Page 23 of A Bond in Blood (Blood Bound Duet #1)

Chapter 23

S ix and a half months.

One hundred and eighty-two days.

The day of the Winter Rite.

I stared in the bathing room mirror while Adie combed my wet hair. The young girl chattered about some boy down at the docks who her uncle disapproved of. A scandal given her family’s standing beside the king.

I told her I loved a good scandal and listened contently while she recounted her forbidden romance.

The bedroom door slammed open, startling us both.

Ulrich appeared with his menacing presence layering over us. I startled in my chair at the mask fitted across his face. Another death mask made of bones, but this one was also horned like his others. The object terrifying, painting the king like the beast he was to fear.

“Your grace,” Adie whispered, ducking her chin down before she scurried out of the room.

“You just interrupted a rather entertaining conversation,” I said coldly.

I kept my eyes on him while I returned to the mirror, running the comb through my hair myself while he leaned against the door frame.

“Why are you readying yourself?” he asked.

I twisted around. “For the Winter Rite?”

He grinned. “You are not attending that. Do you not remember?”

“That’s not fair,” I countered. “We’ve been getting along for the last week. Why would you deny me some fun?”

The stool by the tub clattered before me. The sound echoed across the room.

“You will not attend the Rite. Do you understand?”

I glared at him, sitting back in my seat while I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Tell me why.”

“I’m not required to. I am the king,” he replied, standing.

I stared up at him, my eyes tracking the velvet black suit cut tight against his body.

“What am I supposed to do while the rest of you enjoy your evening?”

Ulrich glanced around the room. “You’re supposed to stay here and not move. I’ll have troll bring you dinner and some of that mulled wine you enjoyed.”

I scoffed at the wink he gave as he sauntered out of the room.

I followed him. “Wait!” I called out as he reached the bedroom door.

He turned around with a smile.

Gods, I’m a fool .

I dropped the towel around my body, exposing myself to him.

He blinked then his smile grew wide. “If I knew all I had to do was ban you from a party to have you offer yourself so brazenly, I would have done it months ago.”

Regret settled over me and I bent down, reaching for the towel. Only he got to it first and held it before my face, waving it mockingly.

“My Brenna,” he put emphasis on my name, “there was much more hidden behind those undergarments than I'd realized.”

I covered myself with my arms and scowled. “Give me that towel.”

He flipped it over his shoulder. “Promise you won’t attend the Rite.”

“That’s not a fair bargain,” I protested.

His eyes tracked up and down my body. “I would agree. I’m certainly receiving the better end of this agreement.”

“Ulrich!” I shouted.

He laughed. “I did not force you to bare your body to me. Yet you’re shouting at me as though I were Lokii’s trickster determined to best you.”

His free hand reached around me, hovering just over my skin, but not touching me. “It is tempting, though,” he whispered. “To lock this door and stay in this room with you knowing you are so willing.”

I gulped. “I am not willing.”

“So, you are a tease?” he taunted.

“Do not,” I warned.

“I did not use that word . You are now the one implying it,” he replied.

The towel hit my face, blocking my vision while the sound of his footsteps retreated.

“Ulrich!” I yelled after him, wrapping the fabric around my body once more. I had almost reached him when the door slammed in my face.

“Enjoy an evening of solitude!” he yelled from the other side.

I gripped the towel, rushing to the hidden door, only to find it also locked. As well as the third exit down to the docks.

I sank onto the bed, cursing his jests and taunting while the music began to thump throughout the palace. Different though, wilder and heavier than it had been so far. More alluring, igniting a need inside of my body.

The hidden door opened, and I jumped to my feet when Adie appeared, pushing a cart of food.

“Your highness,” she whispered, closing the door behind her.

“Let me out, Adie,” I ordered.

The girl glanced back at the door nervously. “I cannot, your highness.”

I stood before her. “What happens at this Rite?”

She gulped.

“Adie?”

“I cannot, your highness.”

“If I eat this meal and drink that wine? Will you tell me?”

Adie glanced at the door again with apprehension. “Your highness.”

“Adie, your boy? Is he at the Rite?”

The handmaid met my eyes.

“Did you want to spend this festival with him?” I asked.

She nodded.

“Help me dress, Adie. Help me fix my hair and tie a mask upon my head and you can slip out to him. You can tell everyone I beat the keys from your hands. I’m sure the court wouldn’t question that story.”

Adie looked back at the door then met my eyes again. “You’re going to have to hit me as hard as you can.”

Startled, I stepped back before letting out a nervous chuckle. “What?”

“My uncle is right hand to the king, your highness. I have been trained to fight. It has to be believable that I was unable to fight off a partially mortal woman.”

“Adie?” I questioned. “Why?”

She shrugged. “You’re kept in the dark, your highness. I believe you should be allowed to see the light every once in a while.”

“Will he hurt you?”

Adie grinned. “ Uncle Ulrich would never harm a hair on my head. I believe he’d rather sink himself into the bottom of the sea before doing so.”

I quelled the hate in my heart responding to her words. Not one ounce of me believed Ulrich was fully capable of gentle love. Of caring so deeply for someone that they would never meet his wrath.

Then a darker, more cynically insane part of my heart wondered if I were possibly jealous of this statement. If I perhaps wanted to see this side of the monster that had tormented me for months.

Even with just a week of light-hearted conversation, I was still weary of him. Not accepting our brief moment of vulnerability was enough to unlock this hidden kindness Adie spoke of.

Silently, Adie and I worked together. Her hands moved at an unnatural speed, twisting my red hair into a half-bun with loose ringlets running down my back. Sshe covered my eyes in dark koal and an even darker lipstick. The color of the red moon.

When she’d completed painting me like her own personal canvas, I stared in the mirror. I was like a Goddess. An image of a being representing the moon of her blood.

I stood quickly, rushing to the closet, knowing just what to put on my body.

When I returned, Adie cocked her head then yelled out when I began ripping the inner layer of the dress.

“Your highness!”

I smiled. “Adie, this is what I want to wear. Do not question me.”

Adie stepped back, nodding her head with a mischievous smile similar to my own. Then she helped me slip from my towel and slide the gown over my head.

I stared in the mirror, my eyes going to the sheer red gown draped over my body. It was striking with the color of my lips and hair. Making me the blood moon personified. Appearing to drip in the substance. The only object on my body that was not red was the black mask Adie had tied behind my hair.

“Gods this is perfect for the Rite,” Adie whispered.

My hands ran over the gown and my curves, softly brushing against my skin just beneath the fabric.

“He’s going to kill you,” Adie muttered.

I did not look at her. Not when my body was on full display. The red gown I had been forced to wear my first night here now turned into a gown more suited for Ulrich’s court.

A gown of sensual need.

With only a thin band across my hips after I’d ripped out the majority of the inner lining, it exposed nearly every surface of my bare skin. My breasts were now the most focal point of the gown, with the cowl neck accentuating the curves and the fabric doing nothing to cover my nipples.

“He can’t kill me,” I muttered. “I have not broken our deal.”

Adie shook her head. “He’ll kill anyone who may put their hands on you tonight.”

I turned to meet her eyes. “What is this Rite? My winter festivals at home are a family affair.”

“Your highness,” Adie laughed. “This Rite is to bring in a new year. It is full of carnal pleasure, of indulging, of allowing our most basic needs and desires to take control.”

“So, I am dressed the part?”

“Yes, your highness, very much so.”

I twisted back to the mirror. “Perfect.”

Adie cleared her throat, pulling my eyes away from my reflection. “Do not mark me too severely. I do want to allure my boy , not scare him.”

“I’m sorry, Adie,” I whispered.

“Oh, it’s been an honor, your highness,” she replied.

She held her chin high while I lifted my arm, reeling back my elbow. My fist collided with her jaw, throwing her backward. She stumbled, not making a sound but her eyes were full of mischief and delight when she straightened.

Her hand went into the pocket of her gown and keys rattled in her grasp.

“These keys will reveal the doors you cannot see in that hallway. The third key opens the hallway to the throne room. It is a few minutes' trek to get there,” she instructed.

“Will the keys reveal all of the doors?”

She shook her head, rubbing her bruising jaw. “Just hold the third key and the magic will do its job.”

I nodded, heading toward the hidden door.

“Your highness?” Adie called after me.

“Yes?”

Adie offered me a wide grin. “Have fun.”

I did not process her disappearing through the main door to the bedroom. But suddenly she was gone, and I was alone in the room, my trembling hands holding the keys.

Light appeared behind the hidden door and I gulped down my nerves.

I could do this. I could confidently walk into that ballroom and participate in whatever festival it was that Ulrich was hosting.

My terms did not require me to obey and sit idly while the rest of the palace enjoyed themselves.

I gripped the third key and opened the hidden door, eyes scanning the hallway. Nothing happened and I stared at the keys, rattling them with frustration. The movement appeared to be what was required when a creaking sound caught my attention and I watched a wooden threshold appear a few steps away.

I glanced back at the bedroom nervously. There was the chance Ulrich would kill me for disobeying. Possibly even the chance he’d publicly humiliate me again.

But igniting his rage was worth more than the fear.

I unlocked the door that had appeared, pushing it open as quietly as I could before leaving the keychain behind. As there was nowhere on my body I could carry them.

The walls thumped with the blaring music of the party a floor below and I held my skirts in my hand. The cold in the hallway wrapped around my body and perked the piques of my breasts without my permission.

When I reached a set of descending stairs, I twisted my body back to the hallway. It would have been easy to return to the room, wash my face, and crawl into bed as though I had made no plan. Gods, there was even the chance that Ulrich would become wrapped up in his own carnal desires and I would get the bed alone.

The music coiled up the stairs, inviting me to take part and I turned toward it. The beat was welcoming, sensual, clawing at my skin. Creating a buzz throughout my body as though I had little control to follow.

I walked to it, my hands running along the dark hidden passage. The thump of the beat grew stronger the closer I came. I could hear it—screams, moans, and laughter.

So much louder than any other evening I’d heard in this palace.

And the current in the air? Gods, it was intoxicating.

My hand brushed against a circled pull, and I stared down. I made it. I had bravely made my descent and Ulrich’s Rite was just beyond this threshold.

Before I could second-guess myself, I pushed the door open. The music came at me with force, hitting me in the chest with its strength.

When I stepped through, I realized Adie had directed me to a passageway that did not open to the dais. No—this opened in the corner of the room. Hidden in the shadows.

My pulse calmed at her unspoken kindness.

No heads turned my way when I closed the door quietly and slipped into the room. Likely due to where I’d arrived and the utter lack of people around me.

A voice cleared near my knees and I glanced down, finding the troll from the kitchen—Gard.

“Princess,” his rough voice spoke.

“Gard.” I nodded my head.

The creature’s eyes scanned my body and it grinned. “I see we should anticipate a show this Rite.”

I scowled. “Is that a problem?”

Gard turned its head and I followed their gaze, finding Ulrich sitting atop his throne. His horned mask of death was fitted tightly across his face while his eyes scanned the room. Olen stood at his side, unmoving with his hands behind his back but his body was bent as though he were addressing his king quietly.

“His grace will not be thrilled,” Gard sang. “Oh my. Oh my. He will not be thrilled.”

I lowered myself, meeting the creature’s eyes. “Will you get in the way?”

Gard smiled at me, its dark teeth sharp and jagged. “My princess, absolutely not. This palace has needed a proper Rite for centuries.”

I stared after Gard while it scurried away, opening a smaller door near the one I’d appeared through. My gaze went back to Ulrich.

His hands thrummed the arm of his throne while his crossed leg gave him an appearance of boredom and distaste.

While my ears were barely becoming used to the sounds of people lost in ecstasy, I could not decipher how this celebration was different from any other night. Yes, the music had that addictive beat to it, a noise that rattled my soul and bones. But there was laughter, food splayed across countless tables, and more wine than I’d ever seen in my life.

The only difference was the roaring fire in the middle of the room. Warming the space to a suffocating heat.

My hands wrung the skirts of my sheer gown, and I held my shoulders tight while I stepped out from the shadows.

At first, no one batted an eye at me. I was as invisible as I felt in Ulrich’s court. The whispers started.

Wraith.

Whore.

Harbinger .

Fingers pointed at me while hungry eyes licked up my body. But their mutters were still too quiet for the king to notice. Not one whisper grew louder than my ears to pick up.

I made my way through the ballroom, my eyes watching the king. Hoping he’d find me in the crowd. Wanting to see the rage light in his eyes at my disobedience.

I ignored the whispers while I slinked through the bodies like a serpent. A hand gripped my wrist, and I gasped, meeting the eyes of the man who had threatened me by the palace entrance weeks before.

Bjorn grinned at me with desire.

“Ulrich let his pet out,” he taunted.

I could not respond when the beat of the music was suddenly silent and a cold presence stood at my back.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Ulrich sneered above me.