Chapter 5 - section 4

Dressing myself was a slow and painful process. Local convention required layers upon layers, not dissimilar to medieval fashion. As I struggled to tie up the corset that belonged under the dress I had pulled out, I cursed whatever male had contrived of such female torture devices. It wasn’t as painful as a bra might have been across my shoulder, but it was no sinecure either. It made me yet again wonder about the sanity of Renaissance Faire aficionados. This kind of clothing was not designed for comfort or ease of motion, never mind the fact that the layers tended to make any full-figured female look dumpy. What I wouldn’t give for a comfortable pair of jeans!

The amethyst-hued overdress was a little easier to manipulate into place, although not by much. Checking in the mirror, I deemed myself mostly presentable, tied my curls into a knot and fixed it with a comb, even though I knew full well that it wouldn’t be long before they escaped: my hair had an independence that rivaled my own. Satisfied, I eased out of the room to head back towards the dining hall in order to sate my stomach.

I paused at the head of the stairs leading down. Initially, my break was solely to catch my breath, since the pain from my shoulder throbbed viciously. As I drew in air, however, the sound of muffled voices encouraged me to linger a moment longer. I turned, ascertaining the noises came from the nearby library door.

“Has Rhynn told her yet?”

“I don’t think so. He didn’t want to upset her in her condition.”

Had it been anyone but my half-brothers, I might have thought twice about eavesdropping, but it was fairly clear that I was the subject of discussion and my childhood training reasserted itself with a vengeance. We might not hail from the fey lines known for ruling by survival, but in dealing with siblings, any edge you could find was useful in the games of manipulation. It wasn’t pretty, but it was family.

In an effort to hear the conversation a little better, I edged back and towards the door. I also took the effort to raise my mental guards while letting them broadcast an inconspicuous “nobody here” vibe, just in case any of their senses were sensitive to do more than discover the telltale fey warning – and there was nothing I could do about that, but hope that within the castle, it would be a common enough occurrence that it wouldn’t set off any mental alarms.

“Was Vicky able to explain how Tara managed to arrive in the castle walls?”

The dulcet feminine tone had to be Eva. Relief warred with unease. If Vicky was here, she was safe and my concerns of before could be set aside. It meant that Cullen was the only real issue I had to worry about. Cullen and whatever Rhynn hadn’t told me. The rest of the family certainly seemed up to something. And Rhynn was holding back from me. That in itself was disturbing, since I relied on his support more than those conversing. I trusted Rhynn. Even if his intentions were good, I wasn’t pleased with his reticence given the wealth of mysteries presenting itself to me.

Yves' voice rose distinctively in response to his twin; “Not a damned word. She knows, though.”

This left Garrett as the other male voice whose low tones I now strained to hear. “Tara’s got the power to be an obstacle, but Vicky’s got the ambition.”

Bless Eva, she sounded angry at this judgment. “You’re not about to try anything with Tara, are you?”

“No. She’s pissed off someone else. Besides, with Cullen after her, she’s can’t pose a serious threat and she can be used to keep him busy.”

I clenched a fist, trying not to breathe while I listened. So Cullen and Garret really were at each other’s throats. Yves was supporting Garret, and Eva was probably supporting him. Really, this was no surprise. Yves had the strength of magic to take on any one of us, but he wasn’t keen on anything that required too much effort or discomfort. And Eva usually followed where her twin led. That the twins shared a mother with Garrett and all three were older than the rest of us meant that they usually did flock together when conflict divided us.

Eva was the one who could sometimes be drawn out for information, though. She was softer than her brothers and even as a full-blood, she was weaker in most of the powers than me. As long as her loyalty to Yves wasn’t called into question, I might be able to get her to shed some light on all that was happening. She might be even easier to drag it out of than Vicky would be. Vicky was here and she knew enough that Garrett considered her a threat. Angry as I was at her disappearance and relieved at her return, my damnable sense of responsibility nudged me to warn her. Yet, I hesitated, hoping to learn more.

“Tara’s got help, though. You know that. Do you think she knows more than she’s letting on?” Yves’ voice was almost hopeful, the bastard. It sounded like he wanted Garrett to come after me.

Fortunately, Garrett seemed to notice the angle and responded with command. “No. She’s clueless. I don’t know how she managed to get into…” he cut off abruptly as Eva hissed a sudden warning.

“I feel someone.” I mentally cursed and raised my guards as high as I could. As quickly as I was capable, I shuffled towards the stairs. I made it down and out of sight before I thought I heard the door. I didn’t slow, however.

As I rushed the best I could in my wounded and breathless state towards the dining hall, I reflected that I had pushed my luck once I knew Eva was there. She might be the weakest of us in pure power and strength, but when it came to sensitivity, she was the best of us. It was a huge risk to have listened at all with her in the room. It was a good bet that it was part of the reason why Garrett included her in so much. At the same time, I had learned more from that eavesdropping session than I had garnered from anyone who actually spoke to me since I woke up in that guest room.

My course of action was clear; food first, then find and throttle Vicky, and then find Dad. He had always permitted a certain amount of power-testing among us – it was the fey way, after all – but Garrett’s scheming, Cullen’s army and the assassin sent for me meant that things might be getting a bit out of hand. Dad could put a limit on that.

I tugged on the bodice of my dress uncomfortably as I crossed the rushes strewn on the dining hall floor. I paid no heed to the tapestries on the wall, the ambient light from the massive windows or the tables cleaned and waiting the next meal. The room always felt cold and much larger when devoid of people. My attention was on the buffet laden with freshly baked breads, but something about my feet rustling the covering on the stone ground sounded louder than it ought. I turned, glancing back the way I had come as I reached out to snatch up a raisin-specked roll. Flour flaked delightfully from the baked good onto the table and the yeasty scent assailed my nostrils and made my stomach rumble insistently.

I chomped into the delight, still eyeing the hall for signs of pursuit from the victims of my illicit spying. I was so intent that the warm hand lowered onto my shoulder so familiarly from behind caused me to jump and instinctively lash out. Tristam caught my wrist in his opposite hand, releasing my shoulder. Amusement mixed with exasperation in his twinkling grey eyes.

“I thought I told you to stay in bed?”

I breathed out again, only then realizing that I had caught it at all. “You scared me!” I accused and then adding with realization, “You! The guards are looking for you and I need you to answer some questions.”

Tristam’s crooked smirk grew as he regarded me calmly and I was keenly aware of the warmth of his hand still clasped around my wrist. I jerked it back as he responded; “Ever a delightful ray of sunshine you are, Tara.”

I glowered, trying to focus on the discrepancies of what he had told me before and what I had learned since while holding back the surge of ire that his laughing gaze invoked. I almost didn’t process the complete and total lack of fey awareness through the tempting anger that I fought. “How did you bring me here? And why has nobody else seen you?”

I tried to stare him down. If he was human it would have been enough to charm him into frank answers, but he met my gaze with no sign of enthralling. Instead, that insolent smirk made me regret his quick reflexes a moment before. It would have been so delightful to land a good solid blow on his insolent cheek.

“I regret to tell you that I brought you here in a most undignified fashion, slung over my shoulder. And nobody has seen me because I didn’t want them to.” His quiet baritone was so calm and laced with amusement that I fumed.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it! How? How did you get past the protections? How did you get me inside the walls of the castle? And how did you even know to bring me here?” My voice rose with each question and I recognized the frustrated whine creeping into the heightened pitch and I broke off to halt it.

Tristam’s pause in thought gave me an opportunity to compose myself. I couldn’t figure out why he drove me to flustered frustration or how it could happen so quickly. If his tale was true, I owed him my life. Beyond that, I wanted to believe him. I wanted to like him. That is, I wanted to until he smirked. But when he spoke, it always seemed to ring true, but his tale seemed irreconcilable with the facts. His hesitation made me hope that his answer was honest. I really wanted it to be the truth.

“Every defense system, no matter how good has to have multiple ways in and out. If they didn’t, they could fail those that they’re meant to protect by turning a safe place into a death trap.”

He answered so seriously that I had no real choice but to consider this response. Dad was the sort of guy who liked hidden passages. We knew he had built several into the castle. Was it such a large leap to consider that he might have built the same sort of failsafe into the magical protections?

“You’d have to know the systems very well to be able to exploit them like that,” I responded, studying the handsome conundrum standing before me.

With that crooked smile, he said, “I told you the truth about this place belonging to a friend, Tara. Enough questions for now, though, sunshine. You’ve got to hurry if you want to catch your sister before they get in here.” Tristam waved towards the stairs behind me.

I turned, the very faintest shiver of awareness touching my senses as if he had orchestrated it. “How do you know…” my voice trailed into nothing as I turned back. Nobody was there and I felt like an idiot talking to myself. As effortlessly as if he had been a ghost or a figment of my imagination – both disturbing possibilities suddenly seeming quite possible – Tristam was gone. There had been no sound, no sense of movement, no waft of air or flickering from the corner of my eyes, he was simply not there, as if he had never been there at all.

The tingling of fey awareness was growing, however. Whatever Tristam was, he was right. I had to find Vicky and warn her before Garrett, Yves and Eva tried anything. Disconcerted still, I hurried towards the kitchen and the back stairs. They would place me closer to Vicky’s quarters and help me to avoid the trio if they were the ones approaching.