Page 162 of Unrivaled
My blood quickened in my veins.In response the aching in my head started again.I moved toward her, feeling the slight spin the world gave around me.
A decade ago, I used to frequently go for an entire moon with just a few hours of sleep at night.Run all day, run half the night.Sleep in brief windows when it was safe.I’d dosed myself on tiny amounts of the commonly used poisons to build up an immunity to them, in case I encountered a fouled arrow or blade in combat.I’d milked vipers for venom, and I’d sucked the poison out of my Sisters’ wounds when they needed it.
He shouldn’t have been able to combine Green Serpent and Fen Breath.But he had.That was a mage-mixed combination, that was.Askilledmage.My head pounded.I lifted a hand, rubbing my temples as if the pressure might ease some of the ache.
Beneath my feet the familiar stones of her tower were cool and solid.I took them one at a time.I just needed to recover.It would pass.We’d deal with Luca.He’d go down in history as Arcanloc’s most unlikelyandineffective rebel.Mayhap I’d put that on a statue for him.A statue of a weasel, with his name on it, and his ashes at its feet.Or, better, Chay could carve a weasel.His carving was perfectly horrendous.It was exactly as Luca deserved.
“…told you,” Audrey was saying.
Braced, I entered the common room that smelled of sex and sweat.The drumming of my heart felt too heavy, and too fast, in my chest.I just needed to recover.I tried to breathe, but the reek had me by the throat.Soon it’d have my eyes watering.I ignored the roaring of blood in my ears.
Sensible as ever, Audrey had pulled a blanket over her shoulders rather than attempt to get back into her gown, which I noticed had been carefully laid over a chair.Her expression didn’t match the clear, no-nonsense tone she’d taken on.Her brows were pulled down and her long mouth was tucked a little to one side.She looked at me like I had the answers.
The nausea made me grit my teeth.I shouldn’t have been nauseous.“Come on,” I told her.The words were soft, even if the hand I offered her could never be.
Relief made her mouth settle into its normal lines.She took a step towards me.
“No.No, this isn’t right.”
The words were distorted, as if they came from the other side of a waterfall.Audrey must’ve heard them clearly, because they made her hesitate.
I flicked my fingers, keeping the movement gentle though every limb demanded movement, every fiber demanded action.Move.I set my teeth against it.
Sometimes, movement was impossible.
“You must see—clearlywe ought to wed.”
The rage was white-hot.I was frozen, suddenly, my hand outstretched to Audrey, my guts twisted in my body.My heart roared.
“I’m not going to marry you, Luca!”Audrey whirled, the words like a clumsily swung axe.There were lines on her skin from where her body had softened in sleep and folded in on itself.There were shadows on her skin where the muscles and tendons hinted at her strength.No scars, though.Not on the arm I could see, or across her back.I tried to breathe but the air was thick.
“You chose last night, Audrey.You can’t take back what’s done, and I wouldn’t, even if I could.”
My hand was locked there, outstretched.I needed her to come to me.I couldn’t go to her.I couldn’t.
She threw her arm out in a big, aggressive motion.“Pardon me, my lord, forenjoying your company,but I will have to decline your offer for any further such dalliances.Please,remove yourself.”
The venom dripped from every word, but it wasn’t for me.Poison spread, cold, through my body, not from Audrey.Not even from the man who’d nigh killed me last night.The poison was deeper.Older.The battle energy was so far away I couldn’t touch it.I was locked in place.My antivenoms had all been used.
“This isn’t—you can’t?—”
“Why the fuck can’t I, Luca?”
The door opened.The spell broke.I grabbed the wall.I struggled to breathe.I struggled to stand.
“Problem?”Chay asked, tightening his belt.
“Minor misunderstanding,” Audrey said.The dignity in those words, the poise, the way she smiled just a little, the tiniest hint of a shrug…my vision dipped and blurred with tears.I couldn’t breathe.
“Audrey.”Luca sounded so upset.Hesoundedupset.“Audrey—I can’t do this to you.I’ve ruined you.We have to?—”
She laughed, the sound bitter and hollow.
“Want me to manage this, Embers?”Chay asked.
“I—yes.”She turned toward me, her hands white-knuckled on the blanket, her jaw tight.I was invisible.Possibly the size of an ant.She moved with so much grace.She was disappointed, and angry.She wasn’thurt.
I was.
