CHAPTER NINE
Arabella
“Why are you helping me?” I asked, finally able to breathe. The heels of my palms sank into the cool earth. Night had fallen while I was being sick, and the inky sky was splattered with twinkling stars.
“I told you why.”
“Remind me,” I groaned, unable to remember any of the halting conversation up to that point.
He grinned. Rule was beautiful, with flawless skin and amber eyes that were keen and aware, flicking to and from noises beyond us and dragging lazily over me when giving me his attention. His teal suit was such a dark hue that in the darkness, it looked black. Yellow-orange hair curled boyishly around the nape of his neck and his ears, almost hiding the pointed tips. But it was his smile that disarmed me. He grinned more than anyone I’d ever met. Even in the silence between us, even when there was no reason to.
“You are the first player I’ve ever wanted to place a wager on,” he proclaimed.
“Why would you do that?” Every fae in the kingdom—and especially Rule—had to know we were as good as dead.
“Because I think you might actually be able to win.”
I started to scoff, and then wondered if I could use his endorsement to our advantage. “Do you know what obstacles we’ll face?” I asked, hoping he was like Brave and wanted to be rid of Coeur.
“I do not, sadly,” he mused. “The Queen is the only one who knows, as she will be the one to personally construct your challenges. And they will be specifically designed for the pair of you.”
“Then why bet on me? Or on us?”
“On you,” he clarified with a grin. “Only on you. And, because there is a flame within your heart. I can feel it licking at me even now.”
Embarrassed, I straightened and looked up. As I did, a star streaked across the sky.
“See? The heavens favor you.”
“That was a coincidence,” I argued.
From the corner of my eye, I watched him tuck his hands into the pockets of his fine pants and stare up at the sky. “I do not believe in coincidences.”
“Not at all?” I blurted.
He grinned. “Not at all. And neither should you.”
There was one thing that kept ringing through my mind… Carden was a prince, and Coeur called me his heartmate. But why would a prince be looking for work unless he wasn’t a prince at all, but rather a filthy liar? And why would a prince want a girl with nothing to offer? Unless Coeur was lying.
“Watching you think is fascinating,” Rule breathed. “What puzzles you?”
I gave a mirthless laugh. “What doesn’t?”
His grin fell away. “Indeed. I do hope I’m right about you.”
“That I’m not going to die within the next five days? Yeah, me too,” I answered snarkily.
“Do you feel well enough now to return?” he asked.
I did feel okay, but didn’t want to go back in there. Not that I had a real choice. I had to find Carden. I never should have left him alone. “I guess. Thanks for taking me out here. I’m sorry I got sick.”
He stiffened and placed a hand on my elbow. “In the game, you must never be that.”
“Sick?” I questioned.
He shook his head slowly. “You must never be sorry. Don’t show weakness, Arabella. And never apologize for anything. Not even if the Queen demands it.”
“That almost sounds like advice.”
Rule inclined his head. “Can you trust the advice is sound?”
“No,” I answered.
He grinned. “There’s the fire. I would hate to see the Queen put it out.”
“You mean your mother?” I prodded.
“Of course. No one else would be capable of extinguishing such a blaze.”
“You aren’t powerful enough to do it?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Powerful or not, I wouldn’t.”
Rule was frustrating, but was he more brutal than Coeur? Although he helped me tonight, I knew everyone had a dark side, a side they didn’t want to show, but that always managed to come into the light. I would have to wait and see what lay beneath his charming grin. If I made it through tomorrow. And I had to make it. Carden and I had to get out of this place. I’d find Oryn and maybe we’d take a boat north to the Seven Kingdoms. Leaving might be easier than staying, I thought.
He offered me his elbow and I accepted, my knees still quivering under my weight. Rule guided me back through the castle wall, down the winding hallways, and back into the heavy air and carousing, whose volume was near ear-shattering as the fae celebrated our impending doom.
I watched them dance, laugh, and drink themselves into a stupor from the wall between the guards, searching through the great sea of them for Carden. Rule disappeared the moment I stepped through the door, and I wondered if he was as powerful as his mother and if he was also afraid of her. Too afraid to let her see me with him.
Suddenly, a loud gong rang out through the ballroom, bringing the party to a screeching halt. A great clock appeared in the center of the room, gilded and crafted with designs so miniscule, I couldn’t quite make them out. The guards at my left and right stood at attention, counting the number of chimes aloud.
When the twelfth chime sounded, they banged their spears on the ground in unison. The same wind that pushed me toward the sickening faery food and wine swirled around me and drove me across the floor. I tried to fight it the only way I could, by dragging my feet, but when that didn’t work, I dropped to the tile and clawed at it as the wind pulled me to the room’s center.
To the great, golden clock.
Coeur was waiting in front of its face, her heart-shaped lips pressed into angry lines.
Carden stumbled along, stopping beside me. He didn’t reach for my hand this time.
“You must rest,” the Queen said sweetly. “At dawn, the games begin.”
Growing up, my brother had often reminded me that not all poisons taste bitter. Queen Coeur was a bitter poison, one that everyone knew was deadly, which must be avoided at all costs.
I had to be the sweet poison no one expected or could even detect, especially her.
Carden and I were separated and escorted through the crowd, past the fae who were beyond intoxicated, who shouted horrible things and gestured and laughed. Carden was taken from the room first. Just as I was about to pass through the doors, I caught sight of Rule, who simply grinned.