“Desmond,” I warn, “I will leave Castle Bardot. Whether that means walking out now or fashioning a rope from my bedsheets down the balcony of my room. You will not stop me.”
Desmond’s eyes narrow on mine as he reaches for my arm and pulls me towards him.
“Then I will have you thrown in a cell below the castle, Lady Alexis, if that is what keeps you from leaving.”
“You wouldn’t,” I scoff, pulling out of his hold.
“Look at you,” he says quietly, eyes roaming over my disheveled and shaking body, “have you eaten? Slept?”
My body trembles as I push past him for the stables on the east end, “have you?”
“This isn’t about me,” he follows swiftly.
“You’re right,” I laugh, running my hand through my hair, “it’s not about you. And it’s not about me. But there is one person behind all of this and I intend to make him pay.”
“Stop this, Alexis,” Desmond takes a large step in front of me, his eyes hard.
I move around him angrily.
What is it with everyone tell me to stop!
“You don’tknow, Desmond,” I shake my head, “you don’t know.”
“I know that you need to pull yourself together before the morning rises,” he says sternly, “I know that you need to be present and conduct yourself properly for the bonfire, when the castle will be given a slight reprieve from its lockdown to allow for Death’s mourning.”
I stop in my tracks.
Is he hinting at something?
“When?”
“The doors will open just before apex today,” he nods in confirmation.
I consider his comment and watch as he closes his eyes with a deep breath. He opens them again and stares back at me, silently demanding I don’t take this any further right now.
“I’m going to kill him, Desmond,” I whisper to the Master Informer.
Desmond watches me with concern, his head shaking softly.
“You can’t kill Death, Alexis.”
I had eaten, bathed, napped and changed, and now sit waiting in my room just moments before the sun hits its final turn to apex. I had fully downed the mug of ale Cal brought me as well as his half drunken one that still stood by the bed, letting its liquid courage course through my veins for what I needed to do. I had put on the deepest green shirt that I owned, pairing it with dark brown riding pants that slid into my boots, both of my daggers still strapped.
And Stormfall still hadn’t returned.
I pace in my reading room until it’s just the right moment to leave, swinging my door open so violently that it bounces off the wall. But my departure is stopped by a tall black mass, his shoulders hovering over me broad and strong, the man blocking my exit with a look of seriousness that tells me he knows exactly what I intend to do.
“Heknew, Keane,” I step into his chest angrily, “he knew what would happen, evenalludedto it, and yet he did nothing to stop it!”
Keane looks down at me with cool brown eyes, still blocking my exit as I glare at him in a rage.
“Why do you defend him?” I yell, hands pushing into his chest, “what has he done for us except bring sorrow and confusion to every fucking moment of our lives since he’s been awake?”
Keane takes a hard step inside, forcing me back into my room.
“This isn’t a defense of him, Alexis,” he replies, features cold and quiet, “this just isn’t the right moment.”
“When will it ever be!”
