Torrent of Tears (Scourge Survivor Series Book 3)(68)
Ydorus’s heavy hand fell on my shoulder and pulled me into a doorway. He pointed down the hall. “There.”
Yep. Elani was being escorted by a Strati soldier down the far corridor. So, it was done. Rowan had pleased the Queen, and now Elani could spend the rest of the night with him.
I gestured to follow and we ghosted along behind them. As I thought about Rowan at the mercy of the Queen, the tightening in my lungs heightened to an unbearable level.
Rather than detonate and stab someone, I dropped my gaze to the floor, studiously tracing the intricate veining in the marble tile. Shiny. Clean. Better.
After a while the monochrome creaminess of the servant areas transformed to a full spectral wonder in the royal areas. Gone were the bare walls, replaced by murals and bronzes and antiquities. Gone were plain mirrors secured directly on ivory walls, instead I watched the reflection of a loyal Strati soldier and a Princess stride past a gold, gilded work of art. Those two people didn’t even look like us and it hit me with gut-wrenching clarity how much I looked like Freya all dolled up.
Scary thing this Eligibles business, little Princess clones infiltrating the voting ranks of the Nobles. Gods, the whole thing gave me the heebs. By inserting placeholders into the Noble Council and building an army of vile soldiers, how far could my mother get if she unleashed them on the Realm of the Fair?
The remembered scent of death-rot clinging to Vasso’s body struck me dumb. Had she joined forces with the Scourge? Would she condemn her men to be inducted into Abaddon’s soulless forces or just fight alongside the scum of the realms?
Gods, I needed to talk this out with Reign and my family. There was something about this that I was still missing.
Ydorus held up his hand and the two of us paused, peering around one final corner. The Strati soldier guided Elani down the corridor and stopped before an ornately carved orichalcum door. With rough hands, he pulled her before him, slid some kind of collar around her neck and then shoved her inside.
When the tail of his cape disappeared around the corner we held our position. Why wasn’t anyone guarding the door? It didn’t sit right, but what choice did we have.
Right. Okay, here goes everything.
After moving closer, my hand closed around the handle and froze. Just stalled out. No twisting action. Nothing. What if I looked at Rowan and freaked? What if he was sitting on the bed doing nothing and all I saw was him fondling my mother or getting ridden like a prize pony?
“Princess?” Ydorus whispered. “We have no cover here. We must move.”
I nodded and brushed my fingers over my coiffed hair and touched the gemmed design running down the side of my face. A quick straightening of my crushed-velvet bodice and I told myself to suck it up and get through that door.
Damn, my hands were shaking. I pushed my shoulders back. Dried my palms against my thighs. Stomped my boot on the marble tile. Okay, what the hell.
“Princess.”
I could do this. It wasn’t Rowan’s fault. Whatever happened here tonight wasn’t anything Rowan wanted. I swallowed hard.
Ydorus’ anxiety snapped in the air around us. With a growl, his powerful hand fell on mine and forced the issue. The door gave way and we stumbled, as one, into the suite.
“Princess,” Elani gasped. She sat cross-legged on a plush area rug in front of the fire. Lounging amongst a mountain of pillows her brother laid beside her. I kept my sights on Elani as Ydorus secured the door.
“Why are you here and not at the celebration?” she asked, launching to her feet. “Has something happened?”
“We’re getting you two out of here while everyone’s drunk and distracted.” I grabbed Rowan’s black bag from the table by the door and waved for them to get a move on. “Let’s go.”
“We cannot leave.” Elani turned to Rowan and waited. When he said nothing, she turned back to me. “The alarms on our collars are set for this room. The guards will know the moment we cross the threshold and track the collars.”
Annnd that’s why no one was watching the door.
“Then we’ll get them off you and leave them here. Now, let’s hurry.”
Elani’s copper curls danced as she shook her head. “The collars are heat sensitive. Without our body, the alarm will sound as well.”
That complicated things, but I was still determined to remove the two of them from the line of fire. If I could go into tomorrow without worrying about anyone getting hurt, I might actually be able to work a little magic.
“Okay, so does anyone check on you?”
Elani shook her head and out of the corner of my eye I saw Rowan striding toward me. I couldn’t look at him yet. He knew me well enough to read my face and if he knew I’d seen that sex tape he’d be mortified.
“Whatever you’re thinking. Stop,” he said, easing closer. When I expected him to hug me, he paused. “What’s up, Trouble?”
“Nothing.” I stared straight at the line of buttons plummeting down the center of his broad chest. Thank the gods he had clothes on. Bare skin would have been too much. Too close to the images flashing behind my eyes. “I, uh . . . need to have a look at those collars.”
Ignoring the twenty-questions routine that followed from both of them, I examined Elani’s slave collar. Between what had been said and my experience with devices like this, I knew the security protocol was arranged in stages. First was the metal lock which we had no key for, then the body heat sensor, then the proximity alarm set to keep them in this room, then the tracking system if they were stupid enough to run and likely a pain inducer to drop them if they did.