“Do you see these books?” Euda asked, pushing her rounded spectacles up her narrow, pointed nose. Thosedamned spectacles. Her voice was an octave higher than the average mortal, squealing at inflection points that crawled up Tethys’s skin.
“These books are the bones in which our very existence is shaped. Their words are the blood flowing through each and every one of our veins. It is of the utmost importance that as our ruler you are intimately familiar with every intricacy in history. Every tiny little detail. There are mortals that would argue against your judgments, and it is only with a wholehearted understanding of human history that you may sway their favor,” she said through exaggerated gasps.
Euda’s short knees quaked as she continued with her lecture. “How you can stand there and act as if your own people’s history is so insignificant it’s not worth your ear, I will never understand. If I were queen, well I—”
“But you are not, Euda. I am. Just because my power falters does not make me any less so. Eos above, I am at the mercy of your lessons every week, and every week you declare how ungrateful, irresponsible, and undeserving I am of the crown. You can only beat me so many times with the same bat,” Tethys cried.
She turned on her heels, making eye contact with Araes. His features were drained of any and all emotion, but his eyes trailed her throughout the room as she paced. The floodgates opened and words poured from Tethys’s mouth into the open air.
Thickening it. Saturating it with the buzz of a reckless loss of control.
When finally Tethys found herself empty, she grew quiet. Euda stood still, her hair and complexion paler than usual.
“You will never be a leader. Not until you rid yourself from these conjectures of the human experience. Never in all of my years have I wished I’d been born a northerner until now. Your sister would never belittle her people asyou have.”
Tethys’s face whitened at the mention of her sister. Her heart twisted in its cavity and she stopped in her tracks. She watched Araes raise a brow and straighten from the doorway he’d leaned against.
“And why would I be so loving of a people who never accepted me as their own, Euda? I entered this world as a pathetic babe, and that’s what I’ll remain for every generation of Venian to walk this soil.”
She looked at the woman, a fire kindling in her honey gold eyes.
“The lessons have concluded for the day. You are dismissed,” Euda said, shaking her head in disbelief.
Before tears could well in her eyes, Tethys raced for the door and stormed out.
Chapter 29
“Explain to me again why I had to practically bribe Arissa to keep silent?” Araes asked, helping Tethys into the plain wooden carriage that’d arrived in the night.
“Because, unlike my siblings, I cannot transmit…disappear then reappear in another location,” Tethys explained, taking his large hand and seating herself in the dim interior. The feel of delicate skin against his was electric, forcing a stifled breath now demanding release. He swallowed the knot forming at the back of his throat and took the seat on the bench opposite hers.
Tethys, dressed in midnight black travel leathers, notified the soldier with a tap on his slumbering shoulder that the bags were packed and a chariot awaited their departure in the front drive. They were going to Ursae, and no amount of protests would sway her resolve in the decision. He simply nodded and excused himself briefly to wash.
By the tarnished flecks of gold in her haunted eyes, Araes knew this journey wasn’t just to seek out Polaris and demand her reply. It was to protect Tethys’s heart as well.To put distance between herself and the memories stained across the manor walls. His chest cracked, watching the shadows wriggle behind her eyes. The goddess wore her pain so close to her chest, but he could see it, reflected in shades of grey morning light highlighted on her face.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked, keeping his eyes from lingering too long. He danced on coals, not knowing which version of himself she needed now, but whichever it was—he would be it. Those bruises painted across her body sent his blood ablaze. He would kill the immortal king, however impossible that truly was, if Procyon ever attempted a hand to her flesh again.
“Let’s hope so,” Tethys said, pulling him from his spiraling thoughts.
“And I’m going to assume it’s far too secret for you to brief me on exactly what you intend on discussing with your sister,” Araes suggested, raising a brow.
“You would be correct, Lieutenant. It’s above your pay grade.” She smirked, the pink sunlight illuminating her high cheekbones.
“You can trust me, Goddess,” he said. He meant it, too. Tethys could tell him anything and he’d keep it until he was cold and dead in the ground. Araes realized when he’d returned to his chambers to refresh that he would do anything, everything to keep her safe. She had him wound around her perfect pinky finger so tightly it practically hurt.
That was incredibly fucking dangerous.
“I know,” she whispered.
The electricity jolting between them held him prisoner. All meaning of time melted around them, and with it the carriage walls, the cobblestone streets, hell, the whole damned continent. Gone. Just this unrelenting buzz of current racing from her to him, like a tether joining them together. He sucked in a breath, letting the feel of her gazeupon him warm the frost from his veins.
The chariot wheel bounced over a pothole, jerking them out of the trance they’d found themselves in. Araes cleared his throat and watched a merchant in tattered clothes walk down the street outside. If he risked another look at the goddess opposite him, he wasn’t sure he could contain himself much more. Keeping his attention locked on the mundane was the safest option.
“So, what can you tell me, then?” he asked, clearing his throat.
“Well, Polaris may have information that could help us figure out who’s taking the lowborn children in Serpens. Lord Ophis’s shades provided some interesting information connecting the crimes to the northern city folk,” she said. He knew she was withholding something incredulous, but he wouldn’t push. In time, maybe she’d tell him.
“We only have a week or so before my absence is noticed, so we’ll need answers as quickly as possible,” she said, fidgeting with something in the interior pocket of her cloak.
