The Elder Blood Chronicles Bk 1 In Shades of Grey (55 page)

He crossed his arms behind his head and
shrugged. “I woke up when you were already half way through the
bottle. Your crying was what woke me. I spent a bit trying to
figure out what was wrong, and you did talk some. You cried mostly
and drank more and babbled a lot drunkenly. Most of it, I didn’t
understand.” He brushed some hair back from her face and met her
gaze. “Some of it, I did, though, Milady,” he finished.

“I am horrible at keeping secrets,” she said
mournfully.

“You did promise you would tell me,” he
pointed out in her defense.

“I did,” she agreed with a nod. “Jail knows
too,” she added with a frown.

He raised an eyebrow at her, his look
incredulous. “You told Jail before me? You just met Jail,” he said,
sounding a bit insulted.

“I didn’t tell him. He saw it when he checked
my mind for damage,” she explained. He seemed to relax and gave a
nod of acceptance. “There is more, though, I’m not sure what I
babbled about to you and what I still need to tell you.”

“Mostly, it was about Shade wanting to save
you, but you couldn’t let him. Then how you didn’t want me to die
and then more about Shade. You only mentioned your home once or
twice. The crying seemed to revolve primarily around my dying.
Which I would normally laugh about, but given recent events it
doesn’t seem quite so funny,” Finn said with a sigh.

“Then you haven’t talked to Neph or Jail
yet?” she asked hesitantly.

“Mmm, no, should I have?” he asked, looking
puzzled.

“Neph wants to explain it to everyone. I’d
rather he be the one to tell you,” she said as she wrapped the
covers around her tighter.

Finn’s eyes narrowed and he looked over at
her. “You remember how I said I would kill Valor if you chose him,”
he began, his voice low.

“No,” she cut in shaking her head. “No, no,
nothing like that,” she said again following the path of his
thoughts and not liking the ending. “Oh, Fortune, no. Are you
insane, Finn?” She shook her head in disbelief and rested her head
back on the pillow.

Finn’s expression lightened and he burst into
laughter. “Can I tell him how you reacted to that suggestion,
please? I’d love to see the look on Neph’s face,” he asked, still
laughing.

She gave him a dry expression and shook her
head. “Don’t you dare, he has just decided that he can consider me
“friend,” and if you ruin that I won’t forgive you,” she
warned.

He grinned at her and rolled closer, wrapping
his arm around her waist and pulling her up against him. “Fine
then. I can’t have you mad at me,” he agreed amiably.

She squirmed a bit trying to move away.
“Finn, I’m naked. I really shouldn’t be cuddled against you like
this,” she objected, trying to silence the voice in her that
thought she should, in fact, cuddle closer.

“No, you shouldn’t. We should be cuddled in
different ways. If you will give me a few moments I’ll remedy
that,” he teased.

“I told you I wouldn’t ever sleep with you.”
She squirmed again trying to get out from under his arm. He watched
her with amusement on his features. and raised an eyebrow at her
when she finally gave up. “Will you let me up, please?” she asked
with a resigned sigh.

He shook his head and grinned. “Nope. I’m
perfectly happy with where you are right now. As far as never
sleeping with me, well, you’ve already broken that rule. As I
recall, you woke up right there.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,”
she objected, while straining against his arm, trying to lift it.
If it budged an inch, she couldn’t tell. Releasing her grip on his
arm, she looked at him in helpless annoyance. “What if I need to
use the privy?” she asked.

“Do you?” he returned.

She frowned at him, and he laughingly moved
his arm. “Feel free to get up then.” He sat up on the bed and
leaned back against the headboard watching her.

“Could you maybe look the other way?” she
asked after a moment.

“I’m the one that put you to bed. I’ve seen
you naked,” he reminded her.

Her blush returned and she glared at him. “I
realize that, but I wasn’t awake then to object. I am now. Would
you please look away?” she asked again through clenched teeth.

He smothered a chuckle and shook his head, a
wide grin on his face. “Nope,” he said and motioned for her to get
up.

Snatching the blanket off the top of the bed,
she wrapped it around herself and rose with as much dignity as she
could muster. She tilted her chin upward a bit, and sniffed
indignantly at him. “You are an ass, Finn,” she said turning and
partially tripping on the blanket as she exited the room.
Thankfully the hall was clear as she hurried back to her own room.
Closing the door behind her, she looked around, realizing Marrow
hadn’t followed her in. She opened the door a crack to look back
out at the hallway and found it empty.

Turning back around she spotted the Bendazzi
sprawled on her bed, his belly rounded from a recent meal. “What
are you doing in here? I thought you were in Finn’s room with me,”
she said, shutting the door once more.

Marrow opened an eye and sat up with an
exaggerated yawn stretching his legs and flexing his claws as he
did so. He shook himself and hopped down off the bed to sit.
Looking up at her, he yawned again, showing rows of sharp white
teeth.
Your wailing made my head hurt and your mate had things
in order. So I begged food from Wisp and took a nap,
he
explained.

“He is not my mate,” she objected mildly.
Ignoring his growling snicker, she locked the door and headed
straight toward the bathtub. She had obviously been cleaned before
they put her to bed but somehow the magical cleaning wasn’t quite
the same as bathing. She dropped the blanket on her bed as she
passed and used a simple spell Sovann had taught her to fill the
tub with steaming hot water. Sliding down into it, she let herself
sink down below the water. She closed her eyes and relaxed letting
the stress of the past week fade as much as it would.

Why are you so stressed?
Marrow asked,
his puzzlement clear.

I never expected to be a High Lady of any
house. I don’t know the first thing about being nobility. I would
run the other way as fast as I could, if it weren’t for my family.
When I first called you, I showed you the wasteland as my home. In
my heart, it is my home, Marrow, and I have a chance to rebuild it.
I just don’t know how or where to start,
she explained, using
the link rather than rising from the water to speak aloud.

Shouldn’t that make you happy, though, not
so worried. It can’t be too difficult
, he objected. While
Marrow had a very good grasp of most human behavior, some of it was
still quite puzzling to him. To a Bendazzi, this was a simple
matter and nothing to get upset over.

They won’t want me to gain power, Marrow.
The High Lords will try to kill me before I can. It will be a
delicate dance to stay alive long enough to rebuild.
Frowning
at the thought, she sat up from the water and smoothed her hair
back. There was no real hope of total relaxation with everything on
her mind. With a sigh, she turned to simply bathing quickly and
climbed from the water.

Why don’t we kill them first?
Marrow
asked. Judging by the time it had taken him to speak again he must
have been putting considerable thought into her problem.

She stopped in front of the mirror and
glanced his way before looking back at her own reflection
.
Because that isn’t the way things are done, and I don’t want to
have to kill them. I’d rather only fight to defend myself,
she
replied, frowning at her image in the mirror once more.

Sighing, she toweled herself dry, trying to
ignore how painfully thin she was now. It was a wonder Finn had
still found her attractive at all in this state. That thought
stopped her from continued drying, and she stared at the mirror
image. The thought of no longer being attractive to Finn was
unreasonably upsetting to her. Frowning, she drew from her magic
cautiously and tried to restore her body to what it had been
before. Nodding happily, she watched her limbs thicken once more
and the skeletal appearance fall away. On impulse, she drew on the
magic again and her body gained more curves than it had originally
held. She stepped back and surveyed her work with a growing smile.
“Much better,” she murmured. Another caress of magic and her hair
darkened to a deep burgundy with only a few strands of curls
remaining the original mulberry.

You are vain,
Marrow pointed out,
dropping his head back down onto his paws as he watched her.

She stuck her tongue out at him and continued
testing her magics. With a wave of her hand, she summoned a dress
so dark purple it was almost black. She carefully pulled at the
magic until the low cut bodice fit like a glove and the skirts
flowed down her side like the sheerest of silk. “I wonder,” she
mumbled to herself, and set the color of the dress swirling slowly
with various shades of purple. Stepping back, she examined herself
again, watching the dress to see if the patterns would continue to
shift once she had stopped focusing. To her delight they did and
she grinned happily, looking over at Marrow with a wide smile. If
the Bendazzi was impressed, he hid it well, merely twitching an ear
to acknowledge her.
So I’m vain. There are worse faults, you
know.
She sighed and went back to her reflection a bit
disappointed that he hadn’t shared her enthusiasm. Of course,
asking a predator to admire a dress was rather foolish on her part,
she supposed.

At least you are willing to admit it,
Marrow replied.

“I’m more than willing to admit to my
faults,” she said not bothering to look at him. With another few
quick gestures, she fixed her hair and added jewels. She cocked her
head at her reflection again and turned from side to side examining
the results. Her hair was swept up with only a few tendrils curling
down by her face. Rather than one of her jeweled nets it was held
in place with magic. She had accented it here and there with
sparkling amethyst that seemed to catch and hold the light. “Do I
look like a High Lady?” She asked Marrow, turning fully to the
Bendazzi and holding her hands out delicately to her sides.

Marrow looked her over and twitched his tail
in thought.
No, they scowl a lot more from what I’ve
seen.

She mimicked a scowl such as she’d seen
Cassia use, and Marrow nodded his agreement. With a giggle, she let
the expression fall from her face. “I don’t think I could maintain
that look for long,” she admitted with a shrug.

She was darkening her lips and adding more
ostentatious jewelry when a light knock came at her door. Blushing
as if she had been caught playing dress up with her mother’s
clothes she looked at the door not wanting to respond.

“Jala, are you awake?” Wisp called through
the door, her tone cautious.

“I am. Come in and shut the door quickly
behind you,” Jala called back, relieved that it was Wisp and no one
else. Wisp might actually understand the desire to play dress
up.

The door opened and the small Fae darted in
and shut the door quickly behind her. She turned to Jala, her mouth
open to speak, and froze simply staring.

Jala’s blush deepened and she waved a hand at
herself absently. “I was just playing around with my magic, Wisp. I
don’t actually plan on leaving my room like this,” she explained,
her embarrassment growing by the moment.

Shaking herself from the daze, Wisp moved
forward quickly her eyes wide. “No, Jala, you look beautiful. It’s
just the way you looked when we brought you back, I didn’t expect
to see you looking, well, better than any other woman I’ve ever
seen,” she said quickly, pulling Jala’s hands back down before she
could remove the earrings she had been reaching for. “You were so
thin and weak, and now you are so…well, stunning.”

“Stunning,” Jala repeated the word and smiled
happily. “Do you really think so?” she asked a bit giddy. Realizing
how foolish she must look she calmed herself back down and tried to
force an expression of dignity back onto her face.

“This is perfect, actually. They sent me to
get you and I can’t wait to lead you in looking like this,” Wisp
bubbled with obvious delight.

“Who sent you? Lead me in where?” Jala
asked.

“Neph sent me to get you. He has everyone
gathered in Finn’s room, and they have food. Jail thought you would
be hungry, so they waited till the food arrived to get you,” Wisp
explained, already tugging her toward the door.

Planting her feet Jala shook her head. “I
don’t want to go in there looking like this. Let me change,” she
objected, grabbing onto a chair as the Fae continued to drag her.
The little Fae really was quite stronger than she looked, Jala
realized, as her grip on the chair began to slip.

“Oh, stop it; you are acting like a cat
before a bath. C’mon, it will be fun,” Wisp coaxed as they neared
the door.

“No, really, I’d like to change,” Jala
pressed, grabbing onto the door frame as Wisp swung it open. “It
won’t take me more than a…Ouch!” The last coming out more of a
squeak than actual word and she looked back at the Bendazzi and
rubbed her backside. “You bit me,” she accused.

Only lightly and it got you through the
door. Now follow Wisp, this is the price of vanity as a fault,
Marrow said with a toothy Bendazzi smile.

“Traitor,” Jala grumbled and followed after
Wisp who was giggling merrily at her pain. She turned her frown to
Wisp and shook her head at the Fae. “Sadist,” she mumbled which
sent Wisp into further fits of giggling.

Everyone was present in Finn’s room, she
noted as she entered. Even Sovann was there though he didn’t even
attend the Academy. Chairs had been brought in, and everyone but
Finn was seated. Finn himself was sprawled on the bed and had
apparently been involved in an animated discussion with Valor
before they entered. Upon hearing the door open, everyone looked
up, and as it clicked shut behind her, the room was deathly quiet.
All eyes were on her, and Jala could have kicked Wisp for not
letting her change.