and approached Eadric’s body. I never faltered, stepping through the spreading mass of blood along the floors, not caring how it soaked into the bottom of my dress as I bent over his body and began rifling through the pockets of his jacket and pants. Glass clinked against glass as I moved his jacket, and I dug into the inside pocket, retrieving two glass tubes filled with crimson liquid.

I held them up to Tallon to see. “Is this it?”

He approached and nodded, but frowned and turned his back to the crowd so only I could see his face as he squatted down beside me. “That is them, but there should be far more than two. Last I saw, there were thirteen. And in this form,” he nodded at the vials, “they still need to be split apart. One vial is enough for five hundred or so people.”

I chewed on my lip. I had the treatment; I could get to Emyl now if I wanted. I could even give some to Zaharya and Maricara and Elena, who still stood guarding the doors, even as the crowd began to grow restless. But this would not be enough for Veressia as a whole. A thousand people, only enough for those inside the castle walls. Never mind the perhaps seven thousand or so still on the outside, trapped in Jura and the surrounding villages, and who knew how many more beyond the mountains as well.

“How many are infected, Tallon?” I asked. “I assume you have stopped infecting new people since his hold broke, but how many are already ill?”

His face tightened with shame and he could not meet my eyes. “Too many, I fear. In these last days, he had me afflict many.”

A beat of silence as I processed his words, processed the pain on his face, the shame and embarrassment that had him ducking his head.

“I am sorry, Odyssa.”

“Don’t. He made you do this, didn’t he? You would never have done this on your own, would you?”

He looked horrified. “Of course not.”

“Can you amplify my voice, the way you did with yours?” I asked, closing my hand around the two vials and standing. He still would not look at me. Transferring the vials to one hand, I lifted his chin with the other and splayed my palm across his cheek. It was a balm when he sighed and turned his face into my hand, pressing a kiss there, where the jagged scar from the wine bottle still lay. I curled my fingernails against the scruff lightly dusting his jaw. “Do you trust me, Tallon?”

“Of course.” Tallon nodded and then frowned as the rest of my words settled. “Unquestionably, and with everything I have.”

His words caught my breath, unexpectedly solemn. It hadn’t truly been a question I needed answering, but hearing the conviction in his voice, seeing it on his face… I couldn’t deny how comforting it was. And despite everything that had happened, everything he still had not told me, I trusted him too. Yet, the words stuck in my throat, and all I could offer was a nod and a grateful smile as I stepped back and lowered my hand from his face.

We both faced the anxious crowd. I took a deep breath, reaching for Tallon’s hand only to find he’d been reaching for me already. My exhale settled me.

“I know there is more treatment somewhere in this castle. I also know that for nearly the past year, you have all turned a blind eye to the suffering of the people outside these walls, content to revel in the manufactured safety of this prison. You drowned yourself in liquor and plied yourself with food to ignore those you think beneath you.” My magic began to lift from my skin, playing into the charade without instruction. “Whoever of you is the first to tell me where the remaining treatment is will get to live.”

ChapterThirty-Seven

The crowd was silent for a heartbeat; no sound of breathing could even be heard in the ballroom. And then, from the side of the room, a woman spoke.

“I will show you, Odyssa.” Camelya stepped through the crowd and made her way to the stage. Her eyes landed on Eadric’s body before lifting back to mine. “I know where he keeps it, and I would be honored to give it all to you and Tallon.”

“Camelya.” Tallon acknowledged her with a deep nod. “Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Thank you for freeing us,” she said quietly, so no one else would hear.

I narrowed my eyes but did not reply.

She shook her head. “Think whatever you want of me. Kill me after I get you the treatment if you wish. But let me do this. My daughter is still on the outside, and I’d like to help you save her.”

Turning, I looked at Tallon, searching for his opinion. He seemed to know Camelya far better than I, and of anyone in this room besides Zaharya, I trusted his judgement. He nodded. I lifted my chin and met Camelya’s eyes once more. “Where is it?”

Before she could reply, there was a commotion at the back of the hall. Someone, a desperate soul, charged Zaharya and was trying to grab her and shove her out of the way. My anger snapped out and my marks took flight and soared over the crowds, striking like a viper at the man who was so foolish as to lay his hands on her. Unlike Eadric, there was no long, drawn-out moment of his death. The marks—the magic—struck once, and the man fell convulsing and bleeding to the ground.

“No one touches them.” I didn’t need to know that Tallon hadn’t been the one to amplify my voice that time; I could feel the surprise beneath his carefully schooled features.

“The other vials are hidden in the wine cellar, Odyssa,” Camelya said quietly, drawing my attention back to her.

I will accompany her and ensure she returns,Sylviana spoke. Her head turned up to Tallon.May I show my true form now?

There was no chance for me to ask what that meant, because as soon as Tallon offered a huff, an eye roll, and a small nod, Sylviana prowled in front of us andchanged. As a cat, she’d been abnormally sized, too large for the features she had, but this was beyond that. Her body shifted and shimmered as she grew even larger, her features shifting out of a house cat and more into something better suited for sitting in the trees and stalking her prey by night.

Nearly sitting at my waist, Sylviana sank back on her haunches and looked up at me. The only thing about her face that remained the same was her eyes, and when she licked her chops, that forked tongue. Her yellow eyes sparkled with amusement.Are you ready, Odyssa? They are going to see me now. It always gets a rather…visceral reaction.

I knew the exact moment she revealed herself to the ballroom because the entire crowd let out a collective gasp, and one lady in the front screamed before fainting against her companion. It filled me with an indescribable joy that this creature, who had only ever been kind to me, exacted so much fear from these horrible people.

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