A Court of Starfall & Deception - An ACOMAF Rewrite

Chapter 9

I paced my room for a good while. Maybe I'd been mistaken when I'd spotted those burns – maybe they'd been there before. Maybe I hadn't somehow summoned heat and branded the wood. Maybe I hadn't slid into Lucien's mind as if I were moving from one room to another.

I turned my thoughts inwards, to the crystal shield I kept up. I thinned it to a veil, testing that bridge between us, seeing if I could detect anything on the other side. There was nothing but black emptiness and I shook my head, feeling foolish. I had no clue what I was doing.

Just as she always did, Alis appeared to help me change for bed. As I sat before the vanity, letting her comb my hair, I cringed at my reflection. The purple beneath my eyes seemed permanent now – my face wan. Even my lips were a bit pale, my pants a bit looser around the waist, and I sighed as I closed my eyes.

"You gave your jewels to a water wraith," Alis mused, and I found her reflection in the mirror. Her brown skin looked like crushed leather, and her dark eyes gleamed for a moment before she focused on my hair. "They're a slippery sort."

"She said they were starving – that they had no food," I murmured.

Alis gently coaxed out a tangle. "Not one faerie in that line today would have given her the money. Not one would have dared. Too many have gone to a watery grave because of their hunger. Insatiable appetite – it is their curse. Your jewels won't last her a week."

I tapped a foot on the floor.

"But," Alis went on, setting down the brush to braid my hair into a single plait. Her long, spindly fingers scratched against my scalp. "She will never forget it. So long as she lives, no matter what you said, she is in your debt." Alis finished the braid and patted my shoulder. "Too many faeries have tasted hunger these past fifty years. Don't think word of this won't spread."

I was afraid of that perhaps more than anything.

***

It was after midnight and Tamlin still hadn't come upstairs. Any other night I'd have been relieved to have the space to myself, but tonight... I couldn't sleep with the words we'd shouted ringing in my ears, my insubordination gnawing away at me.

I walked down the dark, silent corridors, and found him in his study, alone for once.

A wooden box wrapped with a fat pink bow sat on the small table between the twin armchairs. "I was just about to come up," he said, lifting his eyes to do a quick scan over my body – as if to make sure all was fine. "You should be asleep."

I shut the door behind me. "So should you," I responded, my voice tenuous as the peace between us. "You work too hard." I crossed the room to lean against the armchair, eyeing the present as Tamlin had eyed me.

"Why do you think I had such little interest in being High Lord?" he asked, "So much paperwork." He rose from his seat to round the desk. He pulled me into an embrace and I let him. Peace. Peace, I reminded myself. There were more important things to worry about right now, that we needed to discuss. 

"I'm sorry," he murmured, and a chill ran up my spine. He didn't release me as he said again. "I'm sorry," his mouth pressed to the bare spot between my neck and shoulder, as he used to do in those months I thought it just some odd faerie custom. Those teeth, his teeth, so near to my neck...

I panicked, fear thrumming through me. Before I knew what was happening my hand was in his grip, inches from his face, as if I reached out to strike him. "I'm sorry," I said reflexively, confused. "I -"

"It's okay," he murmured, but he didn't release me.

I put my tattooed hand on his chest, trying to create space between us. "Tamlin," I started.