Page 103 of A Touch of Poison
The queen’s unspoken warning followed me back to our rooms. The lights were on when I entered, and in the sitting room I found Bastian, head in his hands before the fire.
I stopped in the doorway, struck by the collapsed lines of his shoulders and back.
Who you really are is what you do when no one is looking.
This was Bastian.
How had I ever questioned it?
The bored aristocrat who’d practically rolled his eyes at the idea of dancing with me. The stranger I’d seen in Albion after Robin had appeared. Business Bastian.
The cunning Serpent. The Bastard of Tenebris. The Night Queen’s Shadow who would go to any lengths to get what he wanted.
Theywere the masks.
This man—the one who came out when it was just the two of us—the scarred man, bent by responsibility, haunted by guilt from actions and memories that weren’t his own. This was the real Bastian.
The man I’d known in Albion—he was real.
It burned my eyes and throat.
“Bastian,” I said softly as I approached.
He swallowed as though gathering himself.
In this moment when he was vulnerable and soft, I ached to tell him about Elthea and the fact I’d had to get the memory of her treatments erased.
I ached to tell himeverything.
But he didn’t need my pain on top of his own, and he was soft now, but he was also the man who’d broken bones for me. I needed Elthea’s cure, and to get it, I had to suffer in silence.
So, I took the chair next to his and curled up on it to face him. “What’s wrong?”
With a deep breath, he pulled his attention from the flames and swept his fingers back through his hair. “It’s been a long day.” One side of his mouth rose like he was trying to give me a comforting smile… and failing.
“What, in particular, made it so long?”
“Putting it diplomatically, the queen is not in the best of moods. Prince Sepher’s wedding has reminded her of… everything she doesn’t have.” Another attempt at a comforting smile.
Verydiplomatically put.
“The king had several Dusk folk executed while we were away. If I’d been here…” He shook his head and his frown pierced my heart with thorns. “Then there’s…” He huffed out a long breath. “A list of things I can’t tell you. State secrets, etcetera.”
I tugged off my gloves and wrung them with both hands. “Does any of it relate to unCavendish?”
“Perhaps. It’s… unclear.”
“Is there some magic that could… I don’t know… Pull any knowledge from my head that I might’ve missed?” That had to be something Kaliban could do.
Bastian flinched and shook his head. “Not that I would risk using on you.”
I waited, but he didn’t elaborate. “There must be something I can do to help. Something I’ve missed. Maybe if you interview me again, I’ll—”
“I’m not putting you through that, Katherine. Not again.” His jaw rippled as he stared into the flames. “And even if I would, I don’t think there’s anything you missed in your report. You were perfect.”
I swallowed down the pleasure that word gave me. This wasn’t about me—this was about trying to pry some of that weight off his shoulders. “Then put me to work for you.”
“What?” He turned a fierce frown on me.
