We reach the top of the steep winding stairway, and I thank my conditioning that I’m not breathing too heavily after the harsh incline. Huffing my way to the top would probably be a dead giveaway. Anyonefromhere would be used to climbing these hills. Instead of continuing on toward the front double doors of the manor, I’m guided to the side of the large house. It’s hard to tell what color it is, but it’s made from stone as though it was designed to blend in with the rock and greenery of the hill at its back. The village is obvious at night, with the lit up houses and torch-bearing patrols, but I suspect during the day, that this stronghold blends into the scenery around it very effectively.
As we get closer to the side entrance Beva is aiming for, we suddenly pass through an invisible barrier that makes me tingle all over. Warning bells chime in my head when I realize we just walked through a ward I couldn’t detect at all beforehand. I hold my breath, but nothing happens to me, and no one else reacts in any way, which means whatever just happened is normal. I immediately want to make sure I can still shadow walk and then pull a weapon and try to use it, just in case the ward did something to me I don’t know about yet. Instead, I grit my teeth and keep my mouth shut and my palms blade-free as I follow Beva through a wide arched door.
By some unfathomable miracle, I’ve made it this far, but I know better than to let that lull me into a false sense of calm and security. I’m all too familiar with how quickly things can go to shit. My mind wanders to the Scorpions. Are they somewhere back in the forest silently tracking our every step? Are they watching the village now? Or did they have to stay back at the tavern for a bit in order to keep the barkeep and townsfolk from being even more suspicious than they already were?
“Tayim, go inform the commander that there might be a group of mercenaries staying in town. We’ll need to keep an eye on them until they leave,” Beva orders, and just as quietly as she has been the entire time she’s been behind me, Tayim slinks off.
“Vit, grab supper and then come relieve me from the Moon’s quarters. I want someone outside her door for the rest of the night.”
Beva’s use of the moon as a title gives me pause. Verus said he was a sword in the first division of the Moon’s army. If me or imposter me is the Moon, then does that mean all of this is mine? I study Beva as she pulls her hood back and starts down a hallway that leads to a back set of stairs. If I’m in charge, then why does this guard feel as though she can order me around? Beva mentioned back at the tavern something about the Crescents converging as though that was a threat. Could that be my family?
A strand of pale hair falls into my face as we ascend the staircase. Surprised, I hold my breath as I study it carefully. Tarek’s glamour made my hair a chestnut brown, but it’s back to my moon-kissed color, which means the ward outside must have stripped me of Tarek’s thura.
Shit.
“At least you’re learning to accept when you’ve been beaten,” Beva grumbles, pulling my attention back to her as we hike another flight of stairs. “You put up far less of a fight than last time.Moonor not, you should listen to your betters.”
I loose a derisive huff. I was just worrying about what happens if she sees me with my glamour removed. However, her scathing tone assuages my concern. I’m alone with this insolent Igeeyin guard, and she’s quickly outgrowing any need I might have of her. I bide my time and keep my hood secured over my face, but Beva’s contentious manner just sealed her fate.
“You speak to me like I’m a child. Does that make you reckless or daft?” I ask the guard, hoping it will coax a reaction out of her that helps me understand better what’s going on here.
If I’m someMoonto these people, some princess or revered figure, then why is Beva such a cunt to me?
She chuckles humorlessly at my question, once again unfazed by the warning edge in my tone. “You know what’s at stake, Auset, and yet you continue to do things like this.” She waves an arm at me and the black cloak I’m still hidden within. “There’s no escaping the role you will play in all of this, no matter how you try to rebel. Faline knows what’s best, and it’s time you fall in line.”
I shake my head, but she doesn’t see it as she leads me down an arched corridor where we pass two other offshoots of hallways and a handful of closed-up rooms. She stops in front of a grand door at the end of the hall while I try to sort through what it is imposter me is supposed to fall in line with. The door in front of us is tall and wide and surprisingly a work of art. Scenes have been carved into it, but I’m not given any time to study what’s been etched into the grain before Beva is pushing it open and confidently striding through.
“Beva? What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” a commanding familiar voice snaps.
Beva freezes, her head snapping in the direction of the fae that rises from the garnet-colored settee to our right. Indignant fury gleams in the Igeeyin female’s stare as she glares at the guard who just barged into her quarters. Her hair is long, but not as long as mine. It’s the strange combination of not quite white or gray or pale blue. Her skin is a creamy alabaster I once had too, and hard silver eyes flit from Beva to me before abruptly filling with confusion.
Shock and triumph roar in my veins as I pull my hood back with one hand to reveal a face that’s almost an exact match to the fae standing in front of the sofa. With my other hand, I pluck a dagger from my waist and slink in behind Beva. Before she can stop gaping or close her shocked mouth, I shove a dagger through the side of Beva’s throat. I pull her back against me and bring my lips to the guard’s ear.
“Turns out you’re both recklessanddaft,” I whisper to her as she chokes on her own blood. “If only someone had taught you to never turn your back on a Scorpion.”
I shove Beva’s body away from me and kick shut the large door at my back before I turn to deal with the fae that’s stolen my face.
“Who are you?” she demands imperiously, a long knife now gripped in her shaky hand as she takes me in. Her eyes grow more and more stunned the longer she looks.
My pulse no longer has separate beats. Now it’s one steady thrum of adrenaline, retribution, and wrath as I stalk carefully closer.
“Funny you should ask that,” I taunt as I pull off my cloak entirely. “I’m here to find out.”
ChapterFifty-Seven
We leap for each other at exactly the same time, and it surprises us both. It seems theimposter princesshas had some training. She swipes her knife at me, but I dodge the attack and crack her in the jaw with my fist. She nails me in the thigh with a hard knee and swings for me again. I duck under her arm and then shove a push dagger I pull from my thigh into the meat of her shoulder. She cries out in pain, but what shocks me is the burning sting that just exploded in my own shoulder. I go still, stunned and confused. Her blood seeps around the edges of my blade, but it feels likeIwas the one who was just stabbed. I look down at my own shoulder, expecting to find a knife, but there’s nothing there.
Taking advantage of my momentary distraction, the imposter drags her dagger across my forearm. I hiss as blood blooms from the gash. She gasps and suddenly grabs her arm as though she was the one who was cut, but her arm is smooth and unmarred; there’s no wound there.
Baffled and pissed, I tap into my extra strength—courtesy of my Blood Bond with Riall—and I sink a fist into her gut. She drops her knife and staggers back.
“What the fuck is going on?” I snarl, my shoulder throbbing as though I’ve been stabbed when I haven’t.
I pull at the neck of my tunic, looking for a wound that I somehow missed getting, but there’s nothing there. Puzzlement pricks my mind like needles, and when my gaze lands on her bleeding shoulder, I realize that somehow I’m feeling her wound like it’s my own. Rage engulfs me, and I tighten my grip on my dagger.
“What did you do to me?” I seethe.
Was it the ward? Did it protect her somehow? Why am I feeling what’s happening to her like it’s happening to me too?
