Like so many times before, Elysia wondered if she’d ever know how she really felt about this man or him about her. She’d never expected love and hate to be so confusing. But she found her lips playing into a small smile even as she stayed back by the door and leaned against the credenza.
“I am indeed.” She pulled off one dark silk glove and then the other.
Her father stood from his desk, his head nearing the ceiling as he walked her way. “Save your gift. First, the king and I must borrow you.” He brushed a hand over her mid back, steering her into the large meeting room connected to his office. “Gentle heart that you are, I know you hate to do this, but the king requested your help.” He touched her face, looking remorseful. His tenderness only served to incite a full-bodied wave of anxiety.No, not again.
She looked into the room and felt the ground sway beneath her.No, no, no.Five chairs were lined up against the back wall.In each chair sat a young woman. All near her own age. All with dark brown wavy hair and big brown eyes.They look just like me.Her heart pounded in her throat. She could still smell her father’s sweet smoke, except now it made her want to gag.
King Blatz stood against the gray stone wall to her right. He flipped a switch, further illuminating the cool, damp castle room. White sleeves rolled up and hair mussed, he looked far too much like his son. “Miss Parker, we were given word that a woman of a certain description has fallen to the curse. We gathered the most likely suspects within the city. Given your past history of identifying such culprits, your father recommended allowing you to weigh in. What can you share?”
Elysia, daughter of the Golden Seal, knew everyone. From distant Crown members to the best carpenter in the city, she knew their names, knew their vices. She stared at the women waiting for her to decide who would die. Claudia Brine trembled. Syren Herrin had anger screaming in her eyes. And Pen Weaver stared blankly right through them all. The last two women just looked at the floor, tears streaming, unwilling to see their death coming. Cold distance slid through Elysia’s veins, their faces looking further and further away.
Her feet throbbed violently, keeping her from detaching entirely. Pain stabbed through the old cuts in a way it hadn’t since the man next to her first delivered those scars. She kept her face pensive, considering as she swept it over the women in front of her. She slipped her shaking hands into the pockets of her skirts.I can’t let him see.
She hardened herself, taking herself to the place where she felt nothing. Where no one could possibly touch her.
Her dark eyes met her father’s. “Everyone knows that Syren Herrin’s tinctures never fail.” She lifted a shoulder, hating herself, but she couldn’t stop. “I’d say that’s a bit unnatural if you ask me. Never a single stillbirth. Never importing herbs like theother healers. You have to wonder what she’s even giving them all.” Bile crept up her throat, but she kept it down.
“You nosy fucking bitch. Isavedyou, fixed your godsdamn ugly feet.” Syren lunged across the room, slashing at Elysia like her nails were knives. Elysia let her. Let her nails rake down her pretty face, marking her as the traitor she was to her kind.
Syren really did have magic. She was the best healer their city had until today. And now she was going to be dead.
Guards descended, pulling the thrashing woman off of Elysia.
Blood dripped into her mouth. She swallowed the salty rust down, not bothering to wipe her face. She sat there on the floor, watching the guards force Syren along. The king stopped in the doorway, barely pausing to look down at her. “Thank you, Miss Parker. Valuable as always.”
She nodded silently. Soon, the whole room was all too quiet. Her father offered her a hand and anger that burned like ice filled her entire being.Hehad done this. Orchestrated all of this. Forced her to hand over another life.
And yet, like always, she accepted his hand, allowing him to guide her back into his office. They didn’t make it two feet through the door before he was grabbing her chin. Smoke-scented breath clouded over her. “You donotdisappear for weeks on end. Have you forgotten how this works?”
Every single muscle in her tensed. She stiffly shook her head no, his fingers still pulling at the skin of her face. His jaw flexed. “I thought we had worked through your little rebellions.” He dropped her chin, practically flinging her away. She stumbled back, her face stinging with blood and now bruises.
He paced back to his office, cracking his neck and sitting down. “I hate that you make this so difficult, Elysia.”
She nodded, tears welling in her eyes. How quickly her anger distorted into a shame she didn’t understand.
“I’m sorry.” The words were choked, her eyes gleaming.
He gave a heavy sigh, nodding his head and looking at her like he knew she couldn’t help it. He grabbed his pipe, packing it slowly. “Let’s put this behind us, then. Tell me about your little gift.” Her father stretched out his legs, waiting.
Elysia slowly sat down in the chair across from him, accepting the silent handkerchief he handed her. She pressed it to her swelling face. “I happen to know you are not terribly fond of Diplomat Scarzan. An old deal gone wrong.” Her voice shook and she hated it. She inspected her carefully filed nails instead of looking at his face.Breathe.You can leave soon.
It’d been more than a deal gone wrong. Jack Parker had introduced Scarzan to his favorite aged tobacco. A gentleman’s secret, if you will. Scarzan promptly stole her father’s favorite apothecary. The apothecary who made his favorite pipe tobacco, to be precise. There were some things a man just did not do, and beyond stealing someone’s lover, Jack Parker considered this to be one of those things. He would likely go to his grave hating the man.
Her father’s brow furrowed. “Go on.”
She looked up, head tilting, and shrugged. “Rumor has it that Scarzan has been spending his time at the House. Seems he overindulged.”
He began to brush her off. “Elysia, that is the point of the House. Now?—”
Elysia cut in. “I wasn’t finished, Father. His overindulgence killed a maiden of the House. Her neck was mottled like old fruit by the time he was done. The Doorman is owed payment, and it seems she is old-fashioned. Death for death is her wish.”
All the warmth left Jack Parker’s eyes as his true mind for machinations shone through. He finished packing his pipe with the tobacco that was not nearly as good as what he once lovedand considered her words. “And how do you suggest one go about accusing a man such as Scarzan of this crime?”
It was Elysia’s turn to smile as she slipped her gloves back on, readying to leave. “Don’t you worry, Father. It will be taken care of at Mother’s going away party for all the ambassadors. When this goes through, consider me paid in full for the next two months.” A bold move considering she was still bleeding in his office. But he’d accepted similar deals before when she brought him something good enough.
Her father looked up in surprise. Always the surprise. He laughed like she was ridiculous. “Such a sense of humor on you. Don’t know where you get it. You know the Raven Ball is coming up. As if I could set my best asset free at a time like this.”
She nodded, biting her tongue and walking to the door. Her fingers gripped the door tightly, and she was glad for her gloves to hide the sight. “One month.”
