Текст книги "The poison daughter"

Автор книги: Sheila Masterson

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Текущая страница: 29 (всего у книги 48 страниц)

37HARLOW

The parental scrutiny starts before I’ve even had my first sip of wine.

Instead of sitting at opposite ends of the grand dining room table, my parents sit across from me, making it clear this is an interrogation, not a reunion. The candelabras have been moved to the sides so they have a clear view of me and my aura. I try not to be flustered, but being the youngest, I’ve so rarely borne both of their attention at once.

There’s one other place set at the table, but I don’t expect Henry to return until after dinner. A young servant fills my glass and then rounds the table to top off my mother’s and father’s. She rushes out of the room so quickly, her blonde braid flies out behind her like a tail. I wonder if he notices all the servants are afraid of him.

My father waits until the door closes behind her before he speaks. “Henry has an unusual aura.”

I lower my glass, trying to hide my annoyance. “I’ve noticed.”

I’m tempted to tell them why I think it looks different, but admitting my magic doesn’t work on him would mean surrendering my chance at getting the tunnel key. If they realize that Henry is basically invincible, I’ll never have a chance to escape the city or the fort. I’ll be stuck spying on my husband forever, while Aidia withers away to nothing, locked away in North Hold like a hostage.

My father leans back in his chair, taking a long sip of his wine as he stares at me. He’s reading my aura like I’m reading his. He has more years of experience, but my survival has relied on knowing every flicker in his field, so we are not as outmatched as he thinks. I wait for any sign that I’ve given something away.

He hums and sets down his glass. “How was the ceremony? I’ve heard their customs are barbaric.”

“It was fine,” I say flatly. “Different than here, but still respectful of the Divine.”

He nods. My father is satisfied with any surface-level answer. The less work I create for him, the more I will be appreciated. My parents have always made a point to celebrate my independence and my helpfulness. I grew up believing there was nothing worse I could do than inconvenience them with my feelings—or, Divine forbid, my ailing body.

My episodes were treated as a personal failing, which makes it even more maddening that they might just be a result of visiting the well so often. I spent years hating my body for its relentless agonies, of hating my mind for not being strong enough to ignore the ache.

When my parents started to give me important tasks, it felt like penance. They trusted me to follow through despite my obvious physical shortcomings. I thought that responsibility must be the same as love.

It didn’t take me long to learn how wrong I was. I’m not sure I know what love is, but I recognize the lack of it.

If there has been any estimation at all of it in my life, it’s Aidia’s protection.

Servants bring in the first course in a clatter of commotion as Able shoves past them into the room. His aura hits me like a shock of lightning. He stalks to the head of the table rather than the place set beside mine.

My father shoots him a disapproving glare, either for his lateness or for choosing the seat of honor at this more intimate dinner instead of sitting beside me.

I’m relieved to have something to focus on other than the interrogation my parents were gearing up for.

Everyone waits for the servants to leave. They won’t be back for twenty minutes; Gaven and the rest of our bodyguards are posted outside to ensure none of them listen in. This is a family-business-only dinner.

“We were just discussing your sister’s wedding at Mountain Haven,” my father says.

Able laughs and pours himself wine. “You must have been thrilled to be the center of attention for once. I’ve heard their ceremonies have public sex. Did you enjoy getting fucked by that animal?”

“Sad you weren’t there to watch?” I taunt.

Able wrinkles his nose, but my mother clicks her tongue. “Enough, you two! We have important matters to discuss.”

“I’m just wondering how Harlow is going to make this mission all about her,” Able says. “Meanwhile, we’re here trying to keep the city out of Rafe’s hands while those new beasts are stalking through the street.”

“Are you quarreling with Rafe? And here I thought the two of you were the best of friends,” I sneer.

Able scoffs. “I keep my enemies close. If he thinks I’m a soft moron, he’ll underestimate me.”

I hum dismissively. “What new beasts were stalking through the streets?”

This is the first time anyone in my family has acknowledged that they know the Drained have evolved.

My father pinches his brow in annoyance but remains quiet. If Able were smart, he would, too. This silent version of my father, where his royal-blue aura swirls slowly, is the most volatile and terrifying.

“Yes, the Drained have evolved. They work in teams now. They have enough focus to slip past our defenses and they have some new appetites,” Able says.

“Oh?” I say, stalling by taking a long sip of wine. I feel suddenly and violently angry that they let me go into the Drained Wood without this information.

I wish Gaven were in here so I could look at him and know if he told them about the Breeder back at Mountain Haven. Nervous energy buzzes through my limbs, and I know my aura is pulsing a little bit too quickly to match my calm exterior.

“Is that what happened last night? They stole women?” I ask.

“They also broke the gates and shredded some guards, but yes,” Able says. “While you were busy getting mounted by your animal husband, we were here fighting to keep our people safe.”

My father pounds his fist on the table. “Enough.”

“Was anyone important hurt?” I ask, edging around the question I want to pose and trying to speak their language.

“It was just a few whores. I think we’ll live,” Able says.

I almost flinch. They were our people—they very well could be the friends who helped me keep the women of Lunameade safe.

“Is that why so many women have gone missing recently? If the Drained have evolved, why do they only want women?” I try so hard to sound curious and confused instead of accusatory, but I can tell my father isn’t buying it.

“The Drained have evolved to develop a taste for flesh to go with the blood. We have made a careful study of their changes in behavior, and we have found that they seem to have a use for the women,” my father says, tapping the edge of his spoon on the side of the bowl.

“Alive? For what?” I ask.

“For breeding,” Able answers before slurping a spoonful of soup.

My stomach turns over when I think of the beast and its fathomless eyes. I should be quiet. I should just go along to get along, but I can’t.

I don’t know if I fight because I like the feeling of making a scene or because I’d been taught the only way to be taken seriously in this family is to show my teeth.

I set my glass down too hard on the table, and everyone jumps. “How long have you known about this? It would have been valuable⁠—”

“We tell you what you need to know,” my father snaps.

I cross my arms and stop trying to control my aura. “Well, this is a thing I needed to know when I was face-to-face with one.”

All three of them go still. The anger in the room dissipates in an instant.

My mother sits up straighter, her expression shifting into her best approximation of concern. “What do you mean?”

I run my finger around the rim of my glass. I can’t tell them the truth. While directing the horde of Drained toward the fort ten years ago might have been done out of necessity, this particular piece of information in the wrong hands could see Henry’s family removed from power there. As much as my husband annoys me, he’s a much more reasonable heir than Stefan Laurence.

I’m a practiced liar, but my father is just as practiced at detecting lies; any indication of my deception will stoke his paranoia even higher.

I steady myself with a bracing breath. “I mean that in my travels, I encountered an evolved Drained one, and it was clear immediately that its behavior was different. Fortunately, Gaven was able to take care of it swiftly.” I cock my head to the side. “Our agreement was that you share information with me and I will share it with you. If you don’t share a known threat, I can’t be prepared to meet it.”

My father’s jaw ticks as he stares through me. “They are more cunning, and you should be careful out there and stay close to Gaven.”

I would love to lay into him, but I need this dinner to be over soon because I’m exhausted. I want to get back to my room as soon as possible so I’ll be ready in case Aidia sneaks out after getting Henry’s message.

“I’m quite tired after our journey, so I will give you the basics quickly and you can tell me why you’ve summoned me,” I say. “The deal that the Havenwoods made with us seems to be their true purpose, though I doubt it’s their only one. From what I can tell, they are stretched very thin with able-bodied guards. Many men died in the attack ten years ago, so they have older fighters and younger ones, but the generation between has been decimated.”

“Kellan seems to think the same,” my father says.

“Yes, well, Kellan suggested that there might be a reason why you’re so nervous about the Havenwoods showing up. That there might be a reason for them to blame us—” I lick my lips. “To blame you for their misfortune.”

My father’s aura sucks in close to his skin. “He shouldn’t have told you that.”

“Is it true?” I ask.

I take a long sip of my wine and watch my father over the rim of the glass. His reaction to this information will tell me a lot.

I lick the excess from my lips before speaking again. “I assume it had to do with their well.”

My mother drops her spoon, and Able pauses with his wine halfway to his mouth.

I watch them in my periphery, but I keep my entire focus on my father. The blue light around him picks up speed. He’s furious. I can’t help but brace myself with my hand gripping the seat of my chair.

It’s been many years, but I have still not mastered the cold, paralyzing terror of knowing he’s angry. I doubt I ever will.

“I knew about their well, but we didn’t need it,” my father says, his voice wavering with barely leashed anger.

I scoff. “You weren’t curious about what it might do?”

He slams his fist on the table and points at me. “What would you have done? There was a horde of those evolved things coming at the city. I tried my best to brace for it, but I couldn’t hold the tide of them back myself. Even with Able’s help, it would have been impossible. So I did what I had to do to ensure they headed north. I set part of the forest on fire. You know how fast holy fire spreads. I used all of my magic to force them away from the city. Then I rode out and shepherded them all the way to the wall of Mountain Haven. Once they smelled the blood inside, they stopped trying to fight their way back to the city. I left them there without looking back. I thought the wall would hold. I didn’t realize how much they had evolved, but I’d do all of it again for our people.”

Able is so still, I’m not sure he’s breathing.

After a long moment, my brother laughs—a loud, hysterical laugh. “Yes,” he says between great, gasping breaths. “I’m sure you did it all for our safety and not your own greed.”

He laughs harder, and my father’s aura swirls faster; he’s getting angrier by the second.

Able looks at me. “I didn’t know about this, but I—” He gasps with laughter. “I saw the aftermath. Those things found a weak spot in the wall and they clawed at it over and over. When we went back to investigate afterward, we found the remnants of claw marks in the stone.”

Able can’t seem to stop himself. His eyes tear and he completely comes undone in a fit of laughter.

The dining room door cracks open and Able’s bodyguard, Nick, rushes in with Gaven close behind him. Nick has something in his hand that looks like a syringe. When Able sees him, he just laughs harder.

“Come to shut me up again, Nick?” Able shouts.

Nick plunges the needle into his arm, and Able’s laughter cuts off abruptly. He sighs, and a moment later, he slumps back in his chair, unconscious.

“Get him out of here,” my father says.

Gaven and Nick enlist the help of my mother’s guard, Fallon, and the three of them carry my hulking brother from the room with great effort.

Moments later, the doors open and the servants return to clear our plates and replace our soup with roasted chicken. My parents eat as if nothing is amiss. I pick at my food, knowing that I need my strength, but still too unsettled from the stress of the day to keep much down.

“Why did you summon me back already?” I ask.

My father sets down his cutlery and leans back in his chair. “As you saw tonight, Rafe is becoming a very big problem. He publicly asked for more responsibility. Of course, he framed it as a way to prove to the people and the Divine how sorry he is for his failure last night, but he’d already run the idea by several of the magical houses before he announced it today. He wants his men to take over the full guard duty of the northern half of the city.”

The chicken suddenly tastes like ash. I swallow it down, trying to breathe through the uneasiness.

“He’s coming for us, Harlow,” my mother says.

“So you want me to—what? Kiss him?”

My mother clears her throat. “We know you have as contentious a history with the man as the rest of us, but unfortunately, he’s only become more connected over time. Our hopes to wrangle him have not been fruitful.”

Aidia. She means Aidia hasn’t been able to control him.

“We can’t take him out, but we could possibly spin a story from our history,” my mother says.

I stare at her. “I don’t follow.”

She sits taller in her chair. “If any of us suggested that Rafe somehow influenced the horde all those years ago to attack Fallen Hold, we would seem like we had an agenda with the accusation. But if Henry had reason to believe there was another option—one that we all know personally makes tremendous sense based on his temperament and desire for power here—I think we could not only win your new husband’s trust, but rally him against our common enemy. Not to mention the fact that while our high magical houses may look down on him, he’s not someone embroiled in city politics. His word will carry more weight.”

My brain finally catches up to what she’s saying. She wants me to convince Henry that Rafe is to blame for the fall of Mountain Haven.

It’s not a bad plan. Rafe is blessed by Polm, and his influence is known to be very powerful. Who better to manipulate a horde of Drained to turn away from the city than the man who loves to play the role of savior? I shudder, thinking about the kind of compulsion that could move a mob of beasts.

It’s terrifying to watch my parents work this way, but they haven’t held on to power this long by being friendly. They are diabolical.

I fold my hands neatly in my lap. “How do you expect me to casually bring this up to Henry?”

My father waves a hand dismissively. “You’re a smart girl. You’ll figure it out. We just need the accusation out there at the perfect time.”

I bite my lip. “When?”

“By Dark Star Festival.”

My mouth goes dry. I have been dreading Dark Star Festival for months.

It’s a celebration and remembrance of the time when Divine Stellaria made the whole world dark in protest of Polm stealing her husband Asher. As an eclipse sends Lunameade into three days of full darkness, the city begins a three-day party. Each day follows a theme of the story.

Day one is the Agony, in honor of Stellaria’s grief and rage at her love being stolen from her. It’s the day when all of Lunameade honors those who have died in the past year. Ceremonial floral pyres are burned and the people bring letters to their lost loved ones to add to the fire. People gather in bars and private homes to tell stories and celebrate the lives of those they’ve lost.

It’s not the grieving I dread, though. It’s convincingly performing my grief for a crowd by pretending I miss my first husband, Marc. It’ll have the whole city watching me and, by proxy, Henry.

“You want Henry to make the accusation on Agony night,” I say. The puzzle pieces in my mind click together. “Everyone will be looking to me, because of Marc.”

My father opens his mouth to speak. “And⁠—”

But my mother, seeing that I’m on the hook, grabs his arm to silence him. I’m shocked that he lets it happen.

“They’ll be looking to me—and Henry will be with me,” I say. “You want him to lay blame then to start the groundwork.”

“With that much attention, it’s sure to catch fire as quickly as the pyres,” my father says. “Even the magical houses who like Rafe won’t risk supporting him then. I swear to the Divine they’re only pretending to now to get things from me. None of them actually want that animal in charge.”

There’s terrifying satisfaction on my mother’s face, the hint of delight that she’s about to get away with something.

“During Descent, we will continue to ensure the rumor spreads,” my mother continues. “The mayor always starts the celebration by summoning the Descent drummers to begin. We will ensure that there’s some kind of public scene to make things worse for him.”

Day two of the festival, the Descent, echoes the part of the story where Stellaria descended from the sky to take back her love. Polm cursed the land where he hid Asher so she couldn’t retrieve him herself. He cast his malice magic on the land so that no one of sky or earth, living or dead, could set foot there without burning up. That is why Stellaria created the first Drained, a being of both life and death, a man of earth transformed by her star magic and reanimated by Asher’s ending magic.

For the Descent, women put on their finest dresses and take to the streets in search of their lost loves. They can bargain with men dressed as Drained, who will go into the crowd and retrieve the man she wants. While it’s largely considered a night for single people to meet and get to know each other, there are plenty of committed people who join in the fun.

“And I assume this will culminate in some major event at the Dawn,” I say.

“By the Dawn, there will be some evidence found to link Rafe to the crime. By the time the sun comes out on the fourth morning, he’ll be the most hated man in Lunameade,” my mother says. “We will take it from there.”

They look so certain I’ll agree that I want to hold out just to spite them. But I picture Aidia’s face when she knows he can’t hurt her anymore. I picture life beyond these city walls in another town somewhere far from here—and that vision gives me the strength to stay silent.

I take a bite of my chicken and chew slowly, letting the silence stretch as I sip wine to wash it down.

I slide my chair back and stand, planting my hands on the table so that they won’t see the way I’m trembling—how much it costs me to stand up to them.

“I will do this, but I want your word that you will give me what I want,” I say, ignoring the breathlessness in my voice. “Before you make assumptions, this is not a suggestion or the start of a negotiation. I am risking an enormous amount behind enemy lines and I want to be clear now that I expect to be rewarded for it. These are my terms. When this is over, Henry has skewered your latest rival, and I’ve delivered you the information you need about him and his family, you will give me the tunnel key, and you’ll make all of my siblings cooperate to let me out with any supplies and resources I request, and without Gaven tailing me.”

The crease in my father’s brow deepens, and I know I’ve hit my mark. That was his plan. He agreed to let me use the tunnel, but he intended to send my guard with me to keep him informed.

My chest clenches. I can barely draw in a breath. Until now, I wasn’t sure how I would get Aidia out of the city. She can glamour herself, but my father would still be able to see her aura. Seeing a woman with a silver aura leaving the city with me would instantly make him suspicious.

But now that I know Henry has a ring that hides auras, I could steal it for her and pretend she’s just one of the lovers Gaven thinks I sneak out to see at night.

My father’s hands flex on the edge of the table. He wants to avoid offering me the safest way to escape the city and losing access to me.

Finally, he meets my eye and offers a stiff nod. “Fine.”

He’s only ever seen me as a currency. He’s not considered me a worthy adversary.

Maybe not today, but someday I’ll change that.

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