Am I headed back to the warren of dungeons now?
“You should get some rest. Your Naming is going to be here before we know it,” he announces with a nod as he gestures toward the mirror. “Are you okay to get back the way you came?”
My head snaps between the king and the Port. “Wait. I can go? Just like that?”
The king’s warm laugh fills the room. “Of course. I did tell you that I preferred to keep this visit between us,” he reminds me, and that statement triggers all the same alarms that it did the first time I heard it.
I open my mouth to argue, to demand answers, but then it dawns on me that he’s actually letting me go. And from the sound of things, he’s prepared to continue to honor his vow to my father about the Syphon Glass and keep it secret. I have no idea why, but I’m also not stupid enough tonottake advantage of it.
I warily move closer to the Syphon Glass.
“Oh, and Ever…” he calls when I’m about to climb up on the cabinet. “If you try to break into my tower again, it will be the last thing you ever do. I don’t care whose daughter you are or what you mean to my son. Are we clear?” All the warmth and humor has evaporated from his face, and for the first time since I laid eyes on the king, I feel the full weight of his station and immeasurable power.
The hairs on my body stand up in warning. My swallow is audible, and my nod is jerky. “Got it,” I chirp.
“You have until your Naming tonight to give me an answer. That should be plenty of time for you to think things through.”
With that, King Noctis strides out of his office. He doesn’t give me a chance to answer. He doesn’t look back as he goes. He simply walks out, the door to his office closing quietly behind him, and I’m left standing by the cabinet utterly gobsmacked.
I waste no time hurrying back through the Syphon Glass to my room. To my surprise, everything is exactly as I left it. Aeson and his Wing aren’t waiting for me. No one comes stomping out of the dark with an accusatory shout and declaration of betrayal. The room is quiet and the shadows painted across everything are starting to fade as night gives way to morning.
It should make me breathe easier, help me to relax, but there isn’t any part of me that feels relieved.
I broke into the king’s office certain I would find answers. Instead, I only found more questions. Now, I have to figure out what I’m going to do.
Strike a bargain with a king? Or bet on myself?
Both are a gamble. Neither is a sure thing. And the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Chapter 36
“RISE AND SHINE, FRILLS, YOUR…uh…glam squad is here.”
Karis’s calm voice plucks me from a fitful sleep, and the ring of uncertainty I hear in it has curiosity shoving back my exhaustion. I teeter between consciousness and unconsciousness for a moment before deciding sleep wins. Curiosity has fucked me over enough in the past twenty-four hours; it can wait a little longer before it starts making doe eyes at trouble again.
“Why is she on the floor?” a rough, unfamiliar voice asks.
“She does that. Don’t worry about it,” Farrow answers.
“And who issheagain exactly?” another male inquires, and from the sound of it, this isn’t his first attempt at fishing for information.
Great. They have a bunch of Wing wannabes assigned to guard me, but they haven’t told them who I am or what’s about to go down tonight. I’m sure that bright idea will bite no one in the ass, especially not me.
“You don’t need to worry about whosheis either. You’re here to protect her, not write her memoirs. Focus on the task at hand,” Farrow rebukes.
I groan irritably at the grating exchange. “Can you gossiping biddies sip your tea elsewhere? I’m trying to sleep,” I grumble and then burrow deeper into my nest of blankets.
I’m spent and need way more rest than the few hours I’ve managed if I’m going to deal with the shit today has in store. A raucous clattering suddenly fills the room, followed by a strange thrumming, and—against my will—I startle all the way awake.
Fuck the fae.
I throw blankets off my head and sit up with a growl. “I swear on the ancestors, I’ll throw each of you off the bloody balcony if you don’t fuc—”
“Happy Naming Day!” Azo croons from where he’s struggling to set up some kind of metal chair and table in the middle of the room.
The human beams at me and then starts to wrestle with the chair again. A small rack with a single covered garment bobs in the air behind him. I eye it warily. I don’t know much about fancy dresses, but whatever’s hanging on that rack doesn’t look big enough to be a dress, fancy or otherwise. Concern prickles through me, exacerbating my crankiness.
Chair wrestled and placed next to the table, Azo grabs a metallic disc from a case on the floor and starts messing with it. My focus drifts from whatever Nixy’s quirky assistant is doing to the sun gleaming at me through the window. Surprise whips through me when I realize it’s late afternoon. Looks like I slept longer than I thought. Not that I stopped tossing and turning long enough to feel rested at all.
