Deal.I placed him in another hidden pocket in my skirt.
So this is goodbye?Finn pouted as his fingers formed the words.
I crossed to the side of the tub and bent, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. Heat curled through my chest as we lingered. There was a careful tenderness to him that set him apart from Zane’s more possessive affection.
If I closed my eyes, hecould be human. Part of my heart yearned for it, while the other half questioned whether it mattered.
No. Hewouldbe human again, once I was finished taking Sanguine by force and had more time to develop my cure. That was the plan.
Despite every surprise I encountered along the way, I needed to remember how I’d envisioned this mission ending: in agony for my enemies and redemption for those who deserved it. Plus the adoration of Carlyle and every other slayer who’d doubted me for my dirty blood. Though that, more than ever, seemed like a fantasy.
After bidding Finn farewell, I went to Zane, who waited by the door to escort me to Razira. With me on his arm, we swept into the hall. “Think you’ll remainKingZane now that we’re bonded?”
“Gods, I hope not,” he answered under his breath. As we passed a maid going about her duties on the second floor, he gave a clearer, more careful answer. “There’s a small chance I’ll continue to have a spot on the council, but no one will call me a king-in-waiting anymore until you’re recognized as the next queen, my lady.”
“Well, I’d better get your title back soon,” I said with a fake titter.
“Lord Mathias is going to take great pleasure in removing me from the council, actually.”
“I suppose you have a conflict of interest now.”
He lowered his voice again, “Surely you’ve noticed the gigantic chip on his shoulder.”
“I’ve noticed many things about the Lord Regent,” I answered as we approached Razira’s door. But I gave him a particular look so he knew we’d be revisiting this conversation. Mathias was a dangerous enigma and the first name on thetemple’s kill list. I needed to put a stake through his heart at the earliest opportunity.
Zane stayed with me until Razira answered her door. “Ah, Ilyana! You’re earlier than I expected.” She stepped aside so I could enter. I slipped from Zane’s hold until my fingertips lingered on his forearm for a tenuous moment. Once the door swung closed between us, I rubbed my chest to ward off a sense of loss.
I answered Razira’s remark late. “I didn’t want to keep you waiting.”
“The newly mated keep everyone waiting,” she answered with a laugh. She swept an elegant hand toward the front room of her suite. “Please, make yourself comfortable.”
She clearly had more space than my two-room setup just from the parlor she’d waved toward. I made my way to a circular table set for five that was in a nook surrounded by three windows. With the curtains drawn back, Razira had a decent view of the sloping forest beyond the mansion.
I picked a seat where I could look outside. Nibs poked his head out of the pocket where I’d hidden him, snuffling the air curiously.
Razira spoke briefly with a servant in the hall before shutting the door. “Tea should be coming shortly.” Her silvery skirts rippled with the graceful sway of her hips as she crossed the parlor.
She was looking perfectly vampiric today with her white hair up in a bun and a flawless shimmer of brown cosmetics causing her red eyes to stand out from the oval of her face. She settled in the seat across from me. “I’ve sent my Devotion away so we could relax without prying ears.”
I couldn’t keep my curiosity contained any longer. “What was it you wanted to talk about?”
“We’ve been allies in this dangerous competition for a whole trial, yet I feel I barely know you,” she remarked. “Every event, you are the last to arrive and the first to leave.”
I clasped my fingers under the table, already nervous despite her even tone. “I’m not one for social niceties.”
“Hmm. I can’t think of a more social job than being a queen of one of Eona’s houses. An entertained populace is a malleable one. Did you consider that before you let the Flask of Dominion judge your worthiness?”
I hesitated to answer, considering I hadn’t given much thought to fulfilling the role properly. It wasn’t part of my plan to keep any bloodsuckers entertained. But Razira awaited an answer, her icy pink lips a placid line. I’d seen her patient face in a hundred different ways when she was human and knew this tactic well. She’d wait me out, silent until I responded.
“Of course. I just don’t see much merit in spending time with our competitors. Most of them are insufferable,” I finally said.
“Do you find…” She let the question drift off when there was a knock at her door. “Come in!”
A human servant entered, balancing a tea service on a platter. She distributed plates and steaming cups full of pale amber liquid, then offered her scarred neck to Razira with a shy murmur.
“It won’t be necessary tonight, dear,” she answered for both of us. She took a few pieces of bread and cheese off a plate that’d be set between us and pushed them discreetly into the servant’s palm.
The human only lingered long enough to eat the gift without savoring it. Both of us looked the other way. Razira spooned some sugar into her tea, while I stirred honey into my cup. I salivated at the sight of real food thatwasn’t shaped into bars and dried. What a shame I had to deny myself, all for the sake of appearances.
