In the Darkness (20 page)

The queen left him to fret for a moment as she took the ornate, gem-encrusted goblet on the table beside her chair and drank. She bade him do the same. He picked up its twin that stood near his own elbow and tasted. Wine, the same dark red as before. He drank in hope that the alcohol would calm him.

The queen said, “You are a strikingly handsome man. Has anyone ever told you that?”

“N-no.”

“One might think you were a noble, not a farm boy from a tiny village.”

He was afraid to correct the “farm boy” assessment, so he had no reply.

She smiled brightly. “I have decided to invite you to stay here at the castle for a while.”

Evin stared numbly at her as she awaited his answer. He must have heard her correctly, but the words didn’t make sense. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I’m not sure I understand. You want me to stay here, in your castle…with you?”

“Yes.”

Impossible.

He hadn’t forgotten that this was the woman who had hurt his family. It was her law that had trapped him under Tyber’s thumb. It was her law that had condemned his uncle. She’d taken Teffaine to consume with sorcelry. Without knowing her, he had hated this woman for years.

He remembered this, that he had and should hate her, but the hatred was just a fact. It seemed very distant, like a thing shut away in a box. Had Cydrich’s sorcelry taken it away? And what did it really matter? He would be foolish to stay here and risk doing something stupid, but he would be far more foolish to offend the queen by rejecting her offer.

He looked at her, and warmth spread through him, warming him like the wine. She wasn’t as he had imagined, not at all. She was beautiful, and she had been kind to him.

“I see you’re smiling,” she said. “Does that mean you won’t refuse me?”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. I will stay.”

The queen stood, and he assumed the interview was over. He got up to leave but was taken by surprise when the queen stepped close and put a slim, white hand on his arm.

The queen kissed him.

It was just a little kiss, lips touching, mouths closed, but he had to close his eyes and restrain himself from clasping her body against his own.

Chapter Eighteen

Evin was shown to the castle’s private apartments where he would live with the queen. He was given his own room and an entire wardrobe of the fantastic and uncomfortable clothing, as well as a valet to help him dress properly.

The queen’s chamberlain assigned a servant named Amaury to train him in the castle’s manners and customs. Amaury began by teaching how ensorceled devices influenced every aspect of life in the castle. People relied on them here, unlike in the villages, where they were practically unknown.

Some sorcelry would ensure Evin’s safety, such as the devices that would prevent bringing poisons into any of the rooms Evin and Denua would frequent.

Sorcelry could also be used for convenience. Amaury gave Evin a cleansing wand and told him to use it at least daily, especially to clean in his mouth. Amaury showed him how the stone at the tip of the wand could not be touched; although it was always dry, it slipped through grasping fingers.

“When the spark wears out,” Amaury said, “you will be able to feel the stone a little. That tells you it is time to replace the wand. When the spark is gone, you will be able to grasp the stone and the wand won’t cleanse anymore.”

Classes in manners and etiquette were the most painful. Every noble rank had a name and a manner of address completely unrelated to it. For example, a duke would be addressed as
Your Grace
. There were many noble ranks to learn.

However, the worst aspect of etiquette had to be mealtime. In the private apartments, he could eat as he pleased and use his hands and a knife like a normal man. But at a feast, the rules were different. There were too many utensils and too many nonsensical customs. For example, each guest had a water servant. When you wanted a drink, you waved for the cup, drank, and handed it back to the servant. To let a cup touch the table would be a serious embarrassment.

As ridiculous as it all was, Evin was a fast learner, and within a few days, the queen allowed him to be seen strolling the castle grounds with her and they could talk. She took his arm and asked him to call her Denua.

* * *

The guard captain, Uliette, had more lessons for him in palace security, but she allowed a brief distraction one morning when Evin said, “I’d like to learn more about the city. I’ve never been outside of my village before, and I don’t know anything of Parige.”

She grinned. “I understand. A farm boy like you must have many questions about the capital.”

Evin nodded.

“I don’t know when the queen will feel that you’re ready to venture out in public, but if you wish, I can show you some maps.”

Still can’t leave the castle
. Evin controlled his frown and said, “Thank you.”

On the way to a library to find maps, Uliette resumed the security briefing. “The most important thing to remember is that the private quarters are maintained as a sanctuary for you and Queen Denua. Don’t let anyone else in the private areas, not even servants from other parts of the castle. If you find anyone unusual, report them to the queen or to me immediately. Later you’ll learn who my trusted lieutenants are, and you can report to them as well.”

“What about you?”

She shook her head, lips thin. “I’ll be in as needed, but I will never ask you to help me gain entry. If I ever do, something is wrong and you must not comply. You’ve learned the hard way about compulsion charms.”

Evin’s cheeks heated, and he scowled. No need to mention that lesson. He occasionally woke in a cold sweat after nightmares about Cydrich’s pendant dominating him. He would never forget.

“So, never accept any kind of gift, especially if someone asks you to carry it into the private quarters. There are servants for the private areas—your valets and such—but the ones from the public and private sections of the castle do not mix.”

“I understand.”

“Good. There are also passages for servants and security behind disguised doors. You must never enter them unless Denua or one of my people escorts you there for safety.”

They arrived at a set of wide, wooden doors carved to depict a religious scene: Denua receiving the fruit of knowledge from Sophia. Uliette pulled open the wide door and motioned for Evin to enter.

The room took his breath away. Though a king’s library had been stored in the red study where his beloved healer had revealed she was the queen, this vast room contained many times as much. Scrolls, codices, and other items rested on rows of shelves and on desks of burnished and gleaming wood.

Uliette smiled at his bemusement and shouldered past him to a shelf of scrolls. She pulled one out and spread it for him on a desk.

“Parige,” she said.

The map was of an oblong city divided by a river. Two isles stood in the river, with bridges connecting them to the north and south shores. One isle contained the outline of a great wall with parapets.

Evin pointed at it. “I remember this. I walked across a wide bridge. Is this the palace?”

“Yes. Very good. What else do you remember?”

He shook his head. “Not much. It was all kind of a blur. I was focused on getting to the castle because I knew that’s where I had to be.”

“The compulsion.”

“What’s this large place?” He pointed to a spot on the north bank.

“That’s a prison. And here to the south is an area dominated by the church and its schools and universities.”

“And this?” Evin pointed to another castlelike structure.

“That,” said Uliette, “is the College of Handmaidens.”

Evin’s breath caught in his chest from surprise. Aware that Uliette was observing him, he tried to contain the shock. “Handmaidens. I didn’t know they had a college. What’s it for?”

Uliette studied him for a bit before answering. He held his face as best he could in a mien of mild curiosity. She said, “The handmaidens must train themselves to physical perfection before volunteering to preserve the kingdom by sacrificing themselves to extend Denua’s life.”

Volunteering
. Is that what they called it? Did he dare ask further about the handmaidens?
Maybe later. Ask someone else. Mustn’t appear too curious.

“And this?” Evin asked, pointing randomly at another large structure shown on the map.

But he wasn’t interested in Uliette’s reply. A slow, secret fire kindled in him, a desire to learn.

If they had to train for years, maybe Teffaine hadn’t finished. His sister might still be alive.

* * *

The first time Evin went with Denua to her bed was actually intimidating. He hadn’t seen what was behind a woman’s robes since his mother and sister when he was very small, and he wasn’t sure he’d know what to do without a cock to work on.

Denua was very good. She knew how to use her mouth, and unlike the friends he grew up with, she seemed to understand that she could do things to help him want to please her more. Maybe she had to please him too, because she wanted him to stay hard. Maybe it would be difficult for a woman to simply use a man for pleasure.

The only awkward moment was when she drove him to that place where he had to fuck her, he was going mad to fuck her, and he did something stupid.

Evin gathered his spit and drooled a nice, thick gob onto his middle and index fingers. Then he licked it around to make them all slick.

“Darling, what are you doing?” Denua asked.

He drew his hand away from his face. The etiquette classes hadn’t included instruction on whether it was okay to say
I want to fuck you now
to his queen.

“I’m…I’m ready,” he said. “I want to make you ready, you see?”

She laughed and reached for him. With one hand on his ass and another kneading his cock, turning his mind back to the want, she guided him into her. She had been ready all along. How could he know her body did that by itself?

But the fucking was good, both times that morning. He was a little sorry she couldn’t ever do him back, but he resolved to talk to guardsmen and servants as he could, to find out discreetly what they got up to, and hopefully learn that it would be okay to at least ask her to put her fingers inside him.

After they finished, Denua rang for a servant so she could order a lunch to be served. As they waited for the servant’s knock, Evin experimented with her body a little more and made her squirm. They laughed together and played. But then when time passed and the servant didn’t come, Denua left the bed naked except for the jewelry she always wore and slipped on a gown. Evin grabbed a robe for himself—it would take too long to dress in his silly finery—and followed as she left the room.

As they walked together, they passed an intersection of hallways. In the adjoining hall, they saw a man wearing the bright robes and red sash of a blood sorceler. Evin had been in the castle long enough to meet a few of Denua’s pet sorcelers. But this one’s back was turned. Evin couldn’t tell who he was.

The sorceler pulled at the corner of a tapestry. A light cord wrapped around his arm, from which hung the skull of a small animal. Perhaps a cat. The skull leaped and fell back repeatedly, tugging on its length of cord, but the man was absorbed in his examinations and did not seem to notice.

Having seen so much sorcelry in the past weeks, Evin thought nothing special of it until Denua pushed him behind her. She reached into a loose sleeve of her gown and pulled free a bit of jewelry, which snapped open and unfolded. In an instant, it became a sword with a curved, ornately inscribed blade. She never broke her stride toward the robed man.

“What’s happening?” Evin asked.

The man started at the sound of Evin’s voice. He turned toward them with a look of dismay, and as he turned, he reached into a bag at his waist, drew out a dagger, and flipped it toward them. It flew unerringly to Denua’s eye. A flash like lightning blinded Evin.

“Denua!”

The reply was a strangled, guttural sound, followed by splattering and then the smack of a body falling to the unforgiving stone.

“Denua!”

“Hush, Evin.”

He blinked, trying to clear his sight. When he could see again, Denua stood over the man’s dying body.

She had cut him in two.

The sorceler’s dagger lay at one side of the hall, its blade melted and useless. A scarlet pool spread rapidly across the floor. The skull on the rope danced in the blood like a child in a mud puddle, sending tiny splashes up to fall on Denua and the tapestries.

It had happened so fast. Denua and the sorceler fought to the death without exchanging a single word.

Why?

That man wasn’t supposed to be here.

Denua still held the sword up. “Stay behind me. I’ll look for other intruders and learn what happened to the guards.”

The knife had hit her in the eye. Evin was sure that was what he’d seen. If she hadn’t pushed him back, he’d be dead. She was protected somehow, that much was obvious. If he’d gone by himself to learn why her servant hadn’t come, the sorceler would have killed him instantly, silently, with no effort at all.

At first Denua and Evin left a trail of red footprints on the white floors as they searched.

Evin didn’t want Denua to put herself in any more danger. She had the protection and the ensorceled sword, but still he felt foolish obeying her order to stand behind.

They went back the way they had come, to Denua’s bedchamber. Along the way, they occasionally passed the cord of an alarm bell.

“Shall I ring for the guard?” Evin asked.

“No. I want to retrieve the intruder’s devices before anyone else comes.”

That sounded wrong. It sounded unsafe. Why not order someone else to do it?

When they arrived at the bedchamber and discovered it empty, Denua gathered up a few items, including a cleansing wand, and they continued their search in other rooms.

As they approached the servants’ quarters, Evin’s ears did a strange thing. It was as if he had plunged under the surface of the river. There was a sound of great pressure, followed by no sound at all. He opened his mouth to ask Denua if she felt it too, but nothing came out. She turned to him, pointed at her ear, and nodded. She continued to the servant’s quarters, where they found an ornately inscribed metal disk attached so that it covered the door crack.