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I stared down in confusion. Rijatt was here with Caldor and Remus. Why did they come here? Together?
I glanced back up at Nero. “What are you hoping to get out of me, Nero? If you want to speak plainly, then let's.”
Something like triumph shone in his eyes as he made his way closer, stepping around the males sprawled out on the floor. “I do not want to fight with you. However, I cannot in good conscience allow you to bring harm to my king and country, now can I? Therefore, I need answers.”
“I have nothing of value to offer you,” I ground out, unwilling to let a few pretty words force my secrets out so easily. I was stronger than he gave me credit for.
Nero nodded as if that’s what he’d been expecting me to say before he turned to the door, just as the guards let in a beautiful woman who came to stand beside the prince. She had long white hair and markings that covered her body that I vaguely recognized as one of the runish languages of the old gods. This woman was a priestess.
“Must we stay in this suffocating room, Nero? You were raised better than that. You won't get the answers you need if you keep a frightened woman caged. ”
To my shock and horror, Nero had the decency to look properly sorry before he nodded, and the guards grabbed the men from the floor and carried them out of the room.
“I’m not a frightened damsel,” I gritted out at the priestess. I was seconds away from gouging the bitch’s eyes out with my fingernails. But perhaps I was being a bit too dramatic. This was a priestess, after all, so she was bound to have an air of self-importance.
She gave me a bland smile. “Of course not, dear, and that’s very admirable of you.” Her tone was just shy of condescending. I returned her smile, a mutual understanding hovering between us.
“Have it your way, Tetia. We'll take her through the gardens as long as she makes no attempts to escape.” This was aimed at me, but I remained staring at the priestess, already knowing I didn’t trust her. Maybe even less so than the prince.
As we left the room, trailing behind Nero, Tetia interlocked our arms as if we were old friends going for a stroll. I gritted my teeth, my arm stiff and unwelcoming. She ignored my rudeness.
“I don’t understand what I’ve done to offend his highness,” I seethed, badly attempting to keep the venom out of my voice but failing.
“I wouldn’t expect you to understand. Not just yet, anyway. Your allegiance to King Animus, coupled with your… profession,” she said, clearing her throat to cover a dark chuckle. “Is definitely a cause for concern. What business does Xmara Bane have in her enemy’s kingdom without invitation?”
“Are your walls so closed off to foreign travelers?” I asked. As far as I knew, Nexus had relatively open borders, unlike Avedin, whose borders were heavily guarded.
The priestess laughed. “I think we can drop the pretenses, don’t you?” She stared straight ahead, her eyes on Nero’s muscular back, but I watched her profile, every dip and curve of her delicate face inked with those strange runes. “It’s clear that you have no hatred for Source users, yet you serve a king who would stop at nothing to wipe us from existence. How long does it take before turning the other cheek to tyranny becomes tyranny itself?”
This was a question I’d asked myself time and time again, and yet I never had an answer. I had no great love for Animus or even for Avedin. I was a victim of circumstance. But was Tetia right? How long must this go on before I, too, was just as guilty as my King?
“Loyalty does not equal blind faith,” I said as we walked through corridor after corridor, the ceilings draped with flowing fabrics and vines with sweet-smelling flowers.
“Spoken with true honor,” Nero grumbled without turning back, leading us through a series of rooms decorated in colorful murals, pottery, statues and fountains. We exited into a large garden as the sun shone high in the sky.
The sprawling garden was like something out of a dream. My mouth watered as I smelled ripened fruits, blooming flowers and fluffy moss that coated the trees. Butterflies fluttered around us, and birds chirped from the branches. The garden had no strict pattern to it but rather was a series of woven pathways of soft moss that felt amazing under my bare feet.
“What is the point of this walk, exactly?” My patience was beginning to run thin. The pleasantries were getting boring, and it was time for me to plan my inevitable escape. But how was I supposed to accomplish that when my companions got themselves captured. I shook my head. Men really were useless sometimes.
Nero tsked, clicking his tongue. “Those manners just won’t do, not in this court. How have you survived this long in Avedin as a woman with such a nasty temper? The gods know how they treat the fairer sex. Curious…” His eyes flickered over me slowly, with a slight twitch to his full lips.
His hair continued to change colors, as did his eyes, setting my nerves on edge. A strange sensation swirled through me. My skin felt tingly while my head was as light as a feather. An honest answer was just on the tip of my tongue, and the way the prince watched me was as if he knew it. What was he doing to me? Was this some kind of Source magic? Something wasn’t right because, at this moment, it was all I could do not to spill all of my secrets at his feet.
“Don’t confuse the girl,” Tetia said with a chuckle. She watched me with a smile that made me uneasy. No, I didn’t trust this priestess one bit.
Nero shook his head, his stare releasing me. “How could I forget? I must be a gentleman even when I feel less than ecstatic about it.” He gestured towards me with the wave of his hand as if in exasperation. “Forgive me, Xmara, your emotions will fluctuate in my presence, but it can’t be helped. When I leave, you will return to your normal, happy self.” He winked, and despite the sudden flip in my stomach, I glared in return.
“You’re making me act this way and then complaining that I’m acting this way?” I pursed my lips in disgust. Nero laughed but covered it up with a cough as Tetia shot him a glare.
“No. I am not controlling how you feel or what you say. Let’s just say I can weaken your resistance. You don’t want to lie to me, Xmara. Everything in your nature might try, but my power is stronger. I can’t change your emotions. I simply make you unable to hide them. That’s why lying doesn’t work here because it’salmostimpossible to lie to me.”
“And what areyoudoing to me?” I questioned Tetia. Her white eyes flashed with power that sent a chill down my spine and raised the hairs on the back of my neck. The runes on her skin appeared to be glowing slightly.
“I serve many deities. I was handpicked at birth to be sent into the Source as an offering. When I emerged, I was stronger than any other child going back generations. My connection is soul deep. It’s a part of me as much as my own limbs. I do not simply ‘do’ anything. It’s just who I am. The Source feeds off of me and protects me from almost anything that would do me harm.” She came closer with measured steps. Her hair blew off her shoulders as if from some invisible force, though there was no wind. “The Source has become a lifeforce of its own. It’s the very magic in the air, the intuition that makes you clever.”
“I have no connection to the Source,” I said, my voice quieter than I intended under her penetrating stare.
She raised a single brow. “Don't you? Something that king of yours doesn’t want his people to know is that nearly everyone can use the Source. You just have to learn how to make it work for you. It’s all around you, Xmara. In the air you breathe and the soil beneath your feet. The Source is everything. Your country is dying because your king is a fool to continue to ignore the signs. Without access to the Source, how is life to thrive?”
