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Without a word, he strode to where I stood, and I turned to plant my hands on the bedpost. His hands wove the strings into place, grazing the soft skin on the small of my back. I had to grit my teeth against the sounds trying to tumble from my lips as he pulled the strings tight. It wasn’t pain or discomfort, but some other thing I couldn’t name.
“There,” he said, planting his hands on either side of my waist, spinning me around, “I hope I did that right.”
So,soright.I reveled in the tender touch of his hands, warm where they still held my waist.
Kade returnedhours later with no news other than to tell us the taste—who’s name was Selbi, was alive but hadn’t led them anywhere helpful. Finn was still following her around, “When I left, the taster was in the kitchens, and before that she was in her chambers, asleep.”
“And there’s no possibility she left her bed?”
Kade’s eyes widened as though Alaric had asked him the most condescending question, “No. I stayed close to her door, and Finn kept watch over her window from outside. She never left.”
Alaric’s eyebrows furrowed. “Well we can’t have her tasting Liana’s food—”
“Liana?” Kade asked, a cheeky grin pulling at the corners of his mouth.
“Yes, Liana. That is my name, the last I checked,” I drawled, rising from the settee in the parlor.
“Why do you get to call her by her name?” Kade asked in a whisper he likely thought I couldn’t hear, his words laced with jealousy and suspicion.
“You may call me by my name as well,” I offered, and his face split into a magnificent grin, “Now, will you two stop talking about me as if I’m not here? The taster will continue to taste my meals until we’ve learned something useful from her. If we replace her, she’ll be suspicious,” I held up a hand when Alaric tried to inject a rebuttal, “If you’d like, you can have a second taster come in after her, but Selbi is not to know of the second taster’s presence.”
Kade, still grinning from learning he could call me by name, agreed, “She has a point.”
“Fine. Find someone discreet to be the second taster, and then take shifts tracking Selbi,” Alaric retorted, rubbing his eyes. He was likely exhausted, as far as I knew, he hadn’t slept since we disembarked from the ship.
I shook my head, “No, Kade will stay with me,” I told him, gesturing to the winged male, “You need to rest.”
He didn’t disagree, nodding, “Very well.”
Kade couldn’t conceal his excitement, it poured from him in waves of heat that made me take a step back. Fire. That must be his Grace. I wondered if his brother was Graced the same.
Alaric whispered something to Kade before shooting me a meaningful look and lumbering out of the room. Kade watched his captain leave before turning to me, rubbing his enormous hands together, “So,Liana,where do you want me?”
Not more than an hour later,Kade and I were walking the halls of the palace. I wanted to see the Great Hall where I would be the star-attraction at the ceremony tomorrow. I need to know what I was walking into, you know, so I didn’t trip, or otherwise make a complete fool of myself. Kade had been blessed, he could tell me what I was meant to do since Thana hadn’t yet returned from the kitchens.
“You have nothing to be worried about,” Kade drawled, focused and yet flippant at the same time, “It’s all a formality, really. You walk up to the cauldron, fill the ewer and pour yourself a drink—then you drink it. You’ll get a taste of your Grace, everyone will cheer. Then we feast. The end.”
He had no idea it wasn’t being able to pour my own drink that worried me, but about what I would be Graced with. Would it be fire, the most difficult Grace to control, or would it be something useless, like the ability to understand animals or commune with spirits? Or, the most terrifying—to not be Graced at all. It had happened to many Fae who went to drink the water of the Sidhe, but never to a queen, or even a noble.
But there’s a first time for everything.
“Easy,” I agreed, trying to maintain an air of confidence.
We rounded a bend in the corridor and the Great Hall materialized before us. It was quite the room, and I had to work to lift my jaw from where it’d fallen to my feet.
The parquet floor was polished to perfection, midnight black, and starlight gray tile patterned for one hundred paces. A maroon carpet cleaved the room in two, running straight up the middle, over the few stairs, and onto the dais. There, the golden cauldron waited, wisps of bluish fog dancing along the surface of the water. The ceiling was arched, and ornately designed with a mixture of tile and beam. Six chandeliers hung in pairs down its length.
Servants milled about, some cleaning, and others arranging flowers.
Suddenly, I didn’t want to wait any longer. I wanted to get the damned ceremony finished with. But it was one tradition I would uphold. They expected it of me, ofanynoble to complete the proper ceremony in order to be Graced. But it was so frustrating.Why do they all need to watch?
“Do you want to get closer?” Kade asked me, gesturing to the cauldron.
I scowled, “No—I don’t.”
He quirked a brow at me, his flippancy replaced by something more like worry.
“What do you do around here for fun?”
