“They have an alchemist on staff. I’m sure they will prop her up with any number of healing draughts to get her through the ritual.” Healing potions were financially out of reach for most people, but I supposed it made sense that a royal family would have their very own alchemist. Especially with a child as ill as Celeste appeared to be. They were borderline miraculous in their abilities to repair injuries and minor illnesses, viral infections, that sort of thing. But their abilities didn’t always stretch to genetic disorders or magical infections. My former roommate, Jordan, hadn’t been able to be healed of his vampirism once he’d been infected, for instance. “How long the potion will last, I can’t say, though. I’ve never kept track of such things.” She turned that penetrating gaze on me once again as she held my future wife’s hand. “You will need to take good care of her, Victor.”
I nodded. Of course I would.
“She will not be immortal immediately, and though this disease will not continue for terribly much longer beyond the ritual itself, she will still be able to be killed for several years. Your only duty during that time is to protect her.”
Chapter 5
Grim
“Oh,noneedtoknock.” The next day I heard my sister’s voice through the door of my assigned guestroom a heartbeat before she opened it, knowing full well I wouldn’t have locked it. She held it open for a train of wide-eyed servants as they carried in covered dishes of food and armfuls of clothing. My cousin Nikolai traipsed in behind them and then flounced onto the velvet settee in the corner, watching as the servants descended on the room like a swarm of bees, straightening the bed where I’d lain for a grand total of five minutes, depositing the food trays and explaining the breakfast options, and finally encouraging me to stand from the armchair I was occupying so that the seamstress could hastily double check the final fit of my wedding attire. The entire affair took less than a minute in total and then they were gone again, flitting off to the next urgent matter, leaving me alone with my family.
My sister frowned at their abrupt departure. “These people act like they think we’re going to open a portal to the underworld right beneath their feet,” she muttered as she closed the door.
“You must admit, you’ve done it before,” Nikolai stated mildly as he pilfered a wedge of fruit from my meal. I wasn’t hungry anyway.
“Only to you.” She breezed over to the armoire and opened it, inspecting the clothing the fae had provided for me.
“Because I’m the only person you can’t beat in the training yard without cheating.”
I picked up the ancient tome I’d been reading before they came in, an attempt to distract myself from my nerves, and endeavored to ignore them.
“Eh, I can’t beat Vitya anymore either,” she admitted, using the family’s nickname for me. “But then I heard you can’t either,” she smirked at him. “Perhaps you should try cheating, Kolya. I hear it’s very effective. Oh, these suits arestunning.”
“What are you reading anyway?” my cousin asked, tipping my book up with a finger. He dropped it and huffed. “I can’t even read that.” It was a treatise on lingual drift in the high fae languages from before they had written history.
Yelena turned a disgusted look on him, and I had half a mind to open a portal to the underworld right there beneath both of them, but my mother chose that moment to walk into the room.
“Dearest Mila, thank heavens, you’re just in time to save me from your daughter ranting at me for not being able to read a dead language,” Nikolai said by way of greeting.
“The book isabouta dead language,” Yelena howled at him. “It’swrittenin perfectly serviceable modernTalacwhich is still spokentodayin Faery.”
In Nikolai’s defense,Talacwasn’t spoken in any of the regions he’d ever been assigned to collect from, so he really had no true need to learn it. As a point to my sister, however, our kind had an affinity for languages. They were a fundamental connection between peoples and cultures, and as such they were integral for our work in interacting with the dying in a way that provided dignity and a sense of safety for those in our care. To say picking up new languages came naturally to us would be a massive understatement. It took a special kind of laziness for one of our kind to make it to the age that Nikolai had and not be able to read a single word of one of the currently utilized languages. Even if Faery wasn’t a realm that he spent much time in.
My mother ignored their dramatics. “What are you two doing in here this early? Kolya, don’t you have your own breakfast to eat?” She swatted at his hand as he snuck his fifth slice of fruit. “Vitya, darling you must eat something. It will be a long day.”
“And a long night, if you know what I mean,” Nikolai said with a laugh.
I lifted my gaze to my cousin and stared at him with open contempt. I loved my family, but I began amassing my magic to remove this one in particular from my assigned room by force.
My mother hissed at him. “You haven’t seen the state she’s in, but that sweet child is in no shape for such things, so don’t even joke.” She flashed me a warning look that made me release my magic. “They’re going to wake the poor dear this morning, and I can’t imagine how difficult this day is going to be for her. You’re always a gentleman, Vitya. Please keep in mind her state of health.”
My jaw dropped open at the implication, but she ignored my reaction entirely.
“Now, I just stopped by to bring you this,” she said as she approached me, holding out a small, decorative box. I took it from her gingerly, lifting the hinged lid to see the heirloom nestled in white satin inside. It was called the Twilight Star—a ten carat, emerald cut, blue diamond mounted on a gold cord necklace. The stone itself had been gifted to our family by a fae emperor three millennia ago, and my mother had retrieved it from one of our vaults at my grandmother’s direction.
“Thank you. It’s perfect,” I told her sincerely.
“Well. I think it fitting that it be worn by the people it came from. I only wish we’d had time to have it mounted in something with more personal meaning,” she demurred. “She can, of course, have it remounted however she sees fit.” She gazed at the piece with admiration before smiling at me happily, all unnecessary admonishments forgotten. “Your father and I will have other gifts for her of course, but that one will be from you. Now, since you’re here, Lena,” she said, turning toward my sister as she moved to leave the room, “they’re set to do bridal party hair just after noon. Kolya, you’ll have to do your own hair,” she told him with a teasing glint, giving my cousin an affectionate pat on the cheek as she passed him. “I will check on everyone later.”
“I can’t believe you’re going to be the Best Man,” Nikolai grumbled at my sister as soon as the door clicked shut. He grabbed another slice of fruit from my tray, and my sister launched a thick tendril of shadow magic at him, knocking the food from his hand before he could react.
“I’m his Best Man because I actually care about him,” she retorted, taking the tray of food away from him and setting it on the bed next to me. “Stop eating all his food.”
Nikolai stared forlornly at the slice of fruit on the floor. “It’s not like he’s eating it, and now look at what you’ve done. Now none of us can eat it.” He flopped back on the couch. “You’re not even aman,” he groused, returning to his earlier complaint.
“You’re certainly not the best,” she retorted, returning to the wardrobe and straightening the clothes she’d been looking at before closing the door.
Nikolai burst out laughing, and Yelena turned to smile at him. “You know the only reason I’m the Best Man is because his little mortal friends aren’t here,” she conceded.
