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His cheek against my neck. Stop that. His words in my ear. I shook my head, as if I could dislodge the sticky memories. You have no idea what you chose. I huffed loudly, wishing Everence had a spell to make me forget every moment with Rafael.
“Does dragon blood make people’s muscles sore?” I asked, tucking my knees up against my chest. The wound throbbed, but it no longer stung and burned. My muscles, however, ached from neck to toes.
Everence watched me as she came back around the bed with a fresh set of undergarments hung over her arms. “Sore?”
“My whole body hurts.”
She dropped the clothes. “And your joints?”
I nodded, staring at the clothes on the floor. “Yes. They ache.”
She bent down to collect the undergarments and set them hastily on the bed. “You are too weak to ride, but we cannot delay any longer. The hounds were spotted outside Moredo, which means they’ll be here soon, and the enchantments we placed around the estate will only hold so long. If we do not depart tonight, the hounds will… Never mind. If we begin making our way toward the Sun Palace with Sinsorias, the hounds should leave us alone. Sinsorias has offered you a ride in his carriage, but Rafael would prefer that you ride with him.”
A disgusted sound slipped from my lips. “I don’t care what he prefers.”
I could feel his arm holding me as he dipped me in the dance. Blinking, I shoved away that ghost sensation and stared at the dagger.
“We must ride through the day as well as the night,” she continued. “Then we can rest for one day and proceed into the Palacio del Sol.”
I snapped my head up. “Wait, where?”
“The Palacio del Sol is where Rafael’s brother lives.”
“I…that was the name of my father’s best horse.” The horse that unwittingly threw me into this life. I’d dressed as the fabled wife of the sun that night, in my red, ruffled dress that I’d long since ruined. “You call him the Sun Sovereign. Does he have a wife? Our people have tales of a woman married to the sun who turns into a red macaw to fly around the world while her husband rules the day.”
Everence’s eyes widened and the garment in her arm nearly dropped to the floor as her arms loosened. “No. He has seventeen wives. None of which transforms into a macaw. But I believe he did marry one of his crows—hags that take the form of black birds and have the strongest spell-making abilities among the fae.”
“Oh.” I made a disgusted face and bit my lip.
“He is the foulest of men, even more hungry for power than most, and nearly every fae desires strength and power. He married each of those women to absorb their power, and he purged every bit of his own weakness by funneling it into them.”
“Ick. And women keep marrying him?”
“Yes. It is an honor to marry a sovereign, or his heir, so they willingly take his weaknesses, knowing they will also all share his strengths. However, he keeps them all in such mentally altered states that they barely know their power, thus he gets to keep all the power for himself. Mostly. The occasional disaster has occurred when one of the wives wakes up from her magic-induced stupor and terrorizes the place in her confusion.”
“He sounds awful.”
She responded with tight lips and a brief nod. “You have no idea.”
I held my knees tightly to my chest. I could read a language I didn’t know because of Rafael. I could smell things only an animal could smell. Javier had warned me that I might have the power to speak to the creatures in the second barn. “Did I set those monsters loose?”
Everence paused. “It is possible that you have acquired enough of Rafael’s magic to have said something to set them loose.”
A knock at the door preceded the arrival of the female dryad I’d spoken with in the kitchen. She offered me a mossy smile and an angular curtsy before hurrying to take the undergarments from Everence.
“Good day.” Her eyes snagged on the golden dagger and widened. “Oh, he gave you that, did he?” Her smile faltered, and she gave the iron dagger a wide berth as she grabbed the rest of the items on the bed and threw them into a trunk.
Everence and the dryad helped me dress, careful to slow down when I winced. Soon I was wearing a clean, fresh-smelling day dress and simple slippers that suggested I would do no walking whatsoever. When I was fully clothed, I sat down with a yawn and rubbed my elbows.
The dryad tilted her long face toward me. “She’s changing, isn’t she?”
I snapped my gaze up at the creature. “Changing?”
“Your body. It’s starting to change, yes? That’s why you hurt.” Her mossy face glanced at Everence, whose eyes had grown stern and fierce. “I suppose I was wrong. You won’t get the house after all.”
34
Rafael
