Page 66 of Grave Flowers
Wordlessly, I picked up the towel and draped it over the edge of the tub. Then I turned and fled back into the bedchamber. I heard him rise from the water and go to the armoire, his bare feet muffled on the floorboards. Fright filled me as I tried to think of what I might say. When Aeric had woken up, I hadn’t been here, yet now I was. The only place I could’ve been was Inessa’s chambers, unless I’d been ludicrously hiding behind the drapes or beneath the bed. He must know of the grave flower within it—and had chosen to hide it from me, from Father.
“Madalina.” I turned. He stood framed in the doorway, wearing a pair of trousers. Whenever we encountered each other, he somehow always had fewer clothes than me and never seemed to mind it. Whether he was shirtless or even fully naked in the bath, he was confident, as though his flesh was all he needed to wear—continuously flustering me. “Forgive me if I seem confused, but the events of the past night are muddled in my head. Perhaps you might enlighten me.”
“You forget my predilections,” I said, heart pounding. “Light and enlightening and all its other variants belong to you and Acus.”
“Do try.” The two words were as hard as newly fired brick. They snarled through the air. Unexpectedly, his shoulders slumped, and hishead lowered. Water dripped from his hair in translucent drops, while his damp skin shone. “It’s foggy, but I know I went somewhere last night.”
He sounded so disheartened that some of my fear abated, fading enough so other emotions might prevail. I thought about seeing him on the fountain’s rim as the starvelings keened for his blood. I’d been afraid of him even then, but I couldn’t deny it—I’d been afraid for him as well.
“You went for a walk in the garden,” I said. “And I aided you to bed.”
“Might there have been a ledge involved? And behavior on my part that might best be described as … absurd?”
“Perhaps,” I said, wondering in agony about when our conversation would turn from him to me, which I knew it inevitably would. “Thankfully, your balance is surprisingly good, so no harm was done. Rigby, my old dance instructor, would be impressed.”
“If I recall, I think he’d be more impressed with yours. I have a foggy notion that you came up somewhere perilous—for me.” There were cracks in his voice, and raw emotion poured through them, as though recent events had shattered him, making him unable to keep everything in. “And that you looked … like the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen.”
“No,” I said quickly, sharply. “You’re mistaken.”
“Ah.”
We stood staring at each other from across the room. I didn’t understand. I knew who he was, yet, despite everything, I longed for his murderous hands and his deceitful lips upon me. It mattered not and would change nothing—I knew what mattered: Inessa. Radix. Getting home.
But knowing couldn’t erase the feeling, not entirely.
Aeric swallowed. He took a shallow breath and frowned slightly against the light. I realized, suddenly, that he must be very wine ill—just as he’d been at the betrothal service, if not more so. Yet the only hints were subtle. There was a slight grayish pallor to his face and adetermined clenching of his jaw against nausea. During the one-cup ritual, he’d played up his wine illness to lower my guard and prevent me from thinking it odd he wasn’t drinking.
Now he hid it almost perfectly.
I thought about his play, the way he handled his court, and the king-in-council meeting. The thought that he was a drunken, directionless boy was no longer convincing. He was, I feared, a very formidable enemy, and I was trapped with him in his chambers.
“Well”—he shuffled in place, still in the doorway, blocking any exit—“you helped me to bed, which I appreciate, but the chronology continues to be a mystery.” My fear returned in full force. He was going to ask where I went, and there was only one reasonable explanation. My thoughts skittered apart, but I struggled to gather them. I’d need every one of my wits. “I woke and you were not here. I thought perhaps my mind had been addled by the wine and that I’d imagined your presence. Upon entering the bath, you materialized. Do tell, Princess, do you possess powers of appearing at will? If not, do tell where you were during the interim.”
My hand was by my side, but I felt my poison ring upon it, the silver band growing heavier with my attention upon it. If he attacked me, it would be my only defense.
“I wished to stay until you woke so I could make certain you were all right. Sleep, however, didn’t come for me,” I said. “I decided to pick the lock and visit the queen’s quarters for myself. I do beg your pardon. I would’ve asked for permission, but I know they’ve been cordoned off for investigation, and, well, I was bored.”
“Bored?” He did not seem prepared for my excuse. Startlement eased his expression, tempering it slightly with an amusement he could not fully hide.
“Of course,” I said carelessly. “Did you wish me to simply stare upon you while you slumbered? I didn’t think anything of it. Though I was quite startled by what I found there.” Abruptly, I stopped, trying togauge his reaction. There was no point in pretending I hadn’t encountered the massive grave flower, but I’d wait for him to comment on it first.
“Are they not to your liking?” Aeric asked.
“Excuse me?”
“You stated you were startled by what you found there. Are the queen’s quarters not as grand as you wish? Keep in mind, after our wedding, you may select any furnishings you wish from our collection, or you may commission some to make the quarters your own. Of course, our sewists will be at your disposal for any tapestries, bedding, upholstering, or draperies you may desire.”
“I …” My thoughts, which had been scattered, now swam. Aeric wasn’t alarmed in the least that I’d been in Inessa’s rooms and didn’t mention the grave flower on the ceiling. What in the name of the Family was going on? I resisted the urge to press my fingers to my throbbing temples, fear and stress physically collecting there to torment me from the inside out. Was the grave flower … new? Had it bloomed there only recently, after the chambers had already been sealed? How might that be and why? “I shall. Thank you.”
I struggled, flailing inwardly and trying not to show it. “I found my hairpin on your table.” Just as he slipped beneath my defenses time after time, I had to do the same. It worked. His gaze dashed to the table in a panic, landing on the silvery hairpin with its winking ruby. “Why do you have it?”
“To remind me of you.” He spoke resolutely through his embarrassment—yet he kept his tone grim, as though expecting to be mocked. “I think I was holding it last night as I was drinking. Would you like it back?”
“No. I have several. Would you care to sit?”
He wavered and then brusquely crossed into the bedroom. I thought he might go to the desk or motion me to one of the other areas with chairs. Instead, he went to the bed and settled onto it, propping himselfagainst the pillows, one knee lackadaisically raised. I was the one to waver then.
He said nothing and didn’t ask me to join him.
