Hedid not see me.
11
TEMPEST
As the high advisor strode across the room, my gaze was snagged by the Wraithweave gameboard. The game pieces had been lined up in the neutral territory on both sides of the board as if play was about to begin.
On the fae side, I noted the master, a shield standing close by his side, plus five defenders, all cloaked in steely gray.
And on the Nullen side of the board, the high lady stood tall and strong, her dark blue cloak fluttering in a breeze I didn’t feel sweeping through the room. She stared with an empty expression toward the landscape she’d soon have to conquer if she hoped to win it all.
The pieces weren’t alive, of course. Not in the game I’d played with Vexxion or with other riders while sipping wine at the bar.
But here—
Before my eyes, the high lady’s shield appeared in front ofher, placing himself between her and the master watching from the other side of the board. She had only three defenders, though more game pieces could be purchased with spoils won in battle. A master could also be added to her team. Some used a strategy that didn’t include one. Most considered it risky not to use the all-powerful master, but each game on any given day could result in either side winning. While vulnerable in certain ways, the high lady also had considerable power of her own.
One of her defenders was dressed in pure white, while the others wore dark blue like her cloak. It differentiated them from the opponent’s steely gray.
I wasn’t sure what to think of the white defender, and I wasn’t given time to study the board any further. The high advisor’s hand smacked onto my shoulder, and he flitted us to the hallway outside Vexxion’s suite. He thrust open the door and shoved me inside, banging it closed behind me. His footsteps stomped away.
Vexxion joined me shortly after that, his body wavering for only a moment after his flit before he stiffened his spine and sent me an odd look. Why did he appear to be guarding himself? Did he think I’d be angry with him about this?
In some ways I was, but what he’d done—what he wasstilldoing—crushed me in a way nothing else ever could.
My walls were gone. I was as open, exposed, and vulnerable as he was.
I’d sat in the chair parked in front of the fireplace, quivering while Ivenrail sucked Vexxion’s power through me like the king was a child and Vexxion an afternoon treat. I’d allowed him todo it, though the vines held me in place. Could I have done anything to protect Vexxion instead of the other way around?
I suspected he’d stood between me and danger many more times than I knew.
Though he’d shown me in more ways than I could count and told me with his touch and the resolve in his eyes, I saw it all clearly—finally.
Vexxion would die for me.
The thought was a shard of ice tearing through my chest. Each pulse of my heart reminded me that his life was the currency he’d willingly spend for mine and without hesitation. My love for him bled with the ugly knowledge that one day, I might wake to find his warmth just an echo within me.
The king isn’t draining bits of energy from all the Nullens taken when the dregs invade the villages,I said, my voice as bleak as my soul. It was a guess on my part, but somehow, I knew.
No.So much pain came through in his one word. It tore through me, exploding out the other side, leaving a hole that would gape forever.
Are the Lieges draining them?
Some. I can’t be everywhere at once.
Exhaustion etched across his skin, and the scars webbing his neck stood out starkly. His white streak of hair blazed in the low light.
Shadows clung to the hollows beneath his eyes like specters. Only the edge of determination in his gaze showed his never-ending strength. His promise to protect me was ironclad, forged with grit and bone-deep resolve.
Forged by his heart.
Drask soared in from the other room and darted over to the perch placed in front of a window. I suspected Vexxion had asked someone to bring it here for my precious pet. Always thinking of how he could make my life better while sparing few thoughts for himself.
Drask pecked at the glass.
“Let him outside,” Vexxion said.
“Something will eat him.”
