Page 28 of Chasing the Night
He was as big as the mountain, but his voice was twice as gentle.
“Lady Chalice is it?” he asked in an accent I couldn’t place. It was thick and his voice deep, but he spoke each word in the proper refined manner of Rochambeau wealth.
I glanced up at him and gave a nod of confirmation, before shaking my head and laughing. “Yes. Chalice Krypt.” It felt funny saying it. The effect it had on me was undeniable. A sliver of a rush that helped me stand up straighter and find his big brown eyes.
“Keifer Kantor,” he offered with a hint of a smile. The sides of his head were shaved and groomed so that it transitioned smoothly into a well kempt beard. I gazed into his eyes and somehow found my steps naturally falling along with his. Soon, I wasn’t worried about looking foolish or that I was dangerously close to a man I didn’t know. A man my “family” considered the enemy.
The man before me was nice enough. He seemed much like Ender, with the laid back demeaner and easy smile. But none of that mattered. All that screamed through my mind was the possibility that this was some attempt to find me a suitor. Was I being used like Reverie? Is this what Messiah meant?
The smile started to hurt my cheeks in the way that only a facade could. The tempo of the music sped up, and the space between us closed.
“You don’t seem like a Krypt,” he quietly observed.
I wasn’t sure whether to be insulted or not, but before I could decide, the song came to an end and he arched me against him and bent with his face close to mine. He helped me back up, and I let out a breath I had been holding captive.
“Here she is. Chalice, this is Lady Nayana’s special guest. Sir Julven is the brother of Lady Nayana’s daughter-in-law,” Isabella rambled, indicating the slender man beside her. His long mousy blond hair concealed half his face, and he couldn’t manage to meet my gaze.
She took my hand off Keifer’s shoulder and gave it to Julven. Our palms kissed but for a moment before something strong and solid slid around my waist and I was airborne. My heels tapped against the soil, and I rolled violently only to be confronted with a face full of Messiah’s long dreadlocks.
“Pardon. Lady Chalice is indisposed,” he quietly informed those around me, then gave a polite grabby style wave toward the group, escorting me out of the garden.
It was by far the craziest birthday I had ever had. This was what adulthood was? Being passed from one suitor to the next until someone escorted me back to my pen? I stayed quiet for the duration of the trip, but oh, how I seethed inside.
Once we reached the Villa, he finally slowed his pace.
“Why did you do that? Do you know how embarrassing that was?” I felt like screaming, but somehow, when the words reached my lips, they fell in a way that begged to understand. I couldn’t bring myself to yell at Messiah. The man whose presence always brought a comfort and sense of peace.
“More embarrassing than being swooned by the enemy of your house?” he softly asked.
“I didn’t choose to dance with him,” I countered on a whisper, unwilling to trust my voice not to quake.
“Neither did I choose to do what I did,” he admitted before giving my hand a squeeze and helping me up the steps of the Villa.
I wasn’t sure what to say. The idea that he, too, was simply acting on Krypt commands hadn’t occurred to me. Fated Few, the idea that anyone could order him to do anything was beyond me.
He didn’t say anything at all, he simply passed a glance my way and then one up to the moon.
“It is officially your day, Chalice of House Krypt,” he mused, coming to a halt at the top step. I tilted my head and smiled toward the full moon. In the span of a two-minute exchange, he had melted my anger and conquered my mood.
“Come. Let us celebrate with a drink before the others arrive, hmm?” If there was someone alive who could refuse his toothy smile and hazel eyes, it wasn’t me. I wanted to hug him and blanket myself within the powerful arms that had plucked me from the garden.
He started walking, not letting go of my hand. I stumbled after him a few steps but managed to find my pace without breaking my neck. The ceilings of the Villa were high, and the doorways regally arched. We travelled from one room to the next until we arrived at a small reception room. Well, it was small by the measure of all the other hall-sized rooms. It could still have easily seated thirty people and had room for the choir.
Though the hour was late, fresh bread, cheese, and wine lay in wait of the family’s return. Grapes and cashews were available in decorative patterns.
“Surprise,” he whispered, bobbling his head. He snatched the wine bottle before the servant could grab it and flicked his fingers toward the door dismissively. He pulled the cork and filled each of us a glass, giving me the chance to study his jawline and full lips.
“Perhaps they could fetch Reverie…” I began, but the way he abruptly stopped and stared made me swallow the rest of my suggestion.
“It would be improper. She was only widowed today.” He sighed.
I felt like Isabella with my hand at my throat. Though I knew, on some level, what he had meant during our earlier conversation. there had at least been room for denial. Now…
“You kil…” I started but he spoke over my shaky voice.
“I keep to myself. I do not poke around with information that does not serve me. Nor do I speak of matters best left to silence and the shadows.” His hazel hues held and challenged me. “You would be wise to do the same. It is the Krypt way.”
The glass I hid behind was against my lip. Shocked by the exchange, I had practically emptied the thing with a single swig. He placed his hand around mine, steadying the stem of my glass and refilled it just as voices started to emerge from the other end of the house.