[THIS STORY WILL BE TAKEN DOWN ON SEPTEMBER 30, 2024]
He had hunted me, captured me, and locked me in a tower.
Season 3 'Of Crows and Thorns'
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While in RISING, Tabitha discovers something peculiar that may assist Nelle in her plan to escape the...
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Kenton and Valarie stepped to the side, dappled shadows and playful light dancing around them, while Lila turned to stand beside Zielenski, clasping her hands at her middle.
Zielenski bowed before me. "Miss Wychthorn." Candlelight glinted off the rings adorning his fingers. As he straightened I caught the chain of gold around his neck that was dragged down by the weight of an amulet peeking through the gaping open shirt. I couldn't quite make out what was stamped on its surface. Curiously the metal ringing the amulet looked splintered like seasoned firewood. I frowned. It was adamere and it should be impervious to aging.
Blinking away the perplexion, I greeted him airily. "Zielenski." I rarely attended House Gatherings and from what I knew of him, he was the same. However, I had been at his mother's birthday celebrations several months ago. The same social event I'd met Lila at too. As my intended, Graysen had accompanied me, and most of that afternoon the two of us had done little else but bicker.
Since Zielenski ran the Emporium, he was an unofficial member of my father's inner circle, so on odd occasions he was present at the meetings held at our home. My father knew Zielenski as well as one could know a man who offered absolutely nothing about his personal life. He was close to Lise's age too. One time long ago when we were children, she'd whispered to me of a rumor spreading amongst our peers, that he was the dead brought back to life. I could believe it with the way I could see nothing within those hard, lifeless eyes. His gaze slid over my Hangman's Noose, and like Lila, he didn't mention anything. "Welcome to the Emporium."
"It's a pleasure," I delivered flatly.
He half-twisted sideways to speak to Valarie. "Everything has been arranged just as you requested." He smiled, a small, tight smile as brief and quick as a flash of lightning. A cold sensation rushed across my skin. His smile didn't reach his eyes. In fact, it looked practiced and forced as if he was a wolf in human skin and he'd remembered just in time to act human around us. Zielenski continued, "Jurgana is settled within the Emporium and word has reached the Houses."
Jurgana. Oh, gods.
Just hearing the witch's name had fear strangling my nerves.
"Thank you. Your assistance in this matter is greatly appreciated," Valarie replied, inclining her head.
Zielenski's gaze flicked from her to Lila's profile, tracing the sensual curve of her lips. "Blue," he murmured. I suppose his nickname made some sort of sense with the way she looked. When she met his gaze with inquisitiveness radiating from the Prussian-blue depths of her eyes, he canted his upper body down and whispered something in her ear. Something that lowered her lashes and pinked her cheeks. He straightened and cocked an eyebrow, angling his head behind him. "Shall we?"
My blood chilled when Lila's gaze, swimming with concern, darted to me before meeting her bosses.
