“The manor staff will be up by now,” Tethys said, lifting her head from his shoulder. With the rise of the sun, the color returned to her cheeks. Although her eyes remained haunted by the night’s remnants, her complexion had warmed.
“I know. We aren’t going back to the manor yet. Not until you’ve sobered up,” Araes said.
“Where are we going, then?” she asked.
“Somewhere safe,” he said.
Surprisingly, Tethys didn’t protest. She simply pressed her cheek to his neck and closed her eyes.
Chapter 20
Bloodied visions of the four rebels limp on the library floor still haunted Tethys as she clung to the lieutenant. A dull ache in her head surfaced as he carried her through the still-quiet marketplace and up past the old horse stables. Shame blushed her sobering cheeks. How could she have been so stupid? Trading her safety, and also that of the orb’s, for a selfish night of freedom? She couldn’t face Araes, let alone herself, but those feelings would have to wait because the night’s discovery loomed over the city in a thick blanket of dread.
That rebel was a soldier gone rogue, mad enough to attempt her assassination in a pleasure house. But he’d almost succeeded. A relentless thought glued itself to her. If there was one rebel among the Venian ranks, there almost certainly were more.
The army was compromised, but alerting Otto of the traitor would only worsen the situation. Under pressure, the rebels hiding in plain sight might seep back into the shadows. So, until their leader was apprehended, she decided to keep what she’d learned to herself.
“Are you okay, my lady?” Araes asked, peering at her with gleaming eyes. She still wasn’t sure if he was trustworthy. Had he really been adversarial, he could’ve let those men kill her. But Eos above, those eyes. She hadn’t noticed the gold shavings floating within his honeyed-amber irises, or the glimmer of dark spots, like ink droplets expanding in water.
She shuddered, swallowing the remnants of the rebel’s words. His touch still seared into her skin, and she knew it’d take a lot more than simply scrubbing to rid herself of the memory.
“Y-yes. Just shaken up,” she said, forcing a smile. She tucked her hands beneath the folds of Araes’s cloak, hiding the tremble in her hands that gave away truly just hownotokay she was
Tethys’s mind betrayed her by flashing another image of the massacred rebels. Before she could spiral into the pits once more, Araes’s voice turned stern and his hold around her tensed.
“What in the Gods were you thinking? You’d be smarter to enter a viper den than attend one of Lord Ophis’s midnight parties,” he snarled, placing her on the street. They stood silent and still in the quiet morning.
“It was idiotic going there. Especially while the rebels are still at large. Had I not followed you, those men would have killed you,” he said through gritted teeth. “And your lady-in-waiting? There will be consequences for her recklessness.”
“Don’t involve Jaide. It was I who requested she take me,” Tethys said, her voice now dripping in quiet defiance.
“Do you know what’s at stake if you die? You and the autumn king are the only two holding the east and west from ripping each other to shreds. These rebels are ruthless. They’re desperate. I’ve borne first-hand witness to their lethality, my lady. Without you, Venia doesn’t stand achance.” Araes gripped his fists at his sides. The gravel in his tone made it evident that the lieutenant bordered on losing control of the anger now kindling in his belly.
“I know exactly what’s at risk, soldier,” she said, her voice low and full of venom.
“Then how could you be so stupid?” Araes asked, matching her tone.
Tethys felt her body tense. The sheer physical reaction to this insufferable man standing before her was overwhelming. Her heart boomed like a drum on her chest and her throat tightened.
“I am your queen. Do not dare call me stupid,” she said, taking a step into him. Their burning, angry bodies were a hair’s width apart. Araes smelled like peppermint and leather. His scent was…intoxicating. Tethys held her breath, refusing to fill her lungs with it. She couldn’t deny there was a flicker of something that shouldn’t be within her. Something that, like the strike of a match, manifested upon her rescue…maybe even before then. Tethys swallowed those rising feelings down and tore her traitorous eyes from the curve of his full, lower lip.
“Until you stop acting as such, you are no queen of mine,” he whispered, taking a step back and widening the distance between them.
“You wouldn’t understand.” She scowled, turning away.
“Then help me to understand, Goddess. I’ve offered a hand so many times, and yet you still treat me as your enemy,” he replied, his voice lower than the sinking night.
“Do you know what it’s like to give your body unwillingly? Or to be confined to a life decided for you?” Araes straightened. “I didn’t think so. No matter my justifications, you willneverunderstand. Do not stand there and claim your judgement to be honor or offer pity under the guise of compassion, Lieutenant.” Tears threatened to fall from her eyes, but she bared her teeth and locked them away. “You can hate me as much as you’d like, but I assureyou it’s no more than I hate myself.”
The two walked in silence up the sloping street, then. Each step fueled her anger. She’d sought a physical connection of her choice, her freedom. How could he begin to understand that control of her physical desires outweighed recklessness in this instance? It didn’t matter. After all, she hadn’t found anything close to what she sought at Lord Ophis’s.
“We’re here,” Araes said.
Tethys hadn’t realized they’d traveled into the farm district of the city. Rolling pastures sloped down the hillside, giving way to the sharp eastern cliff side that jutted out from the continent’s edge. Further still, the crystalline sea slumbered, now painted in pink and orange. She so wished to be like the faint horizon line and fade into those endless waters.
What was beyond where the sky met the sea, even she didn’t know. The furthest point mapped was an island chain so minuscule it could be mistaken for ink smudged by the cartographer, where her familial home resided, carved into the cliffside. That was to the south, though. It was assumed that nothing but sea connected the eastern and western coastlines. To the north, nothing but mountains infinitely stretched in the distance.
Araes knocked on the weathered, oak door of a simple, single story cabin. The paint on its blue shudders was chipped from age, the hinges rusted and desperately in need of repair. The front garden, however, was perfectly kept. Spring peas twisted and twirled through a trellis marking its entrance. The tiny white flowers scattered along the vines. When the morning breeze whispered over the hillside, it carried their sweet scent with the sharp, salted prick of the sea.
