I straightened. The words knocked from my chest as the truth hit. “You told him?” I couldn’t keep my voice down, nor could I stop the chill seeping through me.
“I changed my mind. I couldn’t go through with it. I have to stay; it’s for my people. I still have faith that things will turn out as the fates predicted. I didn’t mean for him to torture you, just to stop you from making me leave.”
The fire flickered in the corner of my vision. Smoke pooled in the air, but there was no malice today. They were still listening, but they understood.
“He was going to kill me, Lilyanna, and he still will! Even if you manage to get him as far as marriage, he’ll then kill you and hang you on the wall like the others. You’re not special.” I regretted the words instantly as they speared into her. “To him, anyway.”
She nodded. “That’s why you’re here, Tam.” She turned and headed back to her bedroom. “To stop him before he does.”
I stared at the closed door in disbelief, the slam echoing around the room. She knew. She knew! She’d always known. She wanted me to do the job for her, pave her way to the throne. We’d been in each other’s company day and night for weeks, and she never said a word. I trusted her. I delayed my own mission, put mine and the Collectors’ lives on the line. And for what?
Is this what Siobhan feels like? When humans come crawling to her, begging, pleading, wheedling for a deal, for any small act of grace to make their lives bearable? No wonder she spends her days making them as miserable as possible.
I ran to the main door. The knob was ice cold and frozen shut. I rattled it furiously, my palm searing from the intense cold. I peered through the keyhole, but it was clogged with a gelatinous mound of ash.
I screamed and ran to my room, the spiral steps shuddering as I tore down them. My room was neatly made, the fire burning brightly, my cloak laundered and hanging on the back of the door.
I reached for the knob, my fingers gripping the diamond facets, but it too was bolted shut. I kicked the door, a warning spear of pain shooting up my back. The high window was rapidly being buried by snow, the light tinged gray and solemn. Sucking in air through my teeth, I stomped back up the stairs.
Lilyanna hovered in her doorway. She smoothed her nightgown, the creases springing straight back. “It’s been like that for days.” Her eyes flitted to the locked door. “And the snow is gradually burying us in from the outside.”
The large, mottled window was half-smothered by snow, crystals of ice spiderwebbing up the pane.
“Should’ve thought of that before you betrayed me and condemned us both.”
She clutched at the cream silk, scrunching it around her narrow hips. “I’m sorry. I really am.”
“You should be.” I pressed my lips together. I wanted to say, Let’s see how you like it when he has you in that dungeon. But no matter how angry I was, I’d never let him do that to her. Instead, I said, “Why did you believe I’d be able to stop him?”
“It was the tea leaves, Tam. I knew before I came that you would protect me.”
“That’s ridiculous. What about everything that happened? The sheets? The fallen sconce? The banns?”
“I told you I believed in omens. I did waver, but I’m going to change the future of my entire people, and this is the only way to make it happen. I had to stay, and so did you.”
I ground my teeth, my entire body vibrating with rage.
“We can do this, Tam. We’re so close.”
“We? You can bet your life on some dregs in a cup, but not mine.”
Her face crumpled. I wanted nothing more than to keep screaming, to beat sense into her. Dimly, her words slotted into my thoughts, righting themselves with the truth. Could it still work? Had she seen me succeed? Goddess save me, was I about to stake everything on her stupid tea leaves?
I sighed. “I’m going to draw you a bath.” I moved across the room, my body aching and tugging with every step. “You stink, Your Ladyship.”
A sob caught in her throat, but she controlled herself. “So do you.” Relief filled every line on her wan face, even though she couldn’t bring herself to smile. “I’m getting married in two days, Tam.”
“I know.” I ushered her into the bathroom.
To a monster.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
HAUNTED AND HUNTED
For the first time in weeks, I slept in my own bed.
Or tried to sleep given every minuscule shift of the mattress brought a new wave of pain to my aching body. Lilyanna glanced repeatedly at the expanse of white silk sheets in her own bed but stopped short of begging when she saw my mood.
