Lib Novel Page 60
There’s far too much information in that sentence. “Wait… a female dragon survived?”
“Yes. And we have no time for further questions. Her blood might be the key to detaching you from Rahzien, but to find out, I have to take some of your blood, hair, and spit to my sorcerer friend.”
“Isn’t that dangerous for you?”
“Very dangerous. Hold this.” She shoves a small glass tube into my left hand, then pricks my right forefinger with the tip of her knife and holds it above the open mouth of the tube, squeezing mercilessly. “I’m used to danger. Rather enjoy it, actually. Besides, he’s a good man, your dragon prince.”
“Yes, he is.”
I watch my blood drip into the tube. When it’s nearly full, she says, “Suck on that for a second,” and produces a miniscule cork to seal the tube. Then she grabs my hairbrush and inspects it. “Strange, I thought there would be a few strands stuck in here. I suppose we’ll have to do this another way.” With an unceremonious yank, she pulls a lock of my hair taut and sets her blade against it.
“Wait!” I exclaim. “Do it from the underside, so Rahzien won’t notice.”
“Good thinking.” She separates a lock from beneath the rest of my hair, near the base of my neck, and cuts it free. “Now, spit into this vial a few times.”
When I grimace, she rolls her eyes. “Would you rather provide a piss sample?”
“No,” I say firmly. “Give me a minute.”
Seconds later, she seems satisfied that I’ve provided a decent sample. She stoppers the second vial, wraps everything carefully in a cloth, and tucks the bundle into the satchel at her side. “It’s been a pleasure, Princess.”
She’s striding purposefully to the door, and yet I still have so many questions churning in my mind. I settle on the simplest of them all. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Aeris. Be well, Princess.” With a brisk nod, she’s out of my bedroom, closing the door. I barely hear her footfalls on the carpet of the sitting room as she leaves.
I don’t blow out the candles. Instead I stay sitting up for a long time, clutching the hairbrush, wondering if perhaps I dreamed her, and she was never really there at all.
Parma doesn’t come to dress me in the morning.
I try not to panic about it. There’s a pink day dress hanging in my empty closet, and a fresh corset and underwear lying on a cushioned stool by the full-length mirror, so I put them on. The mask and belt from last night are hidden under my bed now, and I wedged the key into a crevice behind one of my dresser drawers. Rahzien could have my rooms searched and find the items, but I don’t want to make it easy for him to put me back in those demeaning contraptions.
I’m braiding my hair when Rahzien enters, looking ominous.
“Where are your guards?” he says tersely.
“When Zevin came to me last night, he yelled at them to leave, and finally they did,” I say. “He had his own men stand guard while he was in my room.”
His frown darkens. “Were you unpleasant to the young lord?”
“Not at all. After I left the ball, I waited a long time for him to visit me. When he finally arrived, he was very drunk. He said he had lost the key you gave him, and that he looked for it for hours before he finally found it. He barely managed to unlock my belt and mask, but he couldn’t, um… perform. He stumbled out of my room, and I’m not sure where he went after that.”
Rahzien lunges forward, grabs my arm, and wrenches me away from the dressing table, yanking me close to his body. His stony eyes glare into mine. “Are you lying to me?”
“No,” I whisper.
“No what?”
“No, Master.”
Rahzien’s hand collars my throat just beneath my jaw, and his thumb strokes my chin. The fury and accusation vanishes from his eyes, replaced by an expression I like even less—a patronizing sort of intimacy.
“I had to frighten you a little just now, Spider, to be sure you were telling me the truth,” he says, almost soothingly. “I did hear reports of Zevin wandering the halls last night, drunk out of his mind, yelling about a key. And I heard that one of the lords found him nearly unconscious and helped him into his carriage. I wanted to see if your story corroborated those reports.”
I bow my head. “You own me. I wouldn’t dare lie to you. Not when it could endanger people I care about.”
“One thing’s for certain—Zevin Harlowe has forfeited his time with you. He made an idiot of himself, after I chose him above all the others. What a fool he was, not to enjoy his prize. This charming, entrancing little prize…”
Someone taps on the half-open bedroom door. I use the distraction to extricate myself from Rahzien’s hold and step back. He throws me an irritated look, then whirls to face the guard who just entered. “What?”