together—Farling and Arissa—Arissa and Farling. There’s a portrait of the two of them together in a different tower.”
“What happened to her?”
“My mother? She helped your mother escape Alameeda. She paid for it. They executed her for treason.”
“Who did?”
“The Brotherhood—my father. He was infatuated with your mother. He wanted her for his own.”
“How could Excelsior have claimed her when he had already claimed your mother?”
“He can do whatever he wants. He knows how everyone will vote because he tells the majority of them how they’ll vote. He has always been untouchable.”
“Your mother saved my mother from him?”
“She helped Arissa get out of Alameeda, but she couldn’t save herself.”
“Or you,” I whisper to him and the portrait of the ghost who broke his heart.
“I didn’t need saving. I am bad, Kricket, but she didn’t make me bad.”
“You don’t have to be bad.”
“I do, but I’ll be worse to anyone who is bad to you. Come, let’s go meet some of the Brothers.” He holds his hand out to me and this time I take it.
CHAPTER 11
BEAUTY GOES DEEP
We exit through the brown leather doors, leaving Kyon’s study behind. A short corridor brings us to tall, thin ivory doors. They remind me of keys on a piano. Kyon pauses before we enter the room. He turns to me, grasping my chin and making me look at him. “You’ll be the most important person in the room, but if you don’t demand their respect, they’ll never give it to you.”
“So they’re normal,” I reply.
“I’m always protecting you, whether you know it or not.” He’s not lying—at least he believes what he says. I wonder, and not for the first time, if he knows just how broken he is.
“We’re on the same team for now, Kyon. I’ll follow your lead. Just tell me one thing: What are they most afraid of?”
“This.” He motions to both of us with his index finger. “You and I aligned and out of their control. To see us together will unsettle them.”
“What if we’re in love?”
“They’d be unable to look away.”
“Hmm,” I respond.
I wish that I’d had time to prepare for this. If I’d been given a moment, I could’ve launched myself into the future for a dry run. No such luck, though. I have to play this one straight and hope for the best.
My feet are heavy as I trudge into the room. It’s grand in a way I’m somewhat accustomed to now that I’ve lived in Rafe’s palace. The left side of this regal room is open to the outside by a series of white wood-framed French doors that run the length of the pastel blue room. Silken, white curtains are draped to the sides. The tranquil breeze brings with it the scent of flowers. I don’t recognize them, but that aroma is lovely. They’re melon-colored and grow on the vines creeping over the outside of the doorframes.
Enormous framed portraits cover the walls. They depict lovely, blond-haired, blue-eyed Etharians. The ceiling is at least two stories above our heads and painted with gorgeous Viking-like rune symbols.
There are three camps languishing in the room. On the left side of the room, by the open doors, there are a few groupings of beautiful blond women. Three of them sit at a gaming table that has a three-tier chesslike board on its marble top. Elegant stone figurines that resemble mythological creatures: dragons, griffins, winged horses, and the like, rove over the game board on their own. The women are each adorned with face candy; black lace adheres to the tall one’s eyebrows, henna lines arch over the thinner one’s brow, and golden chains stretch from ear to ear over the snub nose of the one with golden eyelashes.
The second camp is near the back of the room. Soft music is playing from an instrument that resembles a pianoforte. Every single inch of this priestess’s eyebrows are covered with silver ring piercings. Two women accompanying the pianoforte play stringed instruments that sound like violins. Still another priestess is playing a weirdly shaped guitar that has the resonance of a mandolin.
The third camp in the room is located to the right of it. It’s a group of attractive blond men who are seated on thronelike chairs. They’re monsters who are wary of the shark at my side. A couple of them rise from their seats to ease their discomfort at Kyon’s height advantage over them. It still doesn’t help though. Kyon’s the tallest one in the room . . . and the most