Page 77 of The Last Wish of Bristol Keats
The marble mouth struggled to move.Reeeeeeeeeeee.
A man. He was the color of pale veined marble, like a tortured sculpture. But the deep-set eyes, the strong brow, the square jaw. The determination twisting across his face. He was trying to say her name.Bri.
She choked back a scream.
He struggled to say one more word.Kasssss tuh.
And then he was gone, yanked back into the column. Bristol stared. Her hands trembled. She hugged herself, trying to stop shaking.
Her father, in a pillar of marble? The worst of the worst? They had hunted him down and sentenced him to this without telling her?
Kasta. He wanted her to go to Kasta.
CHAPTER 57
Kasta pored over the roster on her desk, making a few last notes. She knew every one of the knights personally. They came from five different regiments and had a variety of deadly skills, but the one skill they all had in common was that they were loquacious. They were the ones who told stories around campfires while on patrol. At the parley, each could play a chatty lord or lady with ease, while they fingered a weapon beneath their silk and satin ruffles, or summoned magic with their tongues as they laughed.
Tyghan would be pleased. She knew he was trying to mend the rift between them. That was what she wanted too. To go back to the way it had always been between them. Easy, relaxed, trusting. She reviewed the list one last time because she was his First Officer, not just a position of prestige but one that demanded perfection. She wanted to be that officer again, in every way. If she hurried, she would be able to deliver it to him at the rotunda before the meeting was over. Once approved, the outfitting of these lords and ladies could be finalized. An army of tailors were on standby to provide last-minute alterations to wardrobes that had already been chosen. Kormick would indeed laugh at the extra witnesses and what he perceived as Tyghan’s weak show of power. He would find her crew shallow and amusing. Until he didn’t.
She lit a candle on her desk. The sun was low in the sky, and her room was growing dim.
And then she heard an urgent knock.
When Kasta opened the door, Bristol stared at her, panting for a few empty seconds.
“What’s going on?” Kasta asked, motioning her inside. “Your face is as bright as an apple. Did you run here?”
Bristol leaned on the back of a chair across from the desk, her fingers digging into the leather. Her breaths grew steadier as she took in the study, the neatly arranged bookshelves, the stacks of parchment on Kasta’s desk. She nodded. “Yes, I ran.”
“I’m busy,” Kasta said impatiently, waiting for Bristol to get to the point.
“My father. He’s at Judge’s Walk, inside a pillar. He said your name.”
Kasta glanced away briefly, the corner of her mouth pulling, but then her gaze landed squarely back on Bristol, her shoulders widening, unapologetic. “Well, that’s unexpected. Leave it to Kierus. Those prisoners usually can’t move a finger, much less utter a word. What were you doing way out at Judge’s Walk?”
Fire flashed in Bristol’s eyes. “What fucking difference does it make? I want you to free my father!”
Kasta smiled at Bristol’s outburst. “Too late, it’s done. The council ordered a thousand years for his crime, and I carried out the sentence.”
“Tyghan promised to stop the hunt for my father.”
“People say and do a lot of things when they’re in love. I wouldn’t put too much stock in anything Tygh told you. He’s king. Trust me, he holds the laws of Elphame higher than you. Besides, even he can’t override a full council vote. And they refused to convene for a new one. They’re a powerful lot. I thought we already made that clear to you.”
“Then let me make something clear to you, Kasta. I’m commuting his sentence right now. As the only bloodmarked in this nation, I’m powerful too.”
“Think so?” She strolled over to a rack holding her sheathed sword and weapon belt.
“You won’t kill me, Kasta. You know my value to Danu.”
“Maybe you overestimate your value.”
“I don’t think so, and I definitely know what your value will be if I tell Tyghan about your role in his stabbing. That you found my father first and let him walk away? Yes, I know all about it. Tyghan nearly died because of your very unknightly actions, and he still suffers from the horrors of it.”
Kasta’s cool composure vanished. She ran stiff fingers through her spiked hair, like she was trying to think of a fitting comeback or a way out of this, but the truth was too damning. She shook her head, and all she could manage was, “Your father told you?”
“Yes. And if I tell Tyghan, you’ll be banished, or worse, you’ll end up in a pillar right beside my father.”
Kasta’s breaths were coming faster now. “Tyghan wouldn’t do that to me.”
