Rathal was waiting for me in the dining hall, his outfit another monstrosity. He’d traded his practical clothes from yesterday for glittering rainbow strips that masqueraded as a shirt and tight little gold shorts that barely covered his junk. He had a gold chain around his bare midriff that disappeared into his shorts.
I think he was fucking with me at this point.
“Darling! I hope you’re hungry because now that you’re awake during the Dark, the good chefs are available. I can’t tell you how I suffered through the Lighting for you.”
He pulled out my chair with a flourish and bowed next to it, one arm held out for drama. The way he bowed with one leg behind the other made the muscles on his thighs stand out. I shifted my gaze quickly away but not before he caught me looking. I chose to ignore his smirk and sat without comment. I wasn’t going to rise to the bait. He could wear whatever the hell he wanted and I wasn’t going to say a goddamned thing.
Servants rushed in the moment I was seated to lay out dishes and a chilled bottle of whatever the alien version of wine was. The female who placed the bottle met my eyes briefly before disappearing back through the servant's entrance. I remainedsilent while he arranged meat onto my plate and he tut-tutted me like I was a child.
Rathal took up the opaque bottle and poured some in my glass before serving himself some. “Come now darling, don’t be a bore. You can’t ignore me the whole dinner.”
Watch me.
He sighed and took his seat, taking a sip of his drink while eyeing me over the rim.
“Very well,” he said finally, setting his glass back down on the table. “I’ll do all the talking then. Since I’ve decided you don’t know enough about me to truly appreciate how wonderful I am, let me remedy that. My family name is NulKal, my favorite color is a deep rich blue, like the outer rim of our nebula. I enjoy my alcohol cold, no matter what it is. I dislike sour things. I learned sword fighting to impress a female who promptly thrashed me at it at every opportunity.”
A smile twitched at the corner of my mouth before I could stop it. He noticed and smiled broadly at me. Rolling my eyes was becoming a common occurrence around this fool.
“Just admit it, darling. I’m under your skin. Even now, after nearly freeing yourself and defeat still a cloud of poor temper surrounding you, a part of you is happy to see me. You’d have missed me if you’d accomplished your goal.”
He picked up his cup again and took a drink, his eyes daring me over the rim. I waited and when he blinked and frowned down at the contents of his cup I picked mine up and made a show of slowly dumping it out onto the expensive rug.
“You’ve got one thing right, Rathal. I can’t ignore you the whole dinner. Which is why I’m not staying for the whole dinner. In fact, I think I’ll take my leave right now. No, no. Don’t bother getting up. You aren’t too steady on your feet. Did you have too much to drink?”
When he tried to stand he wobbled and had to slap his hand down on the table to keep from falling over. His words were slurred when he spoke. “What did you do…my…prize?”
I leaned close over him, until we were nose to nose. “Like you said, I have fans now. I asked one of the maids if she’d help pull one over on you. She was happy to help. A little tranquilizer in your wine was a simple enough request. I think the kitchen staff is going to gossip about this for a while. What do you think?”
He cursed and tried to take a step towards me but fell to his knees, his hand gripping the table hard enough to crack it.
I backed towards the door, watching for his eyes to flick to me before I stopped and raised a finger to tap at my chin. “Oh, right. The twins. Nearly forgot. Silly me. I won’t be going that way, don’t worry.” I changed directions and headed for the doors the chefs and kitchen staff brought in the meals from.
I turned at the last second and finger gunned him with both hands.
“You’re it… again.”
sixteen
Callie
Themaidthathelpedme winked as I bolted past her in the servant's stairwell, and my laughter reverberated in the narrow space as I bounded down the steps two at a time. When Rathal had caught me yesterday, I’d been furious, but what was noticeably absent was the disappointment. I’d thought about it for hours in the shower, and the only conclusion I’d come up with was maybe I was a little bit of an adrenaline junky and the thrill of the chase had overridden my good sense to be sad that I’d failed.
Was I going to look any deeper into that or how my heart wasn’t racing from fear right now or at the fact that there was a zing of thrill that shot through me when I heard the shattering of glass breaking from the dining room and Rathal’s bark of fury?
Absolutely not.
The stairs ended at a forked hallway, and I made a split second decision and went left. I flew past closed doorways and more stairwells, the soft soles of my slippers making no noiseon the thick carpets. I’d pushed through a set of double doors when I heard a haunting grunting-like howling coming from somewhere behind me.
Sweat broke out on my forehead and trickled down my temple. Goosebumps spread across my skin. I picked up my pace, sprinting all out for everything I was worth.
“Callie!”
Rathal’s irate bellow vibrated the air. I swore and pushed myself to run faster. I picked a random direction as I came to one hallway's end, going left once and then right twice with no way of knowing where I was going, just that it was away.
I flew up a set of stairs and out another door onto a terrace, my gaze swinging wildly around for an exit. It was dark out, the swirling nebula provided a purplish light almost as bright as a full moon, which heightened my night vision enough to see that the only way out was back the way I came or over the edge in front of me. I approached the ledge and peeked over the stucco railing. Below me was the roundabout front yard. It was that far down. I didn’t think I’d die if I jumped, though I might break a few bones.
Indecision warred in me just long enough for Rathal to burst through the doors, his chest heaving. He’d discarded his stupid ribbon shirt and was only in the gold shorts. The fur along the ruff of his neck stood up, and his ears were swiveling around, the gold hoops clinking together until he spotted me backed up against the rail. His head lowered and a bass growl rumbled up his throat.
