Page 110 of Thorns and Echoes

Her claws rapped the desk. She slowly moved to the seat behind it. “That’s what I need to address. I’m not sure he does.”

Octavius sat down as well, waiting for her to continue.

“When we left Coriante City, we needed to be sure he would cooperate. He didn’t seem to recognize me, so I invoked the trance. ”

His eyes widened. “You–” Clearing his throat, he frowned. “The book says that, at this stage, he is fully aware. The compulsion and the trance are melded with his normal self.”

She inhaled sharply. “He knew.”

Octavius nodded.

“Why didn’t he say anything?” she half-murmured to herself.

But she knew the answer. He wanted the chains. He wanted the cell. He wanted her to leave him alone.

Castien was so terribly afraid of hurting her that he was shutting her out, cutting himself off from everything.

She leaned forward. “How would you know the difference between the trance and an act? If he were to pretend to still be under its influence?”

The tightness in Octavius’ expression was not reassuring. “I believe strong emotion is the best indicator. The trance was induced by numbing his mind and making him susceptible to commands, whereas the obsession with Yelena was enforced through pain and… intimacy.”

Disgust and fury flared. There was no end cruel enough for Yelena.

She focused on the rest of Octavius’ statement. The worst thing for Castien right now was solitude and distance.

She nodded. “Thank you, Octavius. Is there anything urgent from court that I should be aware of?”

He shook his head, then proceeded with a brief report. The palace had lost a hundred servants. A few ran, but most were tortured to death in some grotesque and public manner. All the cots in the healers’ hall were occupied. Corpses on the gates. Nobles unpunished for slaughtering people in the city. Several complaints from merchants and the Night Courts.

The messenger scrolls painted a similar picture. To the north, Delia had taken the cancellation of the Consort Tournament as an insult to their Goddess – and an excuse torenew their assault. Satryani had imposed trade limitations and stipulations on Akerami. A hostile navy drifted at their coast.

Barely two moons and the nation was unraveling at the seams.

She could see how forced obedience could be tempting. All her nobles falling in line at a single command. The world at her feet.

Shrugging aside the fantasy, she opened another scroll.

Chapter 37

Castien

He had never thought he would bring a Queen to her knees. The sight of Anais had shaken his resolve. Octavius had warned him the Queen would return soon. He had convinced himself she would be busy.

Then she had dropped to the floor right in front of him.

If the world had ended at that moment, he would have been less surprised. She was as stunning as ever. Warmth colored her cheeks, and she had been breathing quickly. She had rushed to find him. The sound of his name on her lips had echoed in his mind like all those whispers he’d imagined to keep the madness away – but clear and rich, bright and sweet. A harmony that made him want to sing.

He hadn’t been able to resist her lips. His chest ached as her gentle touch caressed his face. She was sunlight in a cave, fire in winter, and he wanted to be blinded, burned.

You go where I tell you to, Escort.

Sanity came crashing down when she'd left.

He bathed, donned black silks, clasped on his bracers, and even wore the dagger. None of it felt right. The shirt was so soft, it tickled his skin. The bracers constrained more than his wrists. The weapon felt like it might leap out of its sheath on its own.

And the ring? She hadn't commanded he wear the ring.

Four guards led him through the palace. Protection against and for him. How fast could they move if he drew the dagger?