Page 114 of Thorn Season
My stomach plummeted. Because Tari’s features were screwed in disgust.
“Your Majesty!” One of the girls curtsied. “Forgive us. We didn’t—”
“No need to apologize.” Erik drew back, breathing heavily, his fist still twisted in my hair. “We should have retreated to somewhere private.”
A few girls blushed and turned their heads. Tari’s gaze remained locked on mine.
“I trust you’ll keep this among yourselves,” Erik said.
The girls giggled their agreement and scampered away.It’s not what you think!I wanted to scream after Tari. Instead, I grasped Erik’s shoulders and dragged him back to face me. “This will spread to the gentry like wildfire,” I said, panting.
“Good.” He extricated my hands. “I hope they stew in it.”
Then his eyes slid to my gloves. He wore no ring today—there was no chance of encountering dullroot—and yet sweat slicked my palms as he pinched the empty fingertip of my right glove and dragged it off my skin. He repeated the motion with the other, baring both my hands, then he planted an open kiss inside each wrist,inhaling deeply the skin I’d always denied him.
“Don’t wear these again,” he murmured, tucking my gloves into his pocket.
He leaned down to taste my mouth once more, nipping my bottom lip between his teeth. Then he pulled back and smiled, like he knew this was just the appetizer.
Like he would gladly wait to devour me whole.
33
An impatienttap-tap-tapawaited me in the lounge. I glanced at the mirror on my way in. My lips were swollen and raw with color, my hair a tangled mess. Only my eyes remained vacant, empty of all the passion that had blazed in Erik’s.
At last, I turned to Tari. “That wasn’t what it looked like.”
She paused her foot-tapping. “So, it was a trick of the light? If I’d looked from another angle, Iwouldn’thave seen you kissing Erik’s face off?” She crossed her arms. “You only pursued him to secure protection for your father. But now...” She trailed off, too kind even in her temper to finish the sentence.
“Now my father’s gone,” I said. “I know.”
“Then what were you doing with him?”
“What I had to!” I pushed a hand through my hair, wincing as I snagged in the knots. “Even if I find the compass before Briar, and Erik kills every Capewell in Daradon, he’ll assign others to take their place. As long as he rules, Wielders will be slaughtered. But if I ruled at his side...”
Tari dropped her arms, eyes whitening with horror. “You’re serious,” she breathed. “You really think your kisses can save a kingdom.”
My hackles rose. “I could have swayed him tonight—about theCapewells. I can sway him again when it matters.”
“To abolish the Execution Decree? To reverse two hundred years of prejudice against Wielders?”
“Daradon’s rot began with the monarchy,” I said firmly. “That’s where it has to end. It won’t happen overnight, but as long as Erik wants me—”
“He doesn’t want you!” Tari shouted. “He wants the Wholeborn girl he thinks you are! Gracious gods, do you hear yourself? What happens when Erik wants an heir, and a Wielder baby pops out of you? How long do you expect a child to contain their specter?”
“I’ve controlled mine for eighteen years without instruction.”
“Have you?” Her face hardened. “Then what happened in those tunnels, Alissa? You couldn’t control your specter, and it nearly got us killed.”
I smothered my guilt as soon as it rose. I had no place left inside me to hold it.
“The keeper won’t target you again if they don’t see you as a threat,” Tari continued. “Go back to Vereen and lie low, and let that be enough.”
My fists trembled. “So, I get to live, but only if I’m a good girl and keep my specter hidden? I get to breathe, but only by sucking the air from other Wielders’ mouths to sustain myself? How is that fair? How is thatenough?” My words cracked around the mental image of Father. To spare him from the pain of my death, ithadbeen enough. But not anymore. “They stole my rights and choose what I can buy back with a thank-you. They didn’t create me. I shouldn’t have to thank them for letting me exist.”
My specter was lashing inside me again, and I turned to hide my pained expression. I breathed deeply, winding the power down thread by thread.
Tari’s steps clicked toward me. Her voice gentled. “You’re right. It’ll never be fair. But right now you’re angry and hurting. You can’t see any other way out. And maybe...”
