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His cold touch found my chin and held it.
I parted my mouth to respond, but there was nothing I could say. His warning made the air around me so thick that it was almost impossible to breathe. And I was certain he felt my body tremble in the aftershock of his threat.
There, in that moment, deep in the stormy pits of his gaze, I felt the presence of the beast I had been brought up to hate. I sensed his hatred as though it was a scent in the air. It was palpable, honest and true.
Yet the worst part was the bud of fear that twisted far down in my gut. What Marius said was not a warning.
It was a promise.
12
Iawoke the next night from a dreamless sleep. And I could not disregard the disappointment I felt. Rolling over inhisbed, I surveyed the dark sky beyond the forever drawn curtains and sighed. I was beginning to forget what the sun looked like. Even in my head I recognised the dramatic flare of my thought, but it was true.
Marius’s study had only conjured more questions I had for him. And looking at the star-filled sky beyond the dusty windows yet another question sprang to mind.
Why did he hide during the day?
Oh, and another.
Where?
I waited in bed for him to reveal himself. But his absence was obvious. The night before he had not long left after we arrived at his study. It was a change in mood that happened in a blink of an eye. Marius had offered his apologies and left abruptly, leaving me alone with the many stories of his. Stories in which I had started to read through, only giving up when the calls of hunger spasmed in my stomach. It did not feel right to take a book from the room. So I left them, promising silently to return again.
I dressed myself without a thought, pulling freshly folded clothes from the dark, chestnut wardrobe. Much like the outfit I had arrived in I opted for a familiar loose tunic and fitted trousers that buttoned up at my waist tightly.
I had almost expected to bump into him as I found my way into the prepared dining hall. But he was not there.
After I’d finished eating, only one thought passed through my foggy mind.I have to speak with Mother.
As soundless as I could, I moved through the castle, taking the route back to the charred room I had stayed in before I set it alight. There was no sign of Marius or the mystery servants that clearly hid among the dark rooms of this place.
Perhaps Marius’s strange power of darkness kept them hidden just as he had created the illusion over the wing of the castle that contained his study.
Still the scent of scorched wood clung to the air of the burned room. It was not as pungent as before, but strong enough to smell it before I entered its boundaries.
There the scrying bowl lay, where I had dropped it as I’d ran after Katharine beyond the now closed window of the room. I scooped it from the floor, feeling the warped body of the bowl. It was cold to the touch. Almost lifeless.
Marius could be anywhere, and I had to keep my magic hidden. But the urge to speak with Mother was intense. It was likely a better idea to wait for morning since I knew there would be no risk of him listening.
But that involved waiting. And I did not like the thought of that.
I raced back to his room, scrying bowl held protectively to my chest. The door shut behind me the moment I entered through it. There were many ways I could have kept it closed without a lock and key. I could have melted the ancient bolt. Raised the slabbed flooring inches from the ground until it blocked the door if it was opened from the outside. But this magic would leave such an obvious mark — and Marius would kill me the moment he knew what I was.
Just as he had warned.
As he had promised.
Be quick.I warned myself, nestling into bed with the bowl in my crossed legs. The door was to my back, giving me a moment to act if Marius decided to show himself.
I closed my eyes, inhaling slowly, as I called for the elements.Water. I imagined its cool kiss, forceful strength and guiding movement. Above my open palm I felt its trickling presence as I pulled the moisture from the air. By the time I opened my eyes the sphere of azure spun wildly, waiting for its command to enter the scrying bowl.
“Stop before he sees what you are.”
The water splashed across my lap and chest in an explosion. My entire body stilled, but the fire within me rose to the surface in response to the intruder that stood behind me.
I turned to face them, ready to rain my magic upon them. To turn them into cinders to prevent them from telling Marius what they had seen.
The figure was no more than a wisp of grey smoke, twisting tendrils of cloud that hung inches above the ground. A body so faint that I could see through it, to the wall behind. It was a small girl, no more than the age of eight, features captured in youth that rippled like the water of a lake.
