Page 112 of House of Dusk
Sephre counted to a hundred, then slowly pushed herself away from the wall. Her breath sluiced out in a long sigh of relief, and she turned to see what lay ahead. No doubt yet another identical obsidian corridor.
But it wasn’t. It was a street, broad and paved with neat squares of stone. Buildings rose on either side, washed pale with limestone, capped with bright blue domes. Vyria had told her the Bassarans believed the color brought good luck from the Sphinx, the mercurial god of the sky.
Heaps of cloth that were not cloth lay along the street, chillingly still. Sephre stood frozen, her mouth full of ash, tensed for what was about to come, what always came next, in her nightmares.
A baby’s wail shivered through the silence.
CHAPTER 31
YENERIS
The palace was a flurry of activity, but Yeneris welcomed it. Sinoe was kept busy with fittings for an elaborate gown that she was to wear for the upcoming festivities, and had been charged by her father to oversee the construction of an even more elaborate costume for the bride.
It had been two days and they had not yet spoken of the kiss.
It was her own fault. Once or twice she’d thought Sinoe was going to say something, during the rare moments they were alone. But Yeneris found herself smothering the silence with questions about the king’s plans, the location of the spectacle, when the kore might be vulnerable to rescue.
She told herself she was making things easier on Sinoe. In case it meant nothing. In case it was only a ruse, meant to cover their true reasons for being out and about illicitly. Yeneris would simply pretend it had never happened. If it was more than a ruse, well, then Sinoe could bring it up. She was the princess, after all. Maybe she went around kissing all sorts of people. Maybe she considered it a royal prerogative.
Listen to yourself, you coward. That isn’t even a good excuse. Just admit that you’re scared to ask. Scared to find out if it really did mean something, because if it did, then you’re sunk, aren’t you? Because she’s still the princess of Helisson, and you’re still an enemy spy who’s about to liberate the sacred bones of your people so they can restore your homeland.
Star-crossed romances were all well and good in epic poetry, but they were less comfortable in real life. Especially given how many of them ended tragically. So. Yes. Even in this, she would do her job, and protect Sinoe from danger.
But while Yeneris could wrestle her mind into some semblance of submission, her body proved unwilling to go along. She found herself vibrating, a taut string ready to be plucked, just watching Sinoe brush her hair. It was bad enough that she took to going to the training yard any chance she could, driving herself through endless exercises as if she could sweat the infatuation out of her skin.
That was where Mikat found her, thrashing a padded straw dummy soundly with a practice sword.
“You’ve been avoiding me.” Mikat padded out into the training yard. It was dinner hour. The last palace guard had left a quarter hour earlier, after Yeneris had beaten him in a practice bout for the third time.
Yeneris lowered her sword, chest thumping, breath raspy and hot. She gave herself a moment to recover, stalking over to the large stone basin and dipping up a copper ladle of water. She drank, clearing her throat, so her words would be firm and solid. “No. Only busy with preparations.”
“Mmm. You mean busy seducing the princess?”
Yeneris bit her cheek, dashing another cup of water across her face. At least she was already flushed from exercise. She stared into the rippling water, counted three breaths, then turned back to face Mikat.
“Yes,” she said. “As you ordered me to do.”
“I don’t think I ordered you to stick your tongue down her throat.”
Yeneris strangled a protest. The more she fought, the more Mikat would jab at her, searching for weakness. Maybe it had been only a ruse, maybe it would never happen again, but she would not allow Mikat to turn it into something sordid. Something untrue. Ithadbeen true for Yeneris.
“There’s still no word on the exact route the kore’s palanquin will take,” she said, deciding the best course was to act as if the previous conversation had never happened.
Mikat nodded. “There are only so many possibilities. We’ll have scouts posted. Keep our people ready in a central location.”
Yeneris let out a slow breath, relieved that the woman had accepted the change in topic. “There’s more. Sinoe and I snuck into Lacheron’s workshop looking for the key. We—”
“You recovered the key?” Mikat interrupted.
Again, Yeneris’s nerves prickled. The key had nothing to do with the kore. The key was for Sinoe, to ensure that she would be free when this was over. “Yes.”
“Good. Be prepared to use it.”
Yeneris drew a steadying breath, remembering alien words whispering from purple flames. The strange power that had nearly unmade her. And Lacheron’s voice, promising that the gods would rule no more. That the world would belong to that nameless, terrible force. “I will. But Mikat, this is bigger than just the kore. We heard—”
“Yes.”
Yeneris blinked. She had not expected the woman to agree so easily. Mikat fixed her with a narrow gaze. “We will liberate the kore, and see that her bones are returned to Bassara. That was your mission. That was why we sent you here.”
