Page 477 of Kingdoms of Night

Now I had to negotiate a return to form. What could I offer that all previous Brides of Night couldn’t? Suzianna seemed truthful when she said he hadn’t done much beyond terrify her.

The curiosity was maddening. I couldn’t wait til the daylight fled this realm, I had to get my answers now.

“Where are you going?” Suzianna yelped, chasing me with a comb. “I’m not done!”

“To find our host.” I was ready to spend all day searching this enormous palace as long as I didn’t remain sitting, helplessly waiting.

I couldn’t go far, as I’d walked into someone posted right outside the room.

One of the green, bat-like men I’d first witnessed on the ship now blocked my way, dressed only in light-grey serwal, his short hair curling around his oblong head and shadowing his yellow eyes.

He flashed his fangs in a smile meant to intimidate. “Where are you going so soon?”

“For a walk.”

I tried to push past him, but he pressed his hands to the wall, crowding me back through the doorway. “You should be resting.”

There was no calming my pulse, but the frustration had begun to overpower my fear towards this place, and its inhabitants. “I’m restless.”

“We can bring you a sleeping draught,” he suggested. “Put you out like a light for hours on end.”

Because that’s what I needed, to be dead to both worlds, mine and theirs.

If I was meant to remain as I was back home, at the mercy of a man who confined me to my room at his whims, then I might as well fulfill what I was sent to do. Except instead of exterminating a demon, I’d antagonize a god into killing me.

Better to be dead than imprisoned.

“No, thank you. I think I’ll tire myself out by exploringmy new home,” I stressed on that point, hoping something came of it. “This is my home now, isn’t it?”

He blinked in surprise, the antagonism melting from his posture. “Well, yes.”

“Then let me pass so I can see it for myself. Perhaps even show me the kitchen you make that sleeping draught in.” I attempted to duck out from under his arm, but he raised them, spreading his wings. “Let me pass!”

“Later,” he said. “You can tour when you wake well-rested.”

“What if I don’t?” I rose on my toes, face to his. “If you’re going to deny me something this simple, what torture can I expect for necessities?”

“You’re proving to be either courageous or idiotic, and if you refuse to rest, I will knock you out myself,” he growled, baring his green gums and yellow teeth in a snarl.

Suzianna popped up behind me, hands on my shoulders. “Baltasar, you are being unreasonable.”

Aggravation at me evaporated into softness once his gaze shifted from my face to hers. “I’m being cautious.”

“You’re giving her the worst impression of life here by scaring her,” she argued.

Baltasar shot me a disbelieving look. “Does she seem scared to you?”

“If that is the case, wouldn’t we want her to remain that way instead of changing her mind?” Suzianna tapped me aside, coming to face him in my stead with pleading hands and beseeching eyes. “She can’t rest until she feels safe and welcome, no one knows that more than me.”

Something akin to a blush darkened his cheeks, and his eyes darted around her before landing on the carpet, her flat slippers half the size of his clawed feet. “Very well.”

My brows rose at the quick concession. Suzianna beamed and reached for him, but he stepped back to let us pass. “I will accompany you.”

“Fine by me.” I snatched my robe off the handle, dagger safely hidden, and slipped out into the hall. “You can start by showing me what’s to like about here.”

After that intriguing moment between them, it was clear why there was no hope for Tamuz and her ‘marriage’. Suzianna had eyes for another lunar being in this palace, and no matter how restrained he believed himself to be, he returned that dazzled gaze.

It never mattered to the most powerful of men if their wives or mistresses desired them, why didn’t Tamuz keep her on as either?

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