When she woke, she was confused to find herself sitting in her own suite and the low, slow breathing of someone who had propped her up against them. Night had fallen, and the room was filled with the warm dancing light of candles, which threw moving shadows across the floor and enhanced the warm colours of the room.
Shifting slightly, she looked at Sasha, about to thank her for being so kind in looking after her only to find that it was not Sasha—but Izziah—who had been holding her.
While jerking away from him and off the couch, she tripped over the hem of her dress and almost fell, whipping around to find him sitting still, his hands in the air in surrender.
"What are you doing here?" she hissed at him. She was furious, but also there was a hint of fear for what he might have done to her while she was unconscious. She felt battered and bruised though there were no signs of marks on her body.
"I was waiting outside the dining room when Epharis left, he said that if I was hanging around, I might as well make myself useful and take you back to your suite before one of the guards found you and… well, he suggested unpleasant things may happen," he said, his cheeks darkening slightly. "Your maid was busy, and I did not wish to disturb her, so I offered to stay with you until you woke."
He spoke rather stiffly and formally, nervous about her reaction and the fact that he was alone with her.
"And you thought I would be agreeable to your holding me?" she demanded.
"You seemed comforted by my touch."
Staring at him for a long moment, she considered that. Why would she find comfort in his touch? She did not know him, and she did not trust him. But he had helped her, and she owed him at least some gratitude.
"Thank you for helping me," she said finally, confused, but willing to play nice. "I apologise for my rudeness; I do not usually buy into the discriminations that are common amongst my people and had no right to be cruel."
"You're welcome, and there is no need to apologise. We are strangers, and this is a new place for you. Aside from that, my brother can be… intense."
"Perverted, you mean…" she said, her brows lifting.
"I was trying to be delicate." He smiled, and she had to wonder about the man. He was not at all what she was expecting, and she was a little surprised to find that she did not mind talking to him. He was pleasant and even a little charming.
"You're not what I was expecting," she said gently.
"Neither are you; I was expecting some stuck up, spoon-fed fae brat," he said with a wicked grin.
Eyeing him, she bit her lip and then smiled back at him. An odd thing happened in that moment. His lips parted slightly, and his pupils expanded before shrinking back. She tilted her head, curious about his reaction.
"Are you going to kill Epharis?" he asked, seemingly unaware of his physical changes.
"That would be impossible, he has bound my life with his. To kill him would be to kill myself."
He stood suddenly and approached her, his hands taking hers gently. A spike of alarm went through her mind, but she did not pull away.
"You are fae, if anyone can wriggle their way out of an unfavourable deal, it is you," he said, a burning certainty in his voice.
He had a point; it was not like she was some helpless piece of fluff.
She could get out of that situation and she would survive. She always did.
As he moved back, a small splash of colour caught her attention and she looked at his chest. The jacket had fallen open and there was a smear of blood on the white undershirt.
He looked down and cursed, clutching the fabric and frowning at the blood.
"Sasha can fix that," she said, glancing in the direction of the girl's room. "If we get it to her now, it might not stain."
Glancing back to him, she flushed as she saw him remove his jacket and release the long row of buttons, his fingers moving easily. She could not help herself from looking. That slow reveal of his dark skin had her swallowing in a mingled alarm and… something else she did not know. She had never been in the same room as a man who was getting undressed and the thought had her frozen in place, panicked and enthralled.
The shirt and jacket had not done him justice, and she found that he was incredibly well-toned, not the soft man she had originally thought him to be. His muscles stood out sharply against his skin, giving him a chiselled look.
His entire body was covered in scars. They stood out darker against his already dark skin, and she studied them all. Most of them were straight, clean cuts, but there were many that looked jagged and brutal.
Shaking her head to force herself back to her situation, she took the shirt and moved away from him to the door to Sasha's room. Knocking gently, she offered the girl an apologetic smile as she showed her the blood.
"Are you all right, my Lady?" she whispered. "I was not sure, but he is said to be quite a gentleman."
"Yes Sasha, I'm fine. Thank you for your concern."
Sasha nodded and took the shirt, frowning at it before she closed the door again. Standing there for a moment, Etani had to wonder at her own ability to look after things like that. It had never bothered her before. If her clothes got too dirty, she would simply steal new clothes, but now? She would have to learn everything she could from Sasha.
***
Returning to the drow, she found he had sat down and was carefully looking over the fabric of his jacket. When he found no blood, he pulled it on over his bare chest and buttoned it up, leaving a hint of bare skin at his collarbones that she found entirely too distracting.
"I had not realised I missed any blood," he mumbled, glancing up at her as she approached. "I knew you were bleeding, of course, the prince had…" He trailed off and shook his head. "I thought I had cleaned it all."
The thought of him kneeling over her prone form, carefully wiping blood from her skin brought a flush to her face, and she dropped her eyes, embarrassed that he had been forced to tend to her like that. She had not needed to be looked after since she was a child and here he was, a total stranger, and a drow, doing it for seemingly no reason.
"Why would you do that?" she asked slowly, uncertain of him.
"I would have considered myself a coward had I so much as hesitated to come to your aid. Regardless of the histories between our people, you were injured and unable to protect yourself, I would not be a man if I simply left you there to be taken advantage of." He sounded stiff and proud.
"I am glad that you were there to help me," she said slowly, still not entirely certain about his intentions. She was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. He had kept her safe when he had little reason to do so. "I owe you for your kindness."
"My dear Lady, you owe me nothing," he said as he stood, offering her a smile. "It was an honour to be of service to one such as you. All I hope is that you might look more favourably on my kind in the future."
Well, when he put it like that…
Crossing to him, she took his hands gently and leant forward, pressing a single, gentle kiss against his cheek. As she drew back, his dark skin flushed darker in a blush that she found rather endearing, but she did not linger.
It took him a moment to recover. He cleared his throat, seemingly lost for words and after a moment he managed to get his brain back in order.
"I should not linger for too long, my lady; my brother will be wondering where I got off to and we do not want there to be any rumours about my presence in your rooms," he said, glancing towards the door. Sasha stepped back into the room, holding his shirt that she had neatly folded.
"My lord," she said politely, giving him a curtsy before she moved forward and offered the shirt to him. The stain was completely gone, and the fabric was once again clean and dry.
"Absolutely perfect," he said in a delighted tone. "I don't suppose you're looking for a new posting?" he asked her, his smile turning sly as he glanced to Etani. "A young woman of your talents…"
"Sasha is staying here with me," Etani said defensively, her hands resting on the girl's shoulders. Sasha was an exceptional young woman, and she was not about to give her up to the drow brothers.
Izziah affected a pout that left Sasha blushing prettily, looking between the two of them shyly.
"Well if you're going to be selfish about it." He pouted and then smiled. "Please excuse me for a moment ladies." He turned and moved into the bathroom to put his shirt back on.
Sasha grinned, proud of her work.
"I shall leave you to talk." The pretty woman said and hurried back to her room.
Looking around slowly, Etani took in the space properly for the first time, the walls covered in an odd square pattern that she realised were wooden shelves, all of them empty and clean. A balcony stood to the left side but before she could move to it, Izziah had returned.
"Ah, if only I could open a door to this every day," he said wistfully. He was getting bold in his statements and she eyed him warily. "I will leave you now, my dear Lady. It has been a pleasure speaking with you this evening."
Accepting his hand, she curtsied. He bowed over her hand, placing a gentle kiss against her knuckles.
"Thank you for your assistance Izziah," she said and then she paused. "I never found out your rank."
"I was a prince in our lands, but I was banished, and my title removed; here I am a lord." He said it with such a cool tone that she could immediately tell that it still hurt him deeply. "You are a lady?"
"Only because the king granted me the title. I hold no title of my own, I am not of the royal line."
"The Winter Court?" he asked, and his expression made her realise that he knew far more about her than he should.
"I am not of the Winter Court," she said, only half-lying. Technically she had not aligned herself with any court. Her father had been Winter Court, but that did not make her part of it.
"Right," he said doubtfully, his eyes trailing down her form and then back up again, not believing her at all.
It was an odd moment; for most of their kind it was easy to tell which court one belonged to, especially with the fae. Those of Winter tended to be paler with bolder, sharply cool colouring while Summer tended to have warmer tones, rich and healthy. But that was not always the case, especially if there was a defection. It was not unheard of to see the striking, coldly pale beauty of the Winter Court in Summer, though it was uncommon. Even so, she had known there to be redheads in the Winter Court, something that would have normally belonged to Summer.
Regardless, she was only half Winter since her mother had been born to the Celestrials. She was not a Winter Court Fae, she was unaligned.
He sighed slowly, stretching with an almost feline grace that sent his muscles rippling and bulging in a way that made her heart skip a beat, captivated by him now that she knew what lay under that jacket. "It will be morning soon; I will leave you and return to my home before my brother wakes to find me missing," he said, a hint of amusement on his face as he caught her watching his chest.
Dropping his arms, he bowed before her and she felt a slight pang of disappointment that he was leaving. It was odd, feeling like he was a trusted companion or even a friend. She did not know when that had happened, but it confused her immeasurably.
"Thank you Lord Izziah, you have been incredibly kind and greatly appreciated," she said slowly, moving with him towards the door.
"Until we meet again dear lady," he said.
Bowing once more, he let himself out. She watched the door for several seconds as she contemplated her mind and body.
She had never felt that before; she had felt something similar a very, very long time ago, but she had never felt that. What was that anyway?
A blush crept up her cheeks as she realised that it was desire, a desperate longing to run her hands over his skin for the simple sake of feeling him under her fingertips. She had never wanted to know what someone's lips tasted like. To kiss had always been to eat, to devour and yet when the thought of his lips against hers flashed through her mind, there was no hunger… at least, not that kind of hunger.
The hunger she felt then was a little more carnal, and she wrapped her arms around her middle, lost in her thoughts.
She had never given another the opportunity to get close to her like that, to simply exist with them. She had never met another, who was outside of her family, who was eager to spend time with her. It was confusing for her to think that he might actually enjoy conversing with her.
Her mind flicked back to watching him remove his shirt, and she bit her lip, doing her best to hide a smile as she imagined exploring those scars with her hands… her lips…
Shaking her head, she scolded herself for her improper thoughts. She was not some lovesick girl. And yet, she found herself wondering how any man could so thoroughly win her over and she realised in that moment that he had enchanted her with his kindness. She was enamoured.
Shaking her head, she ran her hands over the back of her neck and found the chain, looked down at it. She had forgotten all about it and she growled softly, pulling and yanking at it.
Trying to pry it off did nothing; a knife had no effect at all either, and trying to beat it with a candelabra did nothing; stretching, burning, lifting… none of the ideas she had worked.
Even Sasha's assistance had no result and she seriously considered decapitating herself. It was not worth it, as she was not keen to let the lich bastard know any more of her secrets.
"I don't know what to do, Sasha, this has me concerned," she said finally, looking at the girl as she worked with twin sets of pliers, trying to twist the links themselves apart without touching her with the iron tools.
"Surely it is a mistake, my lady; surely he did not intend to do this." Sasha's voice was uncertain and when Etani glanced down, she saw that her face showed just as much doubt. They both knew the lich had intended it.
While they worked, the two talked quietly over the situation, and what Etani's plans were. Sasha had been rather surprised to learn exactly what Etani was, given the glamour, but she accepted it without fear or complaint. The girl knew a fair bit about the courts and had been happy to share her information. When Etani asked that she be shown how to clean the blood and other stains from clothing, as well as repair them, she had been utterly delighted.
The subject of names came up when Etani asked the young woman to stop calling her lady, and Sasha asked her what her name represented.
***
In truth, the names of the fae were entirely random except for a few rules.
The firstborn usually had the most names, and their first name commonly ended with an 'a.' It was not every case, but it was so common that it had become a running joke that one could usually tell who the firstborn was by their name alone.
Sasha had been delighted to learn that Etani's name was simply a nickname and that her full first name was actually Etania. She loved the fact that they shared a secret that no one else knew and it had not cost Etani anything to make the girl happy.
The subject was always a touchy one with the fae, given the level of power that could be gained from owning a name. To know the true, full name of a fae was to own them in full for an eternity. An order given after their name was spoken could not be denied for any reason and there was nothing the fae could do to stop it. They would obey, without hesitation. Even siblings and parents did not know the full name of their kin, it was too risky.
Etani's name consisted of seven names in total, while her mother and sisters all had five each. That was more common than her own, the sheer number was rare for it meant she was safer than most and, as such, she was not going to complain.
The girl feared that the lich would try to get Etani's name, but she was not concerned; it was incredibly hard to get all of a fae's names out of them and even then, she could just give a fake name and pretend it was her real name until she escaped.
Trying to get the subject off of her own name, she pulled the slip of parchment out of her pocket and offered it to Sasha. It had gotten a little crumpled in that time, but the writing was still clear.
She had not wanted to admit to the lich that she could not read it.
"What do you know of the person to whom this name belongs?" she asked, hoping the girl would know him, or at the least read the name out to her.
"Jacob Carriger?" Sasha paused, frowning as a thought passed through her mind. "Lord Jacob Carriger? He is a merchant king down near the city centre." Sasha lifted a brow slightly, offering the paper back. Looking down at the name, she tried to piece the symbols to a spoken word, but they did not make any real sense to her.
"Does he come to court? Would you be able to point him out to me?" Etani asked, wondering if the paper was upside down. She really needed to learn how to read that language…
"Certainly, he usually comes in every few days to speak with the others of his standing or press for lower taxes. If he's not there today, he will be there in a few days."
Nodding, she considered what tools she had and decided it was best to go into the city with the young woman to collect supplies. She did not have any money; instead, she took two of the gold candelabra.
***
The man was not at court that day and so they headed out into the city. They exchanged the heavy golden candelabra for a large pile of little golden coins and several silver ones. The gold ones got her quite a lot, the silver was good, but it took ten silver to make one gold, or so Sasha told her.
Buying herself several sets of knives and some new clothes cost her five of the gold coins and nine silver. While Sasha had been terrified that Etani had simply stolen and sold the king's possessions, Etani had found it amusing that no one seemed to care where she got the candelabra from. She supposed that a lady and her servant could sell whatever they wanted.
She was contemplating what else she could steal as they headed back up towards the castle.
Loud cheering caught their attention, and they both looked around to see a carriage that had been folded out into a large stage. There were people atop it in large bright masks, dancing around and making bawdy jokes.
Etani had not been able to resist watching, even though Sasha was a little embarrassed. She found she rather enjoyed the show, slipping five of the silver coins into the little dish that was handed around afterwards.
The two women returned to the castle in good spirits, enjoying a quiet lunch and dinner, while Sasha patiently showed her how to sew in a way that was so clever that the fabric would pull together and the seam wouldn't be noticeable unless one looked very hard.