Ronin tossed his head, flicking messy strands of white hair as he turned and exited the council chambers.
“See you and your tasty human tonight, Tristan.”
* * *
“Why wasn’tI informed about your party tonight?”
The Vicereine flicked her eyes to Tristan before returning her attention to the document before her. The scratch of her pen across the thick paper made his teeth clench.
He cleared his throat and asked again. “Why wasn’t I informed about your party tonight, Your Excellence?”
She pursed her scarlet lips. “I assumed your brother had already invited you.”
“He hasn’t said a word to me about it,” Tristan huffed. “And what’s this I hear about Mistress Fortin being there? I thought we agreed that she wasn’t to be involved in any of this.”
“Agreed?” Varuna expelled a breathy laugh. “You made arequest. Which your brother and I have chosen to ignore.”
She pushed out of her chair and rounded the desk, the mid-afternoon sun twinkling hints of butter and tangerine in her golden feathers.
She crossed her arms over her slim torso. “You do not get to decide how we choose to deploy our tools. If you’ll recall, sheofferedto use her memory-pulling abilities to aid us in thwarting our enemies.”
Tristan fought the urge to tear out the Vicereine’s throat at the suggestion that Cassandra was hertool.
“She left the Temple weeks ago. Her abilities have fully faded,” Tristan lied, desperate to keep Cassandra out of this. “She’ll be of no use to us.”
“Is that so?” Varuna cocked her head, her icy, predatory gaze stripping him bare. “Time’s ticking, Tristan. You owe your brother a name. How have your meetings been going? Learning anything useful?”
Tristan clenched his fists at his side, his lack of answer an answer in itself.
Varuna’s bone-rattle chuckle raised the hairs on his arms. “And there you have it. Mistress Fortin is a charming new trinket. Throw her at a few of the councilors and see what she’s able to glean.”
“If she’s attending the party, she will do so posing asmyconsort. AndIwill be the one to escort her there,” Tristan growled.
Varuna sank back into her chair. “I don’t care how she gets there. Just that sheisthere. And that she’s able to point us insomedirection after your failure to do so.” She returned to her document.
Tristan pinched the bridge of his nose. These political games made his head ache. He was a hammer, not a scalpel.
The Vicereine flicked her pen at him. “You’re dismissed. See you and Mistress Fortin at the palace at eight o’clock sharp. Don’t be late.”
Tristan muttered a curse under his breath, turned on his heel, and left her office.
CHAPTERTHIRTY
Xenia’s head pounded as she raced barefoot across the scorching red sand.
Ahead of her, Cael moved only slightly less gracefully, as if his body hadn’t yet adjusted to the lack of counterweight on his right side. An almost imperceptible limp emerged whenever his right leg swung forward to connect with the ground, kicking up puffs of ruddy dust that clung to her sweat-soaked ankles. Skeletal plants reached out to tear at the skirt of her glittering silk dress; the most inappropriate attire imaginable for their trek through this wasteland.
They’d departed the fortress nearly an hour ago. Cael had left the Typhon sword behind—he wanted to travel light.
After gathering up Cassandra’s dagger and filling a small sack with food and the canteen with water, Cael had shown her a small, egg-shaped rock, white and glittering with rainbow sparks, then whispered the word Rhamnos to the stone and gripped her hand.
An incredible force had speared through her chest, a divine arrow impaling her heart. She’d pitched forward, and her surroundings dissolved, blurry pinpricks of light extending into long strings as they hurtled through space and time. Her awareness narrowed to the piercing pain in her chest and Cael’s frenzied grip on her hand.
The world had returned in a bone-shaking crash, and she and Cael toppled onto a red sand dune. He’d surveyed their surroundings with a disappointed grunt, then tugged her into their current jog.
Just when she thought she couldn’t take it anymore, about to open her mouth and beseech Cael for a break, he paused, lifting her by the waist and setting her atop a smooth, white rock.
Cael offered her the canteen, and she took a small sip of water which was far from cool but quenched her thirst. She had to stop herself from gulping down the entire container.
