Her eyes narrowed. “What?”

“’Show me to the dining hall, Kar.’ I just figured if we were going to be on a first-name basis you should use mine.”

“Fine, whatever. Karmuth, just show me the way. I’m starving”

My heart leapt at the way she sang out my name, but then again anything from her lips was a melody I could listen to for eternity. “Full name, even? I don’t think I introduced myself this way.”

She grumbled, “You didn’t have to.”

Well, that filled me with satisfaction. If she wanted to call me that, I wouldn’t stop her. That gave her one more syllable to pronounce and left my name on her tongue longer.

“The dining hall is this way, Isay.” I pointed my finger toward the way we had to go and started walking, certain she’d follow.

If not, Sinister was still shadowing us and would wait until she made up her mind. It didn’t take long for her to catch up and fall into step next to me. I noticed her looking behind us at Sinister and fidgeting.

Ah, he left her uncomfortable. I wasn’t surprised; he gave me the creeps too.

“Think of him as a rottweiler,” I suggested. “Dangerous when treated wrong, but incredibly loyal. Helps me look past his grim appearance every time.”

Sinister coughed again and I knew he was enjoying himself. I also knew after this day he wouldn’t join me in guard duty again.

“He does look a little like a rottweiler,” Isay mused, throwing another look over her shoulder.

I smirked. “He sure does.”

Chapter 7

KARMUTH

THE EXECUTION WAS SCHEDULED FOR THE SAME EVENING. I DIDN’T usually dread the thought, but when I left Isay to Ferro and Regar’s care several hours later, I began to grow anxious.

Pacing the compound—well, more like running circles around the Vindician grounds, which were bordered by high electric fences and regular guard posts did—little to ease up the mass collecting in my stomach.

Before Isay, I had never thought twice about taking a life. It was a part of being what I was. Whether I wanted it or not, death followed me regardless, and I’d grown to accept it as part of life.

Now? I wanted to be something else. For her, I wanted to be born someone else. Someone she wouldn’t need to be scared of touching.

The hours I’d spent guarding her made it blatantly clear that what I’d called kinship was more like magnetism I had no will to fight. Her pull was stronger than anything I’d ever felt, more consuming than the disparaging pain of starving ecos.

I also didn’t know how much longer I could convince myself that she didn’t feel the draw, didn’t think of my skin against hers, my lips crushing her lips. My body pressing Isay against a wall and her letting me slide my fingers beneath her shirt. She was most certainly not thinking about our breathless panting, moaning my name—my full name—begging for more. That was all me. And I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

“Kar!” a guard called out from a tower I’d passed three times already. He’d taken notice, too. “Excited for the evening?” he asked when I got closer.

“Drek.” I nodded at him. “You could say that.”

I was most certainly not excited for the evening. I was excessively hoping Isay wouldn’t be present when I’d play the part of an executioner, but I knew I’d have no such luck. The whole court would be there to assure that this offence wouldn’t happen again. Knowing how precious life force was, we never wasted our prisoners. Elisia’s death would be by my hand as I finished what I’d started when I’d found her in the kitchen glowing like she’d swallowed the sun. At that moment I would have killed her, no questions asked. But two days ago I hadn’t heard Isay plead for the servant’s life.

“Man, I wish I could do what you do,” Drek sighed. “There’s not much ecos left for most of us. Highborns always get the best pickings.”

I took a real look at him. While Drek was a big guy, who almost reached my height, he was also way too  scrawny for his build. His dark hair was thinning, and while he was trying to hide it, I could still see his hands shake slightly as if it took effort to simply keep standing. A new sort of fury burned through me.

Drek was a decade older than me, but we’d trained together for the force, me being the youngest in our group starting at the age of seven. He’d shown promise but fell just short of making it to the king’s personal guard. From there on out it was a downward ride for him.

I cleared my throat. “I thought the queen would change that. She’s been sharing her own ecos around, feeding the court. Have you not received any?”

I’d felt it in the throne room and later in the dining hall. I’d let it slide off me, knowing I’d collect the life force of Elisia later tonight and I was still buzzing from the power I’d received through her earlier this week. There were fae who needed it more than I did, with Drek being one of them.

The other fae shrugged. “It’ll likely travel from high to low like most things. Just got to wait for our turn, eh? Could use it, though. Ronya is sick and doesn’t have enough strength to pull through if she can’t feed soon.”

Shit. Ronya was his mate. If their connection was anything at all as strong as what I was beginning to feel towards Isay, it couldn’t be easy on him.

“Hilitris?” I questioned, brows furrowing.

This disease was spreading through the lower fae in our court, mainly the malnourished ones.

It started when restrictions were placed on our feedings. We could only take from elderly, sick, or already dying. It was barely enough to get by, and as Drek said, higherups got to choose their prey, leaving the rest with meagre pickings.

First the infected would grow weak until they were unable to do the simplest everyday things, stuck to their bed to wait for either a life force to walk right by at arm’s reach or wither away completely. It took a significant amount of ecos to bring someone out of that state once they were bedridden. It was often simply not done, for it was considered a waste. Three healthy fae could maintain a decent level of ecos for a month for one fae to be healed from hilitris.

“Yes,” Drek confirmed solemnly.

His dark eyes held no hope, but I had to ask anyway. “How far along?”

He blew out a tentative breath. “The last stages. We don’t expect her to survive through the moon cycle.”

I gritted my teeth. That was in less than a week away. “I’m sorry.”

There was nothing else I could offer. While I was topped to the brim, feeling stronger than ever, I couldn’t share it like the naturels apparently could, like Isay could. Isay could… No, she couldn’t.

She wouldn’t, not for me and not for any of my friends. Not after what she would witness during the servant’s execution.

With a sigh, I refocused on Drek. “I will see if there is anything at all I can do to help,” I offered. There wasn’t, though. I knew there wasn’t, because I could not risk Isay.

Drek understood, because even as he said, “Thank you,” it was clear that he’d given up hope.

Attempting to turn the topic around, I pointed towards the fence. “Everything all right outside?”

Drek’s eyes darkened even more. “I wish I could say it is. There’s something stirring, I’m just not sure what yet. I do know that it’ll be coming right at us.”

More trouble. Exactly what we didn’t need.

A little while later, I left Drek to his guard duty and went to do mine. We didn’t have a big dungeon as we rarely kept prisoners for any  significant length of time. Death was a quick certainty to anyone bold enough to overstep or get in our way. Trials were not done either, as any suspect was immediately assumed guilty.

Not of our court? Even better. That was the sweetest life force any of us could get the chance to collect.

If ever we found another fae snooping around too close, nobody hesitated to have a chance at them. Maintaining good relations with other courts proved difficult due to this, but it was their fault restrictions were placed on us, starving our population toward a slow death.

I got a feeling that whatever was stirring was somehow connected to the tensions between our court and a few others.