Page 173 of A Touch of Poison
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Kat
The next morning, guards woke us and led Bastian away for a meeting with the princess. They left breakfast, which I nibbled on as I paced the room and brooded over the bargain we’d made. It had to be enough to keep Bastian safe, didn’t it? Unless she decided to execute him. Surely she’d warn us.
It was past midday and I was half sick with worry by the time he returned looking pale and tired but otherwise fine. As soon as the guards removed the manacles and left, I flung myself into his arms.
“Hey. What’s wrong?” He stroked my back, pulling me close.
“I was afraid she was going to have you executed and I wasn’t going to have a chance to say goodbye.” I squeezed as tight as I could, burying my face in his chest and inhaling. A little sweat from the iron sickness, but there was also bergamot and cedar andhim.
“Maybe tomorrow.” His chest vibrated with a soft laugh. “But for today she just asked about Tenebris and the courts. I kept it general—things you could hear on most street corners. Nothing to worry about.”
“Good.Good.”
When I pulled back, I found him giving me an odd look—brow creased, gaze soft and skipping between my eyes. “Not so long ago, you said to mememento mori.”
My cheeks warmed at the reminder of having my kiss rejected.
“It isn’t a phrase we use—mortality isn’t really a concern for fae. But now I understand. Katherine.” He said my name with a shiver, making my breath catch. “Katherine.Yesterday, I—”
The door opened and the silver-haired guard from yesterday entered with a tray of food. Another remained at the door, bow trained on us—though I suspected their aim was centred on me after what the princess had said.
“Your lunch,” the silver-haired woman said as she placed the tray on the table.
With a deep sigh, Bastian released me from his embrace. “Only one plate?”
“The human dines with Her Highness today.” She beckoned me with a jerk of her chin.
His jaw clenched, but I smiled and touched his arm. “Looks like it’s my turn for questions.”
He caught my fingers as I turned away. “Remember what I told you about Tenebris being different from Lunden.”
Different rules apply. Never reveal your heart.
“I’ll be careful.”
Wrists in manacles, I followed the guard on a different route from the one we’d taken yesterday. The iron was no worse than when we left it late in the day to touch and my awakening poison made me nauseous. Periods were more uncomfortable.
We passed through narrower corridors—this had to be a private area of the palace. Just as we stopped at a door, it opened, and a girl pulled up short as if leaving. Fourteen or fifteen years old, she had golden brown curls that wafted from the movement of the door. Her black, wide-set eyes narrowed as she gave me a long look. Not a cruel one, but curious, like I was a strange and unusual creature.
I knew those eyes—their match watched from the table further inside. She had to be Sura’s daughter.
Already taller than me, the girl craned to one side. “Are your ears really blunt?”
Sura cleared her throat. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”
The girl huffed a breath out of her nose and inclined her head. “Of course.” She passed us.
Before we entered, I glanced down the hallway and found her eyeing me.
“You’ll have to excuse her,” Sura said as I took a seat and the guard unfastened my manacles. “She’s never seen a human before.”
A pair of gloves waited with my table setting, and I pulled them on, glad to not have to look at the purple stain returning to my skin.
How many of her people had I killed? I didn’t dare ask.
I swallowed as the guard took up a position by the door. “Your daughter?”
