CHAPTER 58

CHAPTER 58

AUREN

I wake up, prying myeyes open like they’ve been glued shut. My whole body is heavy, as if I’ve just had the best nap ever.

And then I remember why.

Orgasms.

Orgasms, and how thoroughly King Ravinger just ravaged me.

I came in here to talk to him about Manu, to ask him about the severity of the threat to his kingdom. About the Conflux, and if it really is a slap on the wrist or if Manu was blowing smoke to block the fire.

But instead of talking, he seduced me.

The prick.

Glaring at the empty room, I slam my hands down on the bedding and leap out of bed, stalking toward the closet. I think I only fell asleep for a few minutes, so I need to get down to the dinner with Manu, but I certainly can’t wear this dress. Not with its certain...noticeable spots that are now dried and stiffened on the front.

I yank off the pretty ruby fabric, thankful that Slade doesn’t have maids come in his room, because there is absolutely no way I could ever let someone else scrub this. I will be doing that myself in the bathroom later.

I shimmy my hips into a pair of black leggings and then pull on a shirt this time. Should’ve been wearing pants earlier. Then maybe I wouldn’t have let myself get seduced and become so easily distracted.

Stupid.

It’s just...that male.

He does the smirk and the chuckle and the lines of power with his scruffy jaw and his dirty words, and I just melt. Every time.

It’s also his cock. He has a really good one.

Glaring around at his closet, I call to the gold that I wrapped around the pillars in his bedroom, and it immediately floods toward me from the other room. As soon as it’s near, I direct it with my movements, slapping a hand against his favorite leather jerkin. My gold immediately engulfs it, making the fabric go all shiny and gaudy.

The sight makes me feel instantly better.

So I do his favorite pants next. Not my favorite pants—the ones that hug his glutes just right and make his butt look really good—but the other ones. Then I gild his extra boots. His coat. Even the daggers he has hanging on the walls. All of these things that he will not be able to wear anymore, because someone will definitely see.

When I’ve used up all the gold from the pillars, I dust my hands off, looking around in satisfaction.

It’s the little things.

Personally, I think he deserves it. He basically sexed me into unconsciousness so he could go off to give Manu his final answer at dinner without me being able to discuss it at length beforehand. There are a lot of lives at stake here, not just mine, and despite his certainty on the matter, it’s worth talking about.

Just as I’m about to leave the closet, my eyes catch on the feathered coat. The one I wore after I left the Red Raids. The one that Slade had in his closet back in Ranhold. But that’s not all he’s somehow been able to retrieve. From its pocket, I catch a peek of the fae book I’d brought to him back in Fifth. The book I never got to ask him about, because, once again, he’d distracted me with sex.

This seems to be a theme.

I add it to the list of things I need to talk to him about and then go into the bathroom. After I wash up and comb out my tangled hair, I throw it into a braid and then leave Slade’s rooms. Walking out into the hall, I hurry to make it to the dining room in time.

Except, when I get there, the room is empty. The table cleared off. I stop in the middle of the doorway, staring at it, my heart starting to beat quicker and quicker.

When I see a servant come in at the back of the room, I call out. “Excuse me?” The young man pauses, eyes going wide. “I’m sorry, but when did the dinner end? The one with the advisor from Third Kingdom?”

“About an hour ago, Lady Auren.”

Shit. I missed it.

I missed it, and Slade didn’t even try to wake me up.

My lips press together in a hard line. “Do you happen to know where King Ravinger and the Third advisor went?”

“His Majesty went to the army base. Sir Ioana, I believe, was set to depart soon.” Frustration brews in my gut.

“Thank you.”

He nods and hurries away, disappearing like he’s worried I might ask him something else. Or maybe he’s afraid I’m the magic-stealer that’s going to throw gold at him.

I stare at the dark room, unsure what to do for a moment. Slade left me in post-edged orgasmic bliss, probably snoring in his bed, and then came down here alone to once again say I decline to the Conflux. He didn’t even wake me up to tell me before he ran off into the moonlight to visit the army base.

I should’ve gilded more of his things.

I’m pissed. I’m worried. I’m so scared about how this is all going to play out, and now that the answer has been given, consequences will pile up quickly. It’s all happened so fast, slipping right through my fingers before I could get a real grip on it.

Spinning around, I start walking away, wondering if I can catch Manu before he leaves. I start heading in the direction of his room, the silent soles of my shoes padding down the hall. If I can talk to him again, maybe I can convince him to tell his sister not to cut off Fourth’s imports and spur on Slade’s need to retaliate.

Yet when I find another servant and ask them where Manu’s rooms are, she tells me that he’s already left. That he and his guards were seen just a few minutes ago walking out of the room.

My heart sinks.

For a moment, I consider going down to the army base to talk to Slade, but I’m too jumbled up to do that right now. I find myself walking toward the gardens instead. The guard just inside opens the door for me. “Getting some fresh air, Lady Auren?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Despite my troubled thoughts, the outside air does help. As soon as I step outside, I breathe it in, the cool air calming me slightly. And I need some calm, because my stomach is a churning mess, my emotions agitated. Manu is probably on his way right now to his sister.

Fourth Kingdom might starve because of me.

It doesn’t matter what kind of positive impression we’re trying to push out to the public about me—once they realize I’m the reason for them going hungry, they’ll turn on me more than they already want to.

The guard follows me out, trailing quietly behind me while I’m deep in thought. Yet I only make it a few feet when I notice someone on the bench near the row of roses. “Rissa?”

Her blonde head lifts up, white dress practically glowing in the moonlight. I walk over to her as she gets to her feet. “I haven’t seen you very much since you arrived,” I say as I come up to stand in front of her.

“That’s because I’ve been loath to get out of the bed,” she says, tucking back a loose strand of her hair. “After traveling in a tent for so long, I needed to get reacquainted with a feather mattress and not feeling like my toes were going to freeze right off my feet.”

“I’m sorry you had such a long, rough journey.”

“Yes, well. We can’t all infatuate kings and ride timberwings across the Barrens, now can we?”

I snort out a quiet laugh as I look out at the garden. Other than a few lanterns lit along the outer stone wall, it’s dark yet peaceful out here, the moonlight casting off just as much shadow as it does light.

“Want to walk?” I ask her.

She tips her head in a nod, and we start walking toward the hedges, our steps slow as the guard trails a respectable few feet behind us to give us privacy.

“How’s Polly doing? I hope she got the coins I sent down to her.”

“She did. And she left straight for the brothel after.”

I can tell just by the tone of her voice that it bothers her.

“I know you don’t want that for her, but she seemed like that’s what she wanted for herself,” I say gently, breathing in the scent of jasmine as we pass by its vine trailing up intricate latticework.

“I know she does,” Rissa says, quickly glancing at me from the corner of her eye. “I know that now,” she amends. “I just...I’m going to miss her.”

I’m surprised at the rare moment of vulnerability she’s showing, and that’s when I realize how sad she looks. Rissa is always hard-as-steel. Seductive. Smart. Blunt. But sad? Never.

I look back at the guard, motioning for him to hold back while Rissa and I stop just inside the first row of hedges. “I know Polly expressed some...anger at you for getting her out of Ranhold,” I begin carefully. “But I think deep down, she knows you saved her life. Whether she wants to admit it right now or not, she was probably going to die on dew.”

“And she better not ever try anything like that again,” Rissa snaps as she glares at the leaves of the shrub like they’re personally offending her. “Because she will get herself killed next time, and I’m not going to swoop in and save her. I’m not going to watch her go through weeks of withdrawals.”

I wince, just imagining how that must’ve been. I have no idea what a body would experience after being cut off from dew, but based on Polly’s haggard appearance and the fact she had to go through that while traveling with the army through a frozen wasteland, the experience probably wasn’t good. I can imagine what Rissa had to endure to get her through it all.

Better her than me.

“Polly will come around,” I say gently, reaching down to take Rissa’s hand. She startles for a second, and I fully expect her to pull away. Yet to my astonishment, she actually squeezes my hand.

She lets go almost immediately, but still.

When she sees the smile creep up my face, she scowls at me. “No.”

“No, what?” I ask, still grinning.

“I know you’re thinking we’re great friends now. It was a squeeze of comfort, nothing more.”

“I don’t know,” I say with a breezy shrug. “It felt like a friendship squeeze.”

She huffs and starts walking away. “Shouldn’t you be off with your king, doing something romantic?”

“I’m not feeling very romantic at the moment,” I confess. “Besides, he’s back down at the army base again.”

“They do like to spend all their time there, don’t they?” she replies, looking put out. “Captain Oaf is always down there.”

I quirk an eyebrow just as we reach the fountain and bench where I was practicing my gold the other day. “And that...bothers you? That Osrik is at the base a lot?” I try to ask as nonchalantly as possible, but I think I fail miserably, because she stiffens up.

“Why would it bother me?” she asks defensively, arms crossed in front of her as she stands before the fountain. “He’s a lout and a ruffian. An army base is the perfect place for him.”

“Mm-hmm.”

She swings her head in my direction, narrowing her eyes and opening her mouth to deliver some retort.

Yet whatever she was about to say gets cut off suddenly when we both hear a noise behind us. I turn just in time to see my guard suddenly fall to his knees. I rush over, thinking he’s choking or passed out, but then I see the second figure behind him. The one holding the knife.

Eyes wide, I watch the guard fall flat on his face with a gurgling noise that twists my stomach. Fear pounds in my veins, and then I hear, “Auren, watch—”

I whirl around at Rissa’s warning call, and I freeze in place. There’s a man I don’t recognize holding one hand over Rissa’s mouth and the other pointing a dagger right at her heart. Her blue eyes are wide and terrified, the color drained from her face.

Just as I lurch toward her, something smacks into my temple. Not enough to make me pass out, but enough to send a shock of pain and dizziness through me, throwing me off as I stumble back.

I call upon my gold, but since it’s night, all I have at my disposal is my bracelet. It melts against my wrist, dripping down my hand to collect in my palm. It’s a tiny amount, too tiny, but it’s all I have. If I can get it to the man who just hit me, to sharpen it like a needle and stab him through the eye, then I could—

A putrid smelling cloth is suddenly slammed over my nose and mouth. I sputter and cough, inhaling something sharp and bitter and consuming. It coats my tongue, sticks to my throat, burns my eyes, flares in my chest.

No, no, no!

Panic is a scream in my head, blaring through my ears, pounding through my veins. But with the blow to the head and this dizzying drug trapped against my face, I immediately slump, unable to hold my weight, unable to do anything.

I can’t move my legs. Can’t control my arms. My fisted hand tries and fails to get the gold to help. It slows and clogs against my palm like mud in a bog, too thick and gluey to move.

Someone catches me before I collapse, and it’s all I can do to hold up my head. It’s all I can do to keep my eyes open. It’s like looking through a vortex, everything moving, everything violent and blurred. The cloth is just thin enough to let me breathe in and out, but it’s forced and suffocating, making my heart race.

My mind, however, seems to be slowing down. So are my blinks. I’m trying to stay awake, trying to make sense of what’s happening. The gold is dripping off my hand like drying paint, just as drugged and paralyzed as I am, and it falls from my fingers in a useless drizzle onto the lush grass.

Rissa is struggling, muffled screams against the cloth, her terrified eyes locked on mine. And I have nothing. No other gold around to help us, my magic too tainted from this poison to use it even if there were and my body weren’t incapacitated.

And then two people walk forward. One of them is an unfamiliar man wearing a long white robe. A robe—and a large necklace hanging down with the emblem of Second Kingdom. My heart splits in fear, but then, my eyes fly to the second person moving out of the shadows.

Manu.

“It’s nothing personal, Doll,” he says quietly, dressed in blue so dark it’s nearly black, his arms bare, hair tied back tight. “But I am loyal to my sister.”

“And to the law of the Divine,” the robed man says.

Manu nods stiffly. “Let’s go. We can’t afford to be anywhere near here when Ravinger gets back.”

I try to scream against the cloth, but all that comes out is a blustering breath.

“What about this one?” someone asks—the man holding Rissa. “She’s just a saddle.”

It’s getting so hard to keep my eyes open. So hard to hold up my head. Rissa doesn’t look away from me, though. So I don’t look away from her either.

“Just knock her out and leave her,” Manu says.

Relief trickles through me, though the drug has even affected that, making it murky in its echoing gurgle.

But then the robed man shakes his head, and my entire body tightens. “No. We can’t afford loose ends. Kill her.”

My stomach roils. My lungs feel like they’re melting in my chest, continuing to pull in polluted air, but my bitter-stained tongue is too leaden to let out a cry of protest anyway.

When I see the man holding her start to plunge the dagger through her chest, time speeds up. Like it’s trying to get this over with, like my body and mind are far too slowed down for what’s happening.

I try to scream, but all I get out is the faintest of whimpers, and my vision starts to go black, my head pounding.

I watch as Rissa’s eyes flinch with pain and shock as she’s stabbed through.

Fast. Too fast I can’t stop it. Too fast that I can’t do anything.

The blade goes in, stuck through her body as easily as someone skewers a piece of meat. Her mouth parts in shock, gaze still locked on me, and then that shock turns to something else.

Something finite and fatal.

She slumps, and I slump with her.

Her body is tossed onto the garden grass with carelessness. There’s a bloodstain blooming amidst the flowers right there on her white dress, the blade still sticking up from her chest.

And it feels like a blade sticks right through my own heart, while a silent scream rends through my head.

Then, everything goes dark.