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Chapter twenty-seven

Nerys

O ne thing Nerys never expected about court was the sleep deprivation—ironic, for people who didn’t have to do manual labor.

Despite Adelyna’s teasing that she should leave the party in order to be rested for the hunt, Qiana wouldn’t let her.

No, Nerys had to stay until past midnight before Qiana finally bid her farewells.

“You can sleep later,” she said to Nerys, once they were making their way through the halls.

“First impressions only come once.” The halls were empty at this late hour, and only a smattering of guards and servants wandered like ants lost on a piece of cheese.

Qiana gave Nerys a sideways glance. “I hope you know you won’t get a chance like this again.

The Kor’yitz is notoriously tricky when it comes to her inner circle. ”

Nerys nodded and yawned. “What did the lady want?” Nerys asked. Best to get lectures over with. “The one who went to speak to you.”

“What lady?” Qiana asked. “Oh, Nerine?”

“That’s right—Nerine.”

“Let me worry about her.”

“She wasn’t…mad?”

“Oh, she was. But it’s not any problem of yours.”

Nerys nodded. “If you say so, My Brilliance. I just didn’t expect that sort of exchange to happen. So soon, that is.”

Qiana turned to look straight at Nerys, her expression serious.

“Even if you do everything right, soon you’ll have a half-dozen sworn enemies and several times that number who would enjoy nothing more than watching you fall.

It will happen.” Qiana took a deep breath.

“In this case, Nerine has been having a…dispute with the Kor’yitz, and since she can’t take it out on her—”

“I’m an easy target. ”

“Indeed. But this is all Nerine’s fault. She decided to make her bed in another’s, and that’s where she gets to sleep now.”

Nerys’s eyes widened, but she did not answer. What was that supposed to mean? Good thing she wasn’t going to be at court for long—the politics were going to give her watery bowels.

They walked in silence, their heels clicking on the floor and the swish of their gowns the only sounds.

Finally, Nerys couldn’t resist asking, “Why is Nerine having a dispute with the Kor’yitz?

” If she was spending time with the Kor’yitz tomorrow, more information was needed.

Nerine was not one of the courtiers on Fina’s list, so either she was so unimportant she didn’t reach Cerdoran’s notice, or their information was outdated.

Nerys tucked the possibility of outdated information away, since it would not do for her to blunder by relying on wrong information in the future.

Qiana shook her head. “Their relationship is more than I want to discuss tonight. Let’s leave it at this—there are some hurt feelings, due to…

certain alliances shifting. Nothing that concerns you.

And something that you’re not to mention to the Kor’yitz.

I don’t care if a bare-assed Nerine falls out of a tree and dances, you’re not to mention it. ”

Now that was an image.

They reached their rooms and Qiana went immediately to her bedroom, calling out a hasty goodnight.

Finally. There wasn’t much more of humanity she could take.

Nerys retired and shed what she could of her courtly cocoon, casting it off with all the grace of a molting pigeon.

Finally—after begrudgingly receiving the maid’s assistance with some particularly testy dress hooks—Nerys settled down and tucked herself into bed.

And then a shadow appeared near her like a low-hanging cloud.

What now? Court had been unexpectedly dull regarding the spirit realm—it was too much to expect that she’d escape the night unscathed.

Nerys called her sight and was rewarded with a vision of Vine reclining on her bed, bleeding all over her bed covers. And on her. Great. Who knew how long she’d have to sleep in a bloody bed now? 157

“What are you doing?” she asked, sitting up, her gaze latching onto Vine’s dangling skin.

Vine turned to where Nerys was staring and lifted one of the pieces of peeled flesh and moved it so that it rested on a gap on his arm, where it was supposed to be.

Roughly. His actions didn’t help the bleeding.

“I need you to see something.”

“Now?” Nerys looked at him incredulously. Something strange was afoot.

“Yes. Now. ”

What was it this time? More eavesdropping? Nerys threw off her blankets. “Fine.” Groaning, Nerys moved with all the grace of a rolling pregnant sow. “What is it?” Nerys asked when her feet touched the floor.

“Peek out the door, and keep your sight called,” he said, moving off the bed and stepping closer to her.

Nerys did as he bid and made her way to the door and opened it a crack.

Vine crept closer to her, and then his upper body pressed against her shoulder, the warm wetness of his blood seeping through her nightclothes.

His cold breath tickled her neck. So unhuman.

But what Nerys saw outside the door made her forget about the demon. Or at least the one behind her.

Two young female servants were in the common room.

One tended to the fire while the other was dampening down the lamps.

It was the one near the fire that drew Nerys’s attention, or more precisely, the demon attached to her neck.

This demon had spikes along his back, jutting out like a porcupine, and a long black tail that flicked like a happy cat’s.

Claws dug into the woman’s skin, yet there was no sign of blood on the woman’s clothes.

But the worst part was the fact that the demon’s mouth was latched onto the woman’s neck, sucking on her. Eating her?

Living Gods…

Nerys lurched back into Vine and slammed the door.

Vine caught her from falling, his clawed fingers digging into her arms. Once she was stable, Vine stepped back and smirked as Nerys crawled back into bed.

“What is that?” she whispered rubbing where his claws had indented her flesh.

“Is it killing her?” Wait…Vine touched her? Was he able to hurt her?

Vine sat on her bed, making himself comfortable near her feet. Thankfully, this time the loin cloth did its job. “That’s how most demons harm living humans.”

“By sucking on them?”

“Yes.”

Nerys’s mouth opened and closed until words eventually came out. “How? Is it killing her? Why is no one getting rid of it? Can’t you do something? I need to do something.”

Vine placed a clawed hand on her foot, holding her in place. “No.”

“What?”

“Unless you want to attract a lot of attention—to yourself and me—you will stay put. The other spirits here think I’m the Sun Holder’s, and everything depends on me not standing out.

Which I would, if I’m suddenly defending palace maids.

” He looked at her with what Nerys guessed was a demon’s attempt at sympathy, but what looked to be more like pained amusement.

“What you’re seeing is what we can do. You’re right, it is killing her.

Unless the demon gets tired of her and moves onto someone else. ” 158

“…How? How will it kill her?”

Vine shrugged and poked at his manacles, making the hanging skin on his arms wobble.

What would happen if he cut the skin off?

Wouldn’t that make more sense than being a perpetual skin flapper?

159 “Some humans become ill. Some commit suicide. Others turn to substances… Humans can’t live with one of us doing that for long. Not without consequences.”

“That poor girl—why doesn’t someone get rid of it?”

“Why? You want a turn being its snack?”

“What? No.” Nerys grimaced. “Why would you—dammit, just answer me.”

“As you wish.” Vine stopped fidgeting. “ It’s not easy, and she’s not important enough for the Sight Bearers to bother with. One would have to either find and make another demon do it, or try to make it go away on their own.” He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t try.”

“I won’t,” Nerys promised. This was horrible—that poor woman.

And here was Vine, acting as if he was concerned for her, when he probably did the exact same thing to other people when she wasn’t paying attention.

Who had he snacked on? Who had he killed?

And he…he could interact with her. Physically.

Some of the time, at any rate. Living Gods, what was she going to do?

Stall him. Distract him. That’s what. “Do they—demons—choose just anyone?”

“No.” Vine shook his head, biting back a smirk as if he guessed what Nerys was thinking. Tasting her fear. “Sometimes they are sent. Other times certain people just…taste better.” Vine spoke like he knew from experience. For the sake of their current arrangement, Nerys didn’t want to know more.

“But why show me this? Why warn me tonight?”

“Despite our recent…misunderstanding, I have a vested interest in keeping you in one piece, such as I can. You need to see what can happen if you’re not careful.”

“You could have just told me,” Nerys muttered. He would not see her fear. She wouldn’t let him.

“Telling doesn’t have quite the same effect. Someone needs to fill in the gaps of your knowledge.” Vine looked at her like he expected to be thanked. Nerys was not in a thanking mood.

This kept getting more and more delightful. What was the truth and what wasn’t? Vine could easily be saying this to get her to trust him, cause her to distrust Qiana, or both. All for some gain of his own. But did she have a choice? “Well, thanks,” she finally said. “I think.”

Vine nodded. “Of course. Now, lay the fresh salt across the door and we’ll get some rest. We have a big day tomorrow, don’t we, Huntress?”

“Um…‘we’?”

“Yes—I’m not about to idle in Qiana’s sitting room reading romance novels—you really should look at her collection when you have a chance. For several reasons. And trust me” ?Vine smiled, revealing his teeth? “you need me. You don’t want to be unprotected.”

No, she did not. But was Vine actually going to protect her? Then again, Vine was better than the spiky neck-sucking demon or who else may be at court. Probably. She had been so distracted with the physical world that she didn’t dare start to look at the spirit one.

Without a word of farewell, Nerys banished her sight, and got out of bed to put the salt around her door and windows, as Vine commanded. With one demon slurping on the servant and another one pacing the room, this was going to be a long night of nightmares.