Nine
Tessa
The days passed slowly. I awoke every morning at dawn and donned my fighting leathers and cloak, even if I had no cause to wear them. I propped the pillow against the wall and took myself through a dance of punches and kicks until the leathers felt clammy against my sweat-soaked skin. Then I washed from the basin of water the maidservants brought every day. They caught on to my routine. For a while, I expected the gods to put a stop to it. But the days passed without a visit from any of them.
Sighing, I scratched another mark on the wall. I’d been confined to my room since my second trial, and this was the fifth morning I’d logged since then. That meant it was the eighth or ninth day I’d spent in this city.
I couldn’t decide if that was a good thing. On the one hand, it had given me a chance to work on my strength and dexterity. And it meant I’d yet to begin my third trial. After the horror of the second one, I couldn’t imagine what Andromeda would make me do next.
But on the other hand, I’d been cut off from learning anything about their plans or witnessing any more of the discord between them.
A pounding fist on the door knocked through my reverie. The door opened a moment later, and I expected the maidservant to bustle inside with her water basin and friendly smile. It was Sirius instead. He rushed past me, his eyes darting to every corner of the room as if he were hunting for a hidden enemy.
My heart jumped when he looked at me. He was the last god I’d expected to see. Sometimes, when I lay awake in bed, I couldn’t stop myself from picturing the way he’d stared into my soul that day in Gailfean. It had felt as if he could have crushed me with his mind. All those haunted thoughts of the future of this world, I couldn’t rid myself of them. If I didn’t do something—and soon—it would come to pass.
He looked at my fighting leathers. “So it’s true, then. You’re spending all your free time training for a battle you’ll never fight.”
“Won’t I be part of it?” I countered, keeping my voice steady and even. I couldn’t let him see how much his unexpected visit had rattled me. “Isn’t that why Andromeda chose these trials for me? She’s making me into one of you.”
He stared at me for a moment, then laughed. The sound was like knives on glass, and it echoed down the castle corridor. “Andromeda sees you as her little pet. She thinks she can strip you of your humanity, turn you into the child she never got to know. When she tires of this game, she’ll discard you. She knows your heart is with the Mist King. As long as he’s alive, you’ll never truly join us, no matter how much Andromeda’s essence infects you.”
I stiffened. “Is that some kind of threat?”
“Just an observation.”
“Why are you here? To torment me?”
“Andromeda ordered me to bring you a message,” he said, wincing. “Once you’ve bathed and dressed, you may enjoy two hours of freedom. She’s been consumed by her work and didn’t realize how many days had passed. You’re due some fresh air.”
My heartbeat quickened, though I tried to hide it. Andromeda could pretend she’d forgotten, but I didn’t believe it. She knew about the marriage bond. She’d let me stew in my ‘prison’ until I was practically salivating for even a few minutes outside.
She was playing with me, and she’d just made her move.
“Freedom sounds wonderful,” I said. “Will some guards come to escort me?”
Sirius narrowed his gaze at my cheerful reply. “No, the maidservants will leave the door unlocked after they bring you the water basin. You may go any time after you wash. You’re free to wander where you will.”
Anywhere but back to my mate.
He turned to go, then paused in the doorway. “You ought to know that if you try to escape right now, you will get caught.”
“Why would I try to escape? This is my home now.”
For a moment, a tense silence strained the air. Then he said, “Only one who has spent her entire life surrounded by fae would be so clever with her words. You say nothing that can be scented as a lie. But Andromeda is clever, too. She’ll figure out your every truth.”
Footsteps echoed in the corridor, and the maidservant scurried into view. Sirius tossed one last frown my way and vanished into the shadows.
* * *
After the maidservant left, I undressed and washed myself, mulling over Sirius’s words. He seemed different now, so unlike the god I’d met in Gailfean. That day, he’d seemed larger than life. Now he seemed more human—or more fae. Morereal, rather than some otherworldly creature sent from the stars.
Was this their weakness? The longer they spent in this world—in Halen Mon—they grew more and more likeus? Whatever the source of their power was, could it be dimmed?
If they remained here for a hundred years, what would happen to them?
Regardless of the answer, it scarcely mattered. Unless I found another weakness, none of us would be alive in a hundred years to fight them. This world would fully be theirs by then.
Sighing, I patted my skin dry and pulled on my leathers and my cloak. Then I padded over to the window, eager to chart my path to the docks. Unlike the last time I went outside, I wanted to spend my hours of freedom exploring the city. I wanted to see how many ships they had ready to sail across the Bantam Sea—and when they planned to leave.
