Eiri chose hallways at random, always whichever seemed to be the darkest and emptiest, walking until his shaking legs were about to give out. Finally, he chose a door at random and let himself in. This entire hallway was completely abandoned, as far as he could tell, and the room he found himself in felt just as neglected. Large white cloths covered the furniture, but a wall of shelves let him know he was in some sort of study.
It wasn’t hard to pick out the desk and Eiri went straight for it, crawling into the leg space like a frightened child seeking shelter from a storm. There wasn’t much room, but he curled himself up there anyway, pulling his knees to his chest and holding on tight. Everything felt strangely distant, his thoughts blurred and his head fuzzy. Every conflicting emotion was still there, churning within his chest in a maelstrom of pain, but they were blunted, like it was happening to someone else.
Eiri desperately wished it were happening to someone else. Someone who couldn’t still feel the phantom memory of Syrus’ lips on his skin. Someone who didn’t remember the warm smile Syrus seemed to reserve only for him. Someone who didn’t know that every single bit of it had been a lie.
He hid under the desk for hours, until his thoughts went hazy and his body slumped with fatigue. It had to be well after midnight, possibly closer to dawn, and surely Syrus would be asleep by now.
Every muscle ached when he crawled out of his hidingspace, cramped from sitting curled up on the hard wooden floor for so long. Like his depressing thoughts, though, the pain felt distant, his mind and body disconnected.
There were no guards in the hallways as he stumbled back to the room he’d stolen from Syrus. Something about that seemed wrong, but he couldn’t think of why right now, nor did he care. All he cared about was that the bedroom was empty when he slipped inside. For a moment, the door stuck, and he feared Syrus had locked him out, but it opened after a gentle push.
The bed was empty, still untidy from where he’d slept in it, the hearth cold and filled with gray ash. Even the lunch tray from earlier lay forgotten on the table, the silver covers still in place. The maids didn’t come to this room, not while only he occupied it, and that was perfectly fine with him. He wouldn’t be sleeping here tonight anyway. The wardrobe called his name, though, and he stripped off the Vaetrean clothing he’d worn to the party, leaving a trail from the door to the wardrobe. With the Canjiri embellishments, the garments had almost been pretty, but now they only served as a reminder of Syrus and his lies.
His traditional loose, billowing pants and fitted shirt were familiar, but tonight, even they didn’t feel quite right. The shirt left his arms bare, and the chill of the room seeped into him, slipping past the numbing fog he’d wrapped himself in. His soft shoes were too light after an evening spent wearing heavy boots, but at least his jewelry was familiar. He put in each of his earrings, every single one he’d taken out in an attempt to be ‘appropriate’ for tonight, and with each stud and hoop, a piece of himself slid back into place.
The future was a vast unknown. He didn’t even know where he would sleep tonight or what tomorrow would bring, but at least he would face it as who he was: Eiri C’Dari, a proudCanjiri, a raider, a man who made his own path. That had to be enough.
Tonight, though, he would go back to the study he’d found and rest there. He’d stow his pride in the morning and seek out Kien, as he should have done from the very beginning. He was done trusting outsiders. The only person in this country who gave a damn about him was Kien. They’d find a way out of this together. It wasn’t much of a plan, but it would have to be enough for now.
Squaring his shoulders, Eiri looked around the room, but there was nothing he needed here. Not anymore.
“I will get through this,” he breathed. He took a steadying breath and walked out of the room, directly into the arms of the guard waiting outside the door for him. He didn’t even get a chance to fight, too stunned to think clearly, and the next thing he knew, pain exploded along the side of his face. The guard shoved him harder into the wall, the stone scraping open his face, as another slapped a heavy set of manacles on him.
“What are you doing?” he snarled, belatedly trying to struggle, but a blow to the back of his head left him seeing stars, the fight draining out of him as he focused on staying conscious.
“Quiet, you fucking gutter trash,” the guard ordered, his voice dripping hate. “You are under arrest.”
“For what?” His head spun, throbbing in pain with every frantic thump of his heart.
“You damn well know what,” another guard spat. He hadn’t even noticed her, or the half a dozen others ranging behind the big man who’d slammed him into the wall. When the first guard spoke again, Eiri’s blood ran cold, the darkness rushing in, leaving him reeling.
“You are under arrest for the murder of Prince Syrus Vardor.”
Chapter 23
Syrus
Syrus triedto keep up with Eiri, but the other man was too fast for him, quickly disappearing into the labyrinthine hallways of Lodie Palace.
“Would you like us to find him, Your Highness?”
The two guards near the entrance of the corridor were watching him, their expressions carefully blank, but he could easily imagine what they were thinking right now.
“No, it’s fine. As my husband, he is allowed to go anywhere in the palace he’d like.” It came out sharper than he’d intended, but it seemed they needed a reminder that Eiri was royalty by marriage, even though he was Canjiri. He had the right to go anywhere Syrus could. He also had every right to be furious with Syrus, something he was trying not to think too hard about.
How had everything gone so wrong, so quickly? Their plan had been working, at least as much as it could. His mother was furious, and he didn’t look forward to seeing her tomorrow, but at least it bought them a little time.
At least, it had bought them time until Syrus messed it all up. He needed to fix things, but how? Apologiesclearly weren’t going to work. He needed to find Xan and Ellis, but… perhaps tomorrow. Xan would berate him for not telling Eiri the truth earlier, and Ellis would likely do the same. It could wait until tomorrow. For now, he just wanted to retreat and lick his wounds in private. Eiri would likely be in Syrus’ suite, where he’d hoped the two of them would spend the night together, but that was no longer possible. So, it would be another night spent in his borrowed rooms until he could fix this mess between them.
“Could I get a tray brought up?” Syrus asked when he reached his borrowed room, and the guard standing outside nodded.
“Of course, Your Highness. It will be here shortly.”
He murmured his thanks, then went inside, kicking off his boots by the door. His jacket landed on a chair, to be tended by his valet in the morning, while everything else went in a heap by the wardrobe. A glint caught his eye as he pulled on a soft linen shirt, the flicker of flames from the hearth catching on the embroidery on his jacket. The red thread Eiri had chosen had a faint metallic sheen to it, something he hadn’t noticed before.
Crossing back to the chair, he picked up the material, tracing a fingertip along the delicate flower his husband had so carefully applied. He didn’t recognize it, but he’d seen the design before on some of Eiri’s clothing. The touch of Canjir should have looked out of place on his Vaetrean clothing, but truthfully, it meshed better than he’d expected. Just as he and Eiri had.
“Fuck,” he groaned into the silence of the room. How could he let this happen? He should have insisted on explaining everything to Eiri right then, the party be damned. He’d gone on and on about how they had to trust each other if this was going to work, and instead he’d lied. A lie of omission, but a lie nonetheless. Despite what he’d told himself and Eiri, a tiny partof him had known that getting Eiri to trust him would make it easier to bring him to heel. After spending time with Eiri and getting to know him that day on the beach, none of that had mattered anymore, but how could Eiri have known that?
