Darkness and Beauty (The Fated Series, #1)

Chapter 52 - Fauna - Song of Flesh and Blood

While Darius and Thea have a rather awkward, but flattering, conversation, I scan the crowd again. People smile and dance, not a single one of them looking like they are going to make a move against the royals. When you can't find anything but know that something's coming, you find yourself looking twice at everyone. Lance managed to pull me aside before I went back to the tower to change, and he told me everything. About Eleanor and Charles's dreams and what their sleep talking may imply. I honestly wasn't surprised, I mean I was the one to say that they'd be aiming for some time during the festival.

Still, I don't like silence.

When our world goes quiet, it means a storm is brewing on the horizon.

My father's voice rings in my head, and I swear I can feel his hand on my shoulder telling me to look closer. To see with more than with my eyes. Listen in between the noise. Feel the shift in the universe. Smell through the lies of the deceiver. Taste the blood before it's spilled. If you can't trust your senses, then trust your instincts. But everything comes back the same with nothing to show for my tension but the fighting children beside me. I turn to accept Thea's proposal if only to see what Darius will do when the hairs on my arm stand up.

In seconds every nerve in my body starts firing signals. I hunt through every inch of the room, stopping when I look into the shadows of the ceiling. Above the balconies of the third floor, a golden lion's head is mounted on the wall, but it's not the detail of the carving that I'm interested in. It's the shadows that move behind it, followed by a brief flash of light before it stills.

By the Gods and their Saints, they're going to shoot from across the room. It's within easy hitting distance, but if that's Will in the shadows, then it's no ordinary arrow he has knocked on the bow. Terror strikes my heart with the image of my father's body impaled by a thick, large arrow trades to the image of Darius's body broken by another. Keeping my face carefully neutral, I frantically flash my fingers behind Darius's back in hopes that Lance will see it. We created our own codes with our hands and fingers when I was twelve, and we haven't told anyone about them. Not even my father.

They weren't supposed to be here for another hour.

I keep flashing my fingers as I turn my head slightly toward Garrison still standing guard on the first step of the dais, and whisper, "Mountain Mallow."

He doesn't acknowledge me at all as he counts to ninety before walking up beside Mal and repeating the words. In no alarming way, they all tighten their ranks and move so that with a quick whistle from me, they'll fall back into the arrowhead formation around Darius. Small movements toward a bigger goal. Slow movements that have me eyeing the shadows above, praying to every listening ear that their bowstring snaps and they'll have to mend it before firing.

"What?" Shit. I forgot Thea was still here.

"It blooms after a fire in the woods," I explain distantly, letting my eyes roam where they want to feign disinterest.

"O-Oh."

"She's family," Darius says tightly as he casually adjusts his own position and puts his arms around me. No more than the Prince enjoying his lover. I hold my breath as I take the risk of looking away from the lion's head and turning to him. Though our eyes meet I know his are focused on the Bhaltayr while mine focus on the Queen's throne, thankful to find it empty and Lance and Kat gone. All but two of the Queen's guards have gone with them, tricking the crowd to think that she'll only be gone for a few minutes. Nothing more than a woman still recovering from her labor. "Clare."

"Alright," I fold. I step closer to Thea and keep one eye on the lion's head as I speak. "I need you to do exactly what I say in the order I say it."

"What-"