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“You’ve come to ask for help, making this trek to a place that disturbs you for the one woman all four of you will share.” She smirks, her full lips curling unpleasantly.
I keep my face neutral even though I want to wipe that smirk right off of her face.Maybe with the use of my army, we’ll level this house to the ground.But I keep my thoughts to myself because she may be the only one who can help us, and I don’t want to piss her off.
“We have, as you say, Lady Grave, come seeking your help in finding our mate.” Sulien is so smooth, I’m almost impressed. If I were the one talking, I’d already have ordered her to help us, if she knew what was good for her.
Lady Grave laughs. “You think I have time in my busy day to help the four of you find your runaway bride? I’m sorry, but I sure as hell have better things to do.” Then she turns and speaks to one of her servants, ignoring us completely.
We stare at her, incredulous.
My fists clench. Cobar notices, and he gently taps my elbow. I open my hands and stretch my fingers. Not everyone here is bad, but this Lady Grave sure as hell is.
Lady Grave turns back to us, and giggles, surprised, “Oh, you’re still here?”
“Yes, we have come to ask for help in finding Cassia, even though we are aware of how busy you are and how valuable your time is.” Sulien says, but I’m pleased to see anger dancing in his eyes.
Her smirk has returned. “You wretched fae princes. I know you’ve tried to get everyone else to help you. Yet, you should know that no one but the Keeper of Death can find yourlittlemate.”
Sulien’s skin blanches at the mention of the Keeper of Death, and my blood runs cold. The Keeper of Death is someone with far too many rumors circulating around her. Most of which involve her doing magic that even the fae would never touch. She might be one of us, but she doesn’t seem to feel inclined to follow our rules involving ethics.
“The Keeper of Death?” Sulien seems to be choosing his words with care. “She is among the fae in your house, is she not? Could you have her help us in our quest?”
Her smirk turns into a sneer. “She is the most powerful fae amongst all the houses and courts. She is not a fae I ever l tell what to do. If she wishes to help you, she may. In reality, I’m sure she has the solution to your little missing bride problem. You may go to her chambers and seek her out, but prepare yourselves, she requires a very steep price. I hope you can pay it.”
I swallow hard. I think we’d all prepared ourselves to deal with Lady Grave. We were prepared for her to be creepy. We even knew she would likely ask us to humiliate ourselves to gain her help.
But The Keeper of Death? What the hell will she want?
“Do you wish to speak to her?” Lady Grave asks, and there’s a dangerous twinkle in her eye.
“We do,” Sulien says, without a moment’s hesitation.
Lady Grave gestures for a servant, and the doors behind us open. My stomach flips, but I turn to go. There will be an even steeper price to pay, of that I have no doubt, but I pray it’ll all be worth it when Cassia is finally in our arms again.
THIRTEEN
Cassia
I’m so tired. I’ve never cleaned this much before. I could clean the whole Summer castle and still not work as hard as I do here.Fucking slobs.
Many of the people here leave during the day, after eating the breakfast I’ve made and not even thinking to put a dish in the sink or pick up any bits of food they’ve dropped on the ground. When they come back in the evening, they have bags and bags of stolen goods. I’ve been poor my whole life, but I never stole people’s property. Well, not until the meat, but never someone’s hard-earned belongings.
But that’s not the worst part.
This heavy ass ball and chain they tied to my ankle really slows me down, with the added benefit of irritating my skin.Fun, huh?Cleaning up after them as they all lie around drunk is even harder with this thing dragging behind me. Plus, they really seem to enjoy me struggling with it.
Tiny dicked cocksuckers.
I’m sweeping the floor extra hard, jerking my leg with the ball and chain to make it roll and keep up with me every few feet, all while thinking about the different ways I’m going to kill these guys when I can. Andtryingnot to wonder if the four princes are even looking for me, because that line of thought hurts too much.
“Hey, fae bitch! Get this plate!” Some drunken asshole yells at me, holding out a plate covered in food.
I’m in no mood for this bullshit tonight. He’s now moved up to first on my “Stab Him in the Throat When This is Over” list. I know his type, though. He’ll make a bigger deal about this than necessary if I don’t hop to it. I try to move with some urgency, but that goddamn ball and chain makes that impossible.
“Fae bitch! Move faster!” He yells, holding the plate by just a few fingers. I can’t move any faster, and he lets the plate slip from his fingers and shatter on the ground.Fuck.
This awakens some of the men around him who’ve been sleeping off their intoxication. They all grumble at me. It’s not my fault this waste of space dropped the plate in his impatience. I have a fucking ball and chain attached to my ankle.
I trudge over to the shattered plate, cursing these men and the ball and chain with each step. Etha just watches from the couch, her soulless eyes showing no emotion at what she’s allowing them to do to me. Sometimes I hate her the most, but I’m also oddly grateful she’s here because none of these men have come near me at all, and I think it’s because of her.
