Page 20

Chapter 19

Meera

Something went wrong.

I paced the room furiously, back and forth. I had folded all of my clothes, arranged all of my books alphabetically, changed my outfit twice, and ran my hands through my hair so many times I’d probably need to wash it again soon.

“I’m tired just watching you.” I jumped in surprise and Corvo laughed.

“When did you get here?”

“A few moments ago,” he answered, slowly blinking his golden eyes. He sat primly in front of the armchair, his long fluffy tail wrapped around him. “I convinced one of the kitchen staff that Vareck didn’t feed me breakfast. Now I have a full belly and a desire to sleep it off. Instead, I’ve been watching you talk to yourself while you walk around in circles.”

“No one’s making you watch me.”

“No reason to get snappy with me. You’re the one who did a blood oath with him.”

I sighed. “He said it didn’t work. What does that mean? Why didn’t it work? ”

I walked over to the bed and started pulling the covers up and fluffing the pillows. I needed to keep my hands busy, and cleaning was the productive thing to do whenever my head was in a different place.

Corvo hopped onto the covers, enjoying the rewards of a freshly made bed.

“Seriously, cat? I just straightened up,” I muttered.

“Beds are made for napping, Meera. Why else would you make it if not to use it?” he replied with his usual smugness.

“I can’t argue with that,” I sighed, surrendering to Corvo’s logic. I kicked my boots off and crawled onto the blankets.

My entire body was buzzing with anxiety. It wouldn’t hurt anything if I tried to rest. As I leaned against the headboard, crossing my ankles and trying to settle in, Corvo curled up on a pillow next to me.

“What are you doing?” I asked, gesturing to the rest of the bed.

“What’s it look like I’m doing? I’m going to sleep on Vareck’s pillow. He hates it when I do that. Makes it all the more satisfying. Especially when he sneezes.”

“The two of you are something else, you know that?” Reaching over, I ran my fingers through his fur, and he started to purr. “We made a blood oath, or tried to at least. It didn’t even occur to me that it could go wrong. I’m an idiot. Why did I do that, Corvo?”

“Is this a rhetorical question, or do you actually want the answer? Frankly, I’m happy. Maybe the two of you will finally fuck and see what everybody else sees.”

I yanked my hand back, and he protested with a loud meow.

“What do you mean, ‘what everybody else sees’? ”

“Well, me and Kaia. That’s everybody that matters. Bring back the pets, please.” I lowered my hand back to his flank, brushing the soft fur there.

“A blood oath is forever,” I said, not expecting him to respond. “I don’t know what went wrong, but I can only assume this one is too.”

“So?”

I rolled my eyes. “What part of forever did you miss?”

Corvo slowly blinked at me. “Why did you do it?”

“I literally just asked you that question because I’ve been asking myself for about an hour now.”

“No, what was your reasoning when you said yes?”

“I . . . I don’t know. I wanted him to know that he could trust me.” When I said it out loud, it sounded a tad bit desperate. Embarrassment made me look away. I stared at the ceiling instead.

“So . . . you entered into a lifelong bond with him, so he’d take off a necklace? Nah, I don’t buy it. This doesn’t have anything to do with one of your romance books, does it?”

“No,” I said quickly. Then sighed. “Maybe? I don’t know. It just all happened so fast.”

“You knew what it was, and you agreed to it.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out except a sigh. On the surface, it didn’t scare me. I’d been dreaming about him for four years. In a way, I felt like I knew him better than I actually did. I weirdly trusted him, even though I had nothing to base that on—especially considering he had essentially collared me. With a blood oath, we couldn’t control each other. That felt safe to me.

“But?”

“We formed a bond somehow, but it wasn’t a blood oath. I don’t know what that means now, and it’s for life, Corvo. I should have thought about it more. Considered all the outcomes.”

“It could be worse. It’s not like it’s marriage. That would be the worst.”

“I feel like you have your priorities backwards.”

“No, my priorities are food and a good place to nap. My priorities are exactly where they need to be. Maybe you should think more about food and a place to nap.”

My stomach growled as though it had heard him and wanted to be part of the conversation.

“I don’t know why I’m talking to you.” I scrubbed my hands down my face.

“Because I’m pretty good at being the voice of reason,” he said, reaching his paw out to gently touch my arm. “You’re overthinking this. Trust me. The two of you have been dreaming about each other for years. If you think about it, you’re both already bound to each other somehow. Almost like mates, you know, if they still existed.”

I tilted my head toward him with an incredulous look. “You’re hyper-focused on mates, you know that?”

“Maybe you’re not focused enough,” he huffed.

“But I can see where your logic is coming from,” I continued, ignoring his last comment. “There’s something that has connected us already, and even if I don’t know what it is that I’ve agreed to, I know Vareck wouldn’t abuse it. Maybe that’s why it didn’t scare me as much at first. I’m just not usually one to make rash decisions so quickly. That’s more Sadie’s thing. I like to think about my options.”

“And yet, here we are. You trusted your gut, then got cold feet after.”

I sat up, eyes narrowing on him. “You make me sound fickle.”

He yawned, stretching his mouth and showing his teeth. “Look, either you trust him, or you don’t. Either way it’s too late, but if you claim he wouldn’t abuse it, maybe you should believe that and stop worrying.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it. “You’re right.”

“Of course I am. No need to sound so surprised. Now that my work is done, I’m going to take a nap. My belly has expanded, and the food coma is taking over.”

I scratched him behind the ear while he laid his head down. The soft vibrations of his purr changed to rhythmic breathing, his sides rising and falling.

“Wish I could fall asleep that fast.” I leaned back, trying and failing to relax enough for sleep. I let out a huff and got to my feet, quickly shoving my feet back in my boots and lacing them. Vareck said he would do some research about what kind of oath we made. If cleaning didn’t help me chill out, and sleep was out of the question, I might as well help him.

The door creaked open. Two brownie servants entered, pushing a cart with a large sterling silver dome. My hand instinctively reached for the spot on my leg where my dagger would normally rest, even though it wasn’t there and hadn’t been for some time now.

What surprised me was the servants’ failure to knock. All the other attendants had done so. The only ones who usually entered unannounced were Vareck, Kaia, and Corvo. I glanced between the two nervously, unsure what to make of them.

“Hello, dearie! We didn’t mean to startle you. Hope you’re hungry,” the first brownie said, her simple gray dress fitting her form, black buttons running down the sides, and an apron tied around her waist.

“I’m supposed to be having dinner with Vareck.”

“Right you are. The king sent us ahead and said to not wait for him but that he’d be back soon,” the other brownie said, his outfit similar with gray slacks, a matching vest, and a white dress shirt. They were only slightly shorter than me, and without the clothes, it would be hard to tell them apart. They looked exactly alike, down to every crease and wrinkle and beauty mark. I’d never seen anything like it before. They must have seen the confusion on my face.

“We’re twins. I’m Gertrude, and this is my brother, Gin.” The girl had brown pigtails that bounced as she spoke, while her brother was more put-together, stoic, his short brown hair neatly cut, gloves covering his hands.

“Hi,” I said, smoothing out my cardigan, feeling a bit more at ease at their introductions, though servants didn’t usually come in and start chatting with me. I walked over to the table and took my seat. “I’m Meera.”

“We know. You’re the pretty fae woman His Majesty has taken a liking to.” Gertrude laughed, pressing her hand to her chest as Gin removed the silver dome. The heavenly scent made my stomach riot, eclipsing any embarrassment I might have felt about her comment. Gin decorated the table with bowls of stew and silvery cutlery. Gertrude walked around the cart, filling two goblets of wine, handing one to me directly.

“Thank you,” I mumbled. The smell of root vegetables and herbs filled my nose, and I noticed the slightest hint of a new herb I couldn’t place.

With the food laid out, the twins stood back on either side of the table, giving me a small bow. “We hope you enjoy your meal,” they said in unison.

“I—yeah, thanks.” I wrapped my fingers around the wine goblet. The twins smiled back, their hands resting in front of them. The odd thing was they kept standing there. Staring. Waiting. What did they want me to do? Were they waiting for me to eat? Did Vareck tell them to keep me company until he got here? “This is all very kind,” I said, breaking the silence.

“Of course,” Gertrude replied, her tone still perky.

Gin put a hand on his chest. “If there’s anything we can do to assist you, please let us know.”

“This is perfect. Honestly,” I said, setting the wine down on the tray. I grabbed a piece of warm bread, dipping it into the stew and taking a big bite, letting out a pleased groan. “This stew is so good. It’s my favorite thing here.”

“Oh good, I’m so glad you think so. There’s a lot you can do with a root vegetable, if you know what you’re doing.” Gertrude grinned, clasping her hands together.

The tiniest of snores escaped Corvo as he slept. I rolled my eyes, finishing my bite, then took a swig of the wine. But instead of the familiar warmth alcohol usually brings, there was an odd cold that began to seep into my veins. At the same time, my face started heating up quickly, a burning numbness crawling over my skin.

I set the glass down, noticing my vision blurring at the edges. Was this the oath I took? Holding my palm up for inspection, I saw that nothing had changed. No mark that Vareck had mentioned.

“Something is wrong,” I mumbled, looking at the twins. I blinked, trying to shake it off, but it was getting worse. Anxiety flared, mixing with the growing numbness. Everything felt too fast and too slow at the same time.

“Everything seems to be working just fine,” Gertrude said, reaching into her pocket for something I couldn’t see clearly.

“Did you poison me?” I slurred, trying to push myself up, but barely made it half a foot before I had to hold on to the side of the table. I tried to call for Corvo, but only a quiet slur escaped me.

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” Gin chided, tilting his head to face me.

“Don’t worry, we didn’t poison you,” Gertrude giggled.

“We just need you to go to sleep for a while,” Gin finished.

Slumping over, I fought to stay conscious. I swallowed dryly, begging internally for the world to stop spinning. When I fell to my side, I knew it was over. Gertrude repeated words I couldn’t understand, and what looked like a portal appeared in the middle of the room.

“It’ll all be over soon.” Gin tapped me, and I felt like I was floating.

I didn’t know what “it” was, but I didn’t want to find out. My thoughts went to Vareck. If I’d see him again. How long would I be gone before he knew I was missing? My heart ached when I realized he would think I left him, right after telling him he could trust me.

The thought crushed me, simultaneously giving me enough energy to let out a choked sob. As the world faded into oblivion, Corvo’s eyes shot open, and he looked directly at me. I think I might have mouthed the word ‘help,’ but the portal closed around me just as my consciousness faded.