Page 35 of Blackwarden

Rosalin

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The Blackwarden was true to his word, which I guess he had to be because Fae couldn’t lie.

I don’t know how I knew this, but it was a tiny fragment of a half memory that I was one hundred percent certain was true.

He pulled me through the queen’s cold castle but released my hand before we approached the door to the harem.

I shivered from the profound sense of loneliness I was left with as his hand slipped from mine.

The queen was waiting just inside, impatient for us to return, a scowl marring her gorgeous face.

“What took so long?” she spat at her Blackwarden.

He took the question in stride, expression never changing.

“It took me longer to find her with...” He side-eyed me. “...all the other emotions from the revel.”

The queen put a hand on her hip, glaring at him in a way that made me shudder. I don’t know how he managed to stay so stoic.

“Take her to a suite for now, I’m still enjoying myself,” Bevgyah said as she turned, whipping her hair around and nearly smacking us both with her braids.

“As you wish, my queen. ”

He ushered me through a different way to the hall than I was familiar with.

Several of the doors that branched off of it were closed with a handful still open and dark inside.

He led me into one and the brazier ignited, flooding the space with golden light.

It was a small room, an overstuffed futon in the middle and surrounded by silks draped from the walls and ceiling.

I froze in place. I’d been here before. But I knew that was wrong.

I hadn’t stepped foot into one of these rooms so I couldn’t have.

“Are you okay?” His voice curled around me, pulling me from another half memory.

When I faced him, I realized I’d been holding my breath and let it burst past my lips.

“I’ve been here before.”

He smiled weakly. “No, not here, I can assure you.”

“No, I have. Or I dreamt it?” The memory was foggy. A man was with me. He’d led me here from another room. I couldn’t stop staring at his perfect body. “There was a man with me. He had pale skin. So perfect.” I was lost for a moment in the fragments of the past. “I remember him.”

The Blackwarden stared at me with an emotionless expression, but I didn’t know what else to say. I decided it didn’t matter. I might be left with these strange half memories forever, and there would be nothing I could do about it but try to recall.

“You can rest here for now,” he said, after a long moment of watching me look around the room. “Bevgyah may tire herself out before she’s interested in...”

The muscles tightened in his neck, his hands balling into fists.

“Are you okay?” I asked, resting a hand on his arm.

A strange shock of a light vibrated through me, and I squeezed my eyes shut. So much skin. Pale and beautiful. A gorgeous face in the throes of pleasure. My hands on his chest, his stomach, his...

“I need to go,” his voice was breathy, and he was gone before I opened my eyes.

––––––– –

The queen did not grace me with her presence, and I was happy for it.

The way she’d spoken with her Blackwarden had been harsh and uncaring.

I knew she was the queen, and he was her consort, but she treated him like an object, rather than a person.

It felt wrong. It made me want to protect him when I knew there was nothing I could do to protect myself, much less him.

I woke in complete darkness to the sound of laughter outside my little suite the Blackwarden had taken me to.

I lay perfectly still trying to hear the words being spoken, but it was useless.

When I sat up, a brazier burned to life, and I let out a tiny yelp as I threw a silky blanket over my head.

The door cracked open, and a face peeked in before Nessa opened the door completely.

“I thought the Blackwarden brought you here,” she said looking around the room and then at me with wide eyes.

“He did.”

“Where did he go? He wasn’t at the revel.” She reached a hand down to help me up. “We’ve been impatiently waiting for you to sneak him out.”

I shook my head, memories of the night before weren’t something I wanted to revisit, but I could confidently say the queen’s Blackwarden had left and had done so very quickly.

“He’s never taken one of us back to a suite.”

I tried to find the words to explain to her it wasn’t what she thought. That he’d brought me there at the queen’s behest. Instead, I just stared at her, blushing furiously as I tried to work through my jumbled thoughts.

“Come, it’s time for breakfast.”

Nessa pulled me down the hall back toward the harem. It was then that I realized this was my existence—the harem, revels, gossip, golden Fae wine, and half memories.

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Bevgyah paid the harem a visit the next day.

She wasn’t accompanied by her consort; she came with two guards as she had when she’d given me my name.

Every maiden, myself included, curtsied until the queen motioned for us to stand.

She’d asked for the harem to be emptied except for me, and once again found myself well and truly terrified.

What could she possibly want to talk with me about in private?

Perhaps she tried to get to know all of her newest maidens when they first arrived?

“Tesanna, come and sit with me, my pet.” She patted the futon beside her.

I did as she bade, slipping to my knees and folding my hands as respectfully as I could.

I had only a vague recollection of how you were supposed to sit with a queen, and this felt entirely too casual.

Shouldn’t she be on some sort of throne with billowing skirts and a judgmental glare?

This seemed almost friendly with the way she leaned close.

“My Blackwarden seems to have a problem, and I need your help.”

I stiffened at the mention of her consort. What problem could he possibly have that I could help her with?

“Your emotions seem to be far stronger than any of my other maidens. Do you know why that is?”

How could she know the strength of my emotions? Had I been so obvious? Was it because I’d been uncomfortable at the revel?

“I’m sorry, your Majesty, I don’t know,” I said as calmly as I could, but I worried she could see my hands were trembling. I was hot all over, sweat soaking through my silk slip at the small of my back.

Bevgyah reached forward, long lavender fingers taking hold of my chin and turning my face to the side.

Her fingernails bit into my skin as she turned my face around the other direction.

I remembered the mark that the tiny Fae female had hidden with cream and magic when I first arrived.

A flash of panic rippled through me as I wondered if the queen would see it.

It took all of my strength not to step back and pull my hair over my shoulder to hide it .

“You seem perfectly normal, if not a bit plain.” She smoothed her thumb over my chin then trailed her fingers down the column of my neck. “Perhaps he’s mistaken.”

I nodded, trying to suppress the shudder her touch had ripped from my insides. But as much as I feared what she would say or do next, my curiosity was building. Questions boiled in my throat, begging to be asked.

“How can someone feel my emotions?”

She smiled wide, showing sharp teeth. “My Blackwarden’s shadow magic is full of surprises, isn’t it?

It comes in handy if he needs to manipulate someone or take advantage of a situation.

” Her hand slipped from my throat as she glared at me with unyielding intensity.

“His evil heart is as black as his flesh, my pet. Do not let him manipulate you.”

I found this hard to believe. The male who had helped me the night before had been nothing but kind, his presence calming. But perhaps it had been because he could sense the way I was feeling? I didn’t have time to review every interaction with Bevgyah glaring at me.

“When he took you to a suite last night did he stay with you? Did he touch you?”

I shook my head, my cheeks feeling hot with embarrassment. Did she think I’d been intimate with her consort? “No, your Majesty. He took me to a suite and said he needed to go. I assumed to return to you.”

She smirked, glancing at me from the corner of her eye.

“He did not return to me. I found him in his own bed this morning.” She watched me with critical eyes.

“Did he speak with you about anything? Anything at all? I need to know every word he’s said to you.

I worry he may have ensnared you already. ”

I tried to recall what we’d spoken about. I’d asked him questions about the portal and how I wished I could return home, and he’d answered them. But I’d also told him I thought I remembered him .

“He told me why I was here. Something about a treaty. I asked him about the portal...I...” Too scared to confess I’d asked him to take me home; I froze in place.

“Why ever would you want to know about the portal?”

I shouldn’t have said so much, but my fear had ripped the words from me. I should have lied and told her he’d said nothing. Her dark eyes burrowed into me, making me squirm under her scrutiny.

“I asked him if he could take me back through.”

A flash of anger moved across her face, but she stifled it quickly.

“Tell me, Tesanna, what do you remember from the human world?”

A shiver writhed up my spine. This was a dangerous question. It was growing clearer that I wasn’t supposed to remember. I tried to make my momentary shock seem more like reflection, but I wasn’t sure how well I’d hidden my fear.

“Nothing. The first thing I remember is the room with the mirror and so many shadows.”

She seemed to think on this for a long moment before she gracefully lifted herself to her feet.

“This has been a delightful chat, little pet. I will call for you later today so you might entertain me.”

There was something so sinister in the way she used the word ‘entertain' that froze my blood in my veins.