Page 10 of Seduction of a Psychopomp
“Do you want to leave here?” I asked, wanting to be absolutely sure of her desires before I did something drastic.
She gave a humorless laugh, as if the idea were impossible. We had two more days with her family while we worked out the final details of our arrangement, where they would try to have a say in where we lived and how she spent her time with me and what they felt she owed her kingdom. “Desperately,” she said softly, forlornly.
I stepped up to the desk and then hesitated. “May I carry you?”
She blinked at me. “To the dinner?” She lifted her hand toward me with a confused expression and tried to sit up.
I stooped forward and gathered her against me, taking care to gently fold her wings for her as I held her in my arms. I seized enough magic to pull the shadows around us and carried her to the door, opening it quietly. Walking as softly as I could, I made my way down the vestibule and listened for anyone else that might be around before stepping into the hallway. Wrapped in shadows, we only needed to avoid the other reapers, for the fae’s eyes would slide right past me.
I hadn’t been to her bedroom from this part of the castle, and the trek would have been much easier if I could have just walked in that direction and simply passed through the walls with my magic, but I didn’t have too much trouble finding my way there. We passed a multitude of servants in the hallways, but everyone else was presumably already at the reception dinner, and the servants never even turned their heads. I sat her on the bed.
“What are we doing?” she asked.
“Leaving.” I eyed the trunks stacked in the corner, having been prepared by staff already for her upcoming departure. My family would have to bring those later. I opened her armoire and found only dresses for the next two days—delicate ceremonial dresses much like the wedding dress she wore now.
“We can’t just—” she broke off as I paced to the trunks and flipped the top one open. Here were sturdier garments and shoes. I would buy her whatever she wanted in the Boundlands, but the fashions were different there. If this was what she felt comfortable in, she would have a much harder time finding anything like it outside of Faery.
I lifted several outfits out and a pair of shoes along with a small bag of what appeared to be undergarments and set them on the bed. “Do you have a cloak?”
She indicated another trunk.
“Saddle bags?” I asked as I hauled open the second trunk and pulled out a heavy green velvet cloak. I glanced at her when she didn’t respond, only to find her staring at me in wide-eyed confusion again. That was fine, better confusion than blank looks or tears. “Put this on,” I said as I handed the cloak to her before rummaging through the second trunk and finding a canvas sack with buckles. This would do. I stuffed her clothing inside it and glanced around the room again. “Is there anything else you want to bring?”
She opened her mouth and closed it several times before blinking and looking around the room in thought. Her eyes locked on a table in the corner with some small boxes, and she started to lower herself off the bed.
I gave her my hand and helped her down, pausing to fasten her cloak around her shoulders before helping her to the table. She opened several, looking over their contents briefly before finding what she wanted; a tiny box full of little, carved trinkets and charms that she closed back up and held to her chest, looking at me as if she didn’t know if this was what I meant. I wondered what special value they held to her and wished I could take the time to study each one, but instead I helped her back to the bed and held the sack open for her to place her box in. “May I?” I asked, reaching for her diadem. The irony of me removing the “halo” from this woman who very much resembled the modern interpretation of an angel before stealing her away was not lost on me. I lifted the circlet from her brow and tucked it into her bag, before removing my own to include as well and buckling the bag shut. I shouldered the bag and lifted Celeste again, tucking her cloak around her. It might not be enough. I snagged the blanket off of her bed and wrapped that around her too.
“Can you shift into anything small enough to fit through the castle gates?” I asked her.
She just looked at me with a bewildered expression.
What a pain it must be to be trapped in a corporeal form all the time.“No matter.” If I couldn’t carry her through the walls, and getting out through the castle gate was off the table, the next best option was through the maze of servant’s passageways and down over the wall. I carried her out into the hallway and lifted the decorative tapestries that lined the wall until I found one of the small doors. It was clear from her expression that Celeste hadn’t spent much time wandering these darkened corridors or their narrow stairwells, but their purposes suited me just fine. There was no light here, except for the few servants carrying candles that I stepped aside to allow to pass, which only served to make my magic easier to gather. I followed the smell of cooking food, knowing that the kitchens would have doors open to the outside for extra ventilation.
“How do you see?” she whispered after the light from the second servant had faded away down the passage and we were swathed in darkness again.
I didn’t answer her because I started to hear the noises from the bustling kitchen up ahead. Sticking to a pathway along an outer wall, I followed a man in uniform through the kitchen and out of the doors into the bailey. From there I spied more stairs up the wall and climbed them to stand by the ramparts. I paused next to the stable yard looking for the best way over the wall, and Celeste whispered, quiet as a breath, “I don’t think the irin will let you ride them.”
I headed down the parapet walkway, leaving the stable yard behind. “I don’t need them.”
Chapter 7
Grim
ThenumberofarchersI passed on the castle walls made it difficult to find a place to slip over. Not that I was concerned they might see me, and the noise of the rushing river behind the castle would probably cover soft noises, but I loathed the thought of drawing unwanted attention. I finally found a section of wall with no guard, and leaned over the edge to judge the distance to the ground—these outer walls only appeared about a story and a half high.
Celeste stiffened in my arms as I judged the distance down. “Do you want me to fly down?” she asked, her quiet voice pitching high with nerves.
Fly down? She could barely walk. She’d probably plummet like an injured dove. “No. Don’t scream.” I waited for her to nod and show me she understood, and then leapt from the ramparts to a stepped ledge a shorter distance below. From there the final story was an easy drop to the ground. Celeste gasped as I landed, and I froze. I held her tightly while I crouched, balancing on the balls of my feet and waiting to see if anyone had heard us.
“Sorry,” she whispered when she felt my muscles relax, and clutched her blankets closer. “I didn’t expect you to justjump.”
“How far can your people see at night?” I asked when it became clear no alarm would be raised. I planned to make use of my shadow cloak the whole way out, but trying to tie a saddle bag on a wraith while simultaneously keeping Celeste from falling overandensuring we stayed silent and hidden would be a bit more to juggle.
She peered around, her eyes shining in the moonlight from her cocoon of wrappings, before pointing tentatively to the road that led into the castle grounds. “With both of the moons shining like this I can see easily to the third monument from here.”
Staying in the shadow of the castle wall was probably our best bet for mounting up then, even if it did make us more likely to be heard. I gathered more magic and summoned my horse, forming it complete with a saddle and buckles this time.
Celeste stiffened in my arms again but didn’t speak.
