Kelryn dropped the dress and back-stepped. Cosmetics flaked beneath her eyes, hiding dark circles poorly. Beneath a web of sleepless, red lines, he found a fear in her eyes that seemed older than the shock of a strange intruder in her room. "I’m-I’m sorry. I’m not taking clients."
“I’m not a client." Nightfall drifted closer, sexually aroused despite himself. It occurred to him that nothing would stop him from ravishing her first, and she deserved the humiliation and pain that would come with a rape prior to murder. But some emotion he tried to deny held him back. Just the brief idea of such cruelty instantly sapped him of desire, and a battered pocket of caring colored his thoughts even as he ignored and reviled it. He would have to fight his heart and spirit just to find the courage to kill her.
Apparently recognizing something violent in his stance, Kelryn took another backward step. Her gaze flicked to his blue-black eyes and held there momentarily, as if reading something in their depths. Her blank stare bunched into a mask of surprise, then a smile lit the corners of her features. "Marak," she whispered.
The recognition caught Nightfall completely by surprise. He cringed, waiting for the oath-bond to sever body from soul; but it remained quiescent. Clearly, her unassisted identification did not count as him revealing himself. "What?” was all he squeezed from vocal cords that would not function.
"Marak. You’re alive." The tight smile became a huge and open grin. "You’re alive!" Joy colored Kelryn’s tone and a happy blush tinged her cheeks. She ran toward him.
Before Kelryn took her second stride, Nightfall seized the glass swan and hurled it to the floor at her feet. It shattered, slivers of colored glass skittering across stone. A glaze of light trickling through a crack in the shutter glittered from every shard.
Kelryn checked her rush, back-pedaling. Only her well-practiced grace saved her bare feet from the largest fragments. The smile wilted into open-mouthed bewilderment. “Wha-why? Marak?"
Nightfall had hoped the destruction would trigger a release for his anger and charge him to the necessary violence. Though he had brooded over the reunion, he had never rehearsed the words he would speak before the murder. Always before, the proper threats and warnings had come as naturally as breathing. Now, he seemed to have forgotten even the language of his childhood. Rage rose, directed fully inward. He could not recall feeling this awkward or disarmed since his mother’s beatings had become routine. Only action mattered. If he needed to slaughter the traitor in silence, he would do so. Killing, at least, he knew well. He poised for attack.
A sudden pounding on the door startled Nightfall. Prince Edward’s unmistakable voice boomed through the panel. "Sudian?”
Nightfall tensed and froze, the need for decision breaking him free from his trance. He strung together the scenario of how Edward had tracked him. Apparently concerned for the length of time his sorcerer-hunted squire had taken to perform a simple function, the prince had gone searching. Probably, the guard had steered him to the proper corner of the dance hall. Whether or not the prince or someone else had witnessed his entry into this particular room remained to be seen.
Kelryn’s tired, hazel eyes fixed on Nightfall’s face. She remained still, taking her cues from him.
Nightfall waved Kelryn to stay silent and in place.
Edward hammered at the door again. "Sudian. I know you’re there. Answer me at once."
A string of words flooded Nightfall’s mind then, every one profane. It occurred to him first to slay Kelryn swiftly and claim he had found her corpse on the floor. His shock at discovering a bleeding body should suffice as reason for delaying his response to his master’s call. In demon guise, no other plan would have proven necessary. He guessed that, most likely, the prince had caught a glimpse of him disappearing through this door; but, as Sudian, he dared not risk the possibility that someone else had spotted him, a person who had watched the door since Kelryn’s return. If Prince Edward opened the door before he finished the slaying, or if the dancer managed a scream, his story would fail. Under other circumstances, he would murder the witness, too. This time, however, such action would cost him his soul and, though he hated to admit it, his conscience. Even without Gilleran’s magic to restrain him, he would not harm Alyndar’s younger prince.
These considerations flew through Nightfall’s mind in an instant. He glared into Kelryn’s face with a menace he believed she would not dare to challenge. "Play along. Make a mistake and my torture will make the Father’s hell you find afterward seem merciful." Without awaiting a reply, or even a change of expression, he partially turned to open the door. Any attempt by Kelryn to feign innocence or surprise might drive him to the very violence he had sought and failed to dredge forth moments earlier. She lived now only by the grace of two things: a sorcerer’s magic and Nightfall’s growing devotion to his master. He tried to convince himself the first reason remained the more important of the two.
Nightfall pulled the door open, and Prince Edward stood outlined in its frame. Though he hated the need, Nightfall resumed his proper role, taking care to keep his attention and his warning stare on Kelryn. "Prince Edward Nargol of Alyndar." His arm traced the appropriate flourish, though with hurried awkwardness, "Master, this is Kelryn. We grew up in the same town."Kelryn curtsied, still graceful despite her obvious bewilderment.
From the edge of his vision, Nightfall could tell Prince Edward had not moved. His silence seemed so uncharacteristic it became worrisome. Nightfall routed more of his direct attention on his master.
The prince gawked at what was, apparently, the first near-naked woman he had seen. He squirmed, trying valiantly to tear his gaze away, propriety battling pleasure with a frenzy that seemed unwinnable. "Oh," he managed, averting his eyes with impressive self-control. "I’m sorry. I didn’t know you needed… I mean…" He stepped inside, closed the door, and politely kept his back to Kelryn.
Nightfall flicked his gaze deliberately to the dress on the floor. Kelryn raised her brows in question but picked up her clothing and shook glass fragments from the fabric. She pulled it over her head, adjusting the seams. She broke the silence. "I apologize for my dress, noble sir. I wasn’t expecting company. I hope I didn’t offend.”
"Offend?" Prince Edward took a surreptitious peek to ascertain that Kelryn had used the moment to make herself decent before he turned around fully. “Dear me, no. I’m sorry we barged in on you. I had no idea." He looked, at Nightfall for an explanation, but his eyes betrayed him, slipping back to examine Kelryn’s firm and slender figure through the close-fitting material.
Nightfall knew a twinge of what felt maddeningly like jealousy. "Master, I’m sorry for my long absence. I saw Kelryn for the first time in years and thought I should greet her."
"You would have been remiss to do otherwise, Sudian." Although he addressed his squire, Edward’s attention locked on Kelryn’s eyes. He shuffled toward her, heavy boots crunching glass shards to powder. "I’m so sorry about disturbing you, and I’d like to make amends. Would you have dinner with Sudian and me tonight?"
No! Nightfall shook his head, gesturing briskly for Kelryn to decline.
The dancer hesitated momentarily. Then a smile curled onto her face, and she shrugged slightly for Nightfall’s benefit. "Noble sir," Kelryn said softly. "I would be honored.”
Nightfall perched on the broad window sill of their inn room, staring through the wavy glass. It overlooked an alleyway, and the wall of the opposite shop had become tediously familiar while Prince Edward bathed, dressed, and groomed. Nightfall believed he could picture every weathered mortar chip and splotch of dirt on building stone with his eyes closed. His mind worried the situation no matter how hard he tried to thrust it from his thoughts, and the same conclusion rose repeatedly. An association between a betrayer and the man whose safety determined the lot of Nightfall’s soul could only lead to disaster. He needed to halt the dinner before it began. Barring that, he would make it an experience neither wished to repeat. Once they separated, he could find a way to slaughter Kelryn without Edward’s knowledge or interest.