Chapter 32

Chapter Thirty-Two

W akefulness came on the palms of Tallon's hands as they ran up and down my back. I relished the moment, pressing my face further into his side and chasing the warmth.

"It's time, little wolf."

"I know," I mumbled into his shirt. It was everything I'd been pushing for and yet, in this moment, in his arms, I didn't want to leave for anything. My cheeks flushed, hearing my mother's admonishment coming from the Beyond. There was everything at stake here, and failure was not an option. I had nothing left to lose and everything to gain by getting the treatment to Emyl before it was too late. "I know."

Tallon's hands stilled. "You do not need to do this, Odyssa."

His words were more effective than cold water splashing across my face. With a sigh I pulled out of his embrace and sat up, twisting to look down at him still sprawled out across the bed. "Yes, I do. And you will not convince me otherwise."

He raised his brow. "A feat I'd surely never attempt."

"Don't patronize me, Tallon." I moved to the edge of the bed, pushing my hands through my hair as the enormity of what I was about to finally accomplish soared through me. My stomach was a pit of anxiety, gnawing at my spine. "I cannot fail."

The bedding rustled and I closed my eyes briefly as he shifted closer to my back, his body radiating warmth into me once more. He pressed a kiss to my bare shoulder. "I did not mean to sound patronizing, little wolf. I was speaking the truth. Convincing you to do anything you do not already want to do is an exercise in futility. If you saw yourself as I see you—how you truly are—you would have taken over the castle by now."

"My brothers convinced me to come here, to leave them behind for the sake of money." I whispered my confession to the curtains. "I abandoned them to die, because I was too cowardly to stand up against them and make them let me stay."

"Did they convince you to leave? Or did you simply take advantage of the opportunity to escape from beneath their thumb?"

"You know nothing about us," I hissed, pulling away and stalking over to the window. I crossed my arms over my chest, trying desperately to hold myself together. His words had struck true, right in my heart, in my deepest failings.

"I know everything I need to know about you, Odyssa." He did not move from his place on the bed. "I know that you are a survivor, that you are a caretaker, that you would rather give away pieces of your very soul to ensure those around you want for nothing. I know what I saw in your face that night you learned of your brother's sickness. I know what I felt from you in the ballroom when I had to murder Talyssa. If you had truly wanted to stay, nothing your brothers said would have stopped you. You left. To prove a point, to try to earn their love, to protect them…whatever reason you want to give. But you chose to leave. And you wound up here with me. I will not allow you to feel guilty over the circumstances that led us together." He stood from the bed and tugged me into his arms, tucking a finger beneath my chin to raise my gaze to his. "I certainly will not allow you to feel guilty for what my magic has taken from you."

Tears blurred my vision and some of the anger bled out of me as I slumped against him, burying my face in his chest. "You make it difficult to hate you."

His laugh rumbled through his chest and against my forehead. "I am immensely grateful for that."

I lingered in his arms for a moment longer before stepping back and wiping at my eyes. Regardless of what he said, I did still need to do this. Emyl did not deserve to die, not like this. "How long do we have?"

"Long enough for you to bathe and change if you wish."

"I have no other clothes here," I pointed out. "Do you really want to waste time going back to my room?"

The wide grin on his face was foreign to me. Part wicked, part pure joy. "Now that you know the truth, there are much easier ways to get around."

Pieces fell into place as his implication became clear. Every muscle in my body clenched and I watched the smile fall slowly from his face as I shook my head. "No. That place is my nightmares, Tallon. It is not somewhere I would willingly go."

"I do not know why you've been able to cross into the Beyond in your nightmares, but I promise you…" He paused, taking both my hands in his. "I swear to you, nothing will hurt you in the Beyond when you are with me."

I shook my head again. "I won't."

He squeezed my hand. "Then we won't. Do you want me to go get you clean clothes?"

"No," I sighed. The longer we waited, the more my nerves concocted every possible way this could go wrong and I could fail again. "I want to end this. Now."

Another chuckle rumbled from his throat and he pulled me flush against him, every inch of his body pressed against mine. "Odyssa, this will never end. Whatever happens here, I have found you, and I am not letting you go."

"I thought you said no one could make me do anything I didn't want to do."

"Are you saying you want to leave me?" He leaned down, breath brushing over my lips. "Because then I will have to call you a liar."

"Tallon," I warned, though the word came out far breathier than I intended.

His eyes flashed silver. "Don't. Do not say my name like that, my wolf."

"Why not?"

"It makes me want to find out how you taste, with your thighs wrapped around my head."

I swallowed hard, feeling the wave of heat melt through my body. Gathering all my willpower, I rocked up on my toes to press a quick kiss against his lips before pulling out of his arms entirely and stepping a healthy distance away. "We have work to do, Tallon ." I ignored the way his eyes narrowed at me. "You made me a bargain; it's time to uphold it."

"Then we should be going."

It was nearly laughable how little resistance met us along the path to Prince Eadric's study. Unlike before when I'd attempted myself, the one guard we passed merely nodded at Tallon before turning his focus elsewhere. The ease with which we infiltrated the room stoked the anger in my belly as we entered the prince's quarters, snaking up the spiral stair and following another hallway until Tallon pushed open a heavy door.

The study was as everything else in the castle: a shrine to opulence and wealth. It only made my steps falter for a moment, though, and then I was crossing the plush rug, rich black and woven with intricate patterns in bright blues and deep purples and vibrant reds. The desk in the center of the room was clearly the focal point, made of heavy wood and laden with piles of papers and stacks of books I doubted the prince had ever opened.

My focus was entirely on that desk.

In this room, if the treatment was here as Tallon believed, it would be here, in this testament to Eadric's self-importance. My hands hovered over the scattered paperwork, eyes searching for anything that could resemble medicine, though I had no idea what I was truly looking for. It was then I realized Tallon had not passed the threshold and was watching on with a pinched expression.

My blood ran cold. "What is it? Why aren't you helping?"

He grimaced. "I…I cannot help you further. My bargain with the prince won't allow it."

The room spun as my heart pounded in my ears. I curled my hands into fists and took a slow breath through my nose. "We will work around it then. Can you tell me what I am looking for, at least?"

"A vial," he said, gritting his teeth. He stepped back into the threshold and immediately relaxed. "I will stand guard, but you must be the one to look for it."

Expressing the irritation prickling beneath my skin at the bargain's limitations would only delay us further, so I bit my tongue and nodded, turning my attention back to the desk. I picked up a pile of papers, only to freeze and look up at Tallon with wide eyes. "Will he notice if something is out of place?"

"Unlikely."

At his assertion, I resumed my search with tenacity, shoving aside papers and pulling open drawers. Tallon had said Eadric would be away from his study, but given how the castle bent to the prince's will, I doubted our luck would hold for long. The quicker I could find the treatment, the quicker we could leave. Setting the papers back to rights as best I could, I dug through the drawers next, finding nothing but gold and silver coins tossed haphazardly atop crumpled papers and random pieces of jewelry.

The pressure in the room shifted and I looked up, expecting Tallon to have moved closer to me. But he was still standing in the doorway, and I watched as Tallon's eyes widened the split second before I felt someone step up behind me. I froze in place, slowly pulling my hands away from the desk and straightening.

"What do you think you are doing in here?" Prince Eadric hissed into my ear.

I locked eyes with Tallon and immediately wished I hadn't. The look on his face told me everything I needed to know; we'd failed. I had failed. But I would rather fail my family a thousand times than die at the hands of the Coward Prince himself. I raised my chin and stood tall, refusing to shrink in on myself for this pittance of a man. "Are you asking that to be dramatic or are you truly so stupid that you have no idea?"

Tallon's face paled, but it was his eyes flashing silver that truly made me regret not biting my tongue. He had been afraid that Eadric would use him against me already, and now I'd opened my mouth and all but ensured exactly that.

Eadric tutted and walked around the desk, sitting against it and looking at Tallon. "We had a bargain, you and I. Are you truly going to break it for some pretty little servant?"

"I've broken nothing between us, Eadric. And you know it."

Eadric pushed off the desk and continued back around until he was behind me again. "What's your name, girl?"

"You'd let me into your home, onto your staff, without ever knowing my name?" My voice was icy to my own ears and Tallon's warning frown did little to tamp down the anger.

"You saw what I made him do to the other one who stole from me?" he asked, tugging on a lock of my hair.

I pushed down the flinch that threatened to erupt. I'd failed already—the treatment was out of reach—and while Tallon was likely safe from the prince's ire, I wasn't. I had nothing left to lose, and I'd been waiting for a long time to tell the Coward Prince what I truly thought of him. "Yes, I did. It was despicable."

He paused, looking between Tallon and me before letting out a loud laugh. "Yes, he is that, isn't he?"

I turned my head to look him dead in the eye. "I meant you."

Now the prince froze, my words shocking him into a stupor. As the insult settled into the room, I vaguely heard Tallon's hiss, but my focus was on the prince, watching as his face morphed into shock, and then outrage, and finally landing on utter fury. "You would dare ?—"

"I would. You are a horrible human being, manipulating everyone around you to control your people with fear, ignoring them as they die in the streets and Veressia drowns in their blood." Stepping away from the desk, I faced Eadric with Tallon at my back. Anger thrummed through my veins, pulsing along the lines of my death marks. I'd never felt more powerful than in this state of calm rage. "You must resort to locking people inside with you to have anyone pay attention to you. You are pathetic."

My heart soared as he spluttered, his face turning red and splotchy. The words had struck true, and for the first time, I was grateful for the years at the receiving end of Emyl's sharp tongue. I'd learned from the best how to cut someone down with little more than words, and I had no reservations in turning my brother's prized weapon on this coward in front of me.

"You insolent…" He reached down into one of the drawers that I hadn't gotten to yet, and when his hand emerged, it was holding a gleaming silver knife. "I will show you what happens to those who think they know better than me. My father thought me weak and pathetic, too, and now look where he is. You will regret crossing me, servant , and so will Tallon."

The knife glinted in the light as he thrust it towards me, coming in towards my side at waist level. Time slowed, and I heard Tallon shout, but my focus was on the bright silver blade. My body was frozen, and just as the knife should have impacted, should have dug into my flesh, Tallon's body collided with mine. The wet sound of a blade entering flesh squelched in the room and pulled me from my almost trance-like state.

Tallon had his back to my front still, but I could see the crimson flowing from the wound in his side, spilling down his shirt and darkening the fabric as his hands clutched at his flesh, trying to keep the blood inside. My vision spotted and black danced around the edges. Only as the black grew more consuming did I realize what they were. My marks had come alive, just as Tallon's had at Eadric's command.

Prince Eadric, now pale and trembling, stumbled away from us, the knife clattering onto the floor as he dropped it. His eyes were wide and panicked, flitting about to my shadows that swirled around us, hovering over Tallon's wound. "No, no, what did you do? Who are you? No, it can't be." His eyes snapped to Tallon. "You told me she had no magic!"

Tallon grinned. "I lied."

The darkness converged around Tallon and me, and I inhaled sharply, my own panic rising as I struggled with what to do next. I moved in front of Tallon, pressing my hands to his side as well. He let out a pained grunt, more blood gushing from the wound. I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing we were back in his room, that we'd never left in the first place. One moment of doubt—I could give myself that—and then I would get us out of here and back to safety.

"Odyssa," he rasped.

I opened my eyes and nearly fell over. Only my grip on Tallon kept me upright as I took in our surroundings. The nightmare world, the Beyond, was in front of us now. The study, Eadric, all of that was gone, replaced by towering cliffs and jagged canyons.

"No, no, no, why are we here?" I asked, looking up at him. "Get us out of here, please, Tallon."

"I did…not do this," he panted. "You did… Imagine your destination… It will take us there."

I tried, desperately picturing his room, but nothing happened. My marks still undulated around us, flickering irritably as I clenched my fists and tried again, hands sticky with Tallon's blood. Panic began to well up, and I fought to control my breathing. "Tallon, it's not working."

He took a deep breath and pulled one hand away from his side, grasping loosely around my throat and settling his thumb into the hollow between my collarbones. "Odyssa, breathe ."

His grip grounded me in a way I hadn't expected, my only focus on the heat and weight of his hand around my neck, the sticky wetness of his blood on my skin. My shadows flared, wrapping around us like a cocoon once more. I wanted out of here , but nothing was happening.

"Remember how you felt earlier in my room," he murmured, stroking his thumb along my skin. The pain was still clear in his face and his voice, but his grip was firm even as his eyes fluttered shut. "Remember how it felt to be in my arms. Imagine what it will feel like when I'm holding you again. Take us back there, Odyssa."

His words and his hand on my throat were enough to calm my panic, though they made my heart race in an entirely different way. It helped though, and on the next blink we were no longer in the Beyond but in a bedroom. But it was not his bedroom. The layout, the decor, even the feeling of it, were all wrong. This room felt far more personal, and held far more traces of Tallon than the room I'd been in before.

"Do you have two rooms? Where are we?" I asked, feeling panic rise in my throat. Could Eadric follow us here?

"We are safe. This is my room in Kalyx's palace, not Auretras."

Despite the knowledge of us still being in the Beyond, I slumped against the wall in relief, his hand falling from my throat as he did the same. This room was nothing like the Beyond we'd been in; it felt warm and inviting. Cozy. I wanted to explore it, to find the pieces of himself that Tallon had left lying out. While I ached to know how I'd transported us here, having never been here myself, there were far more important things and Tallon needed care.

"That was very good for your first time," he said between panted breaths. "I think I need to sit down for a moment, though."

My ears rang, a shrill noise blaring through my head and blocking out all else as I fought through my own exhaustion. I lunged towards him just in time to get my shoulder beneath his arm on his uninjured side, catching him moments before he fell face first onto the floor.

He'd thrown himself in front of a knife for me, hadn't hesitated for a moment, and holding him now as he bled sluggishly, the gaping pit in my heart that had longed for someone to care for me rather than use me began to close.

Heaving his not unsubstantial weight onto me, I quickly discovered I would not be able to get him to the bed and settled for lowering us both gently to the floor in his entryway. I let my hand settle over his chest, to feel the steady hammering of his heart against my palm for just a moment before I stood. I was covered in his blood, and though the bleeding had slowed, the wound in his side needed treating and likely stitching. He'd done the same for me before, albeit on a far less serious injury, and I could do the same for him now.

I wiped my hands on my stained and torn dress and hurried into the room, pulling open drawers and doors until I found what I was looking for: a medicine kit, rags, and water. I'd just gotten him; he would not die because he chose to protect me. I could not bear it if another person was torn from me.