Immortal Coil (16 page)

She did. The Jester let go and shrank back.

“The King must see you,” he said in a tiny voice.

Not what Hunter wanted to
hear.

Grey grunted. The Jester mimicked him,
then
giggled.

“Come, come. The King calls.”

What do I do? Aren’t you supposed to report or something?

Hunter sighed. They really didn’t have a choice.
When the King calls, every drake answers, regardless of anyone else’s schedule.
Go with him and r
emember, stoic.

You mean sullen and silent.

If that’s what it takes.
Maybe they could get in and out. If
Constantine
was having a bad day he’d be incoherent. That tended to make audiences confusing... and blessedly short.

The Jester bounced from foot to foot. “Come. Come.”

“Coming,”
Anaea
said.

She started down the hall. Grey fell into step beside her and the Jester leveled a hard stare at him. “Not you.”

Grey slid his gaze to her.

Shit. Grey should know better.
Don’t react. Just go.

Anaea
ground her teeth. He could feel her fighting the urge to let Grey know everything was going to be fine. Then she jerked to face the Jester and marched down the indicated hall.

So reme
mber, we need to play this cool,
Hunter said.

I kind of got that impression.

Constantine
is
...
unstable.

They turned a corner into the hall leading to the royal chambers. This was one of the only two adorned parts of Court—the other being the rebirth chamber. Here the walls were carved with forest scenes and painted in bright colors. It was a dazzling difference from the rest of the corridors and public chambers. Hunter suspected Prince Regis liked it that way. Everything was a manipulation, a reminder of whose coterie was the most powerful.

What do you mean by unstable?

Remember when I said it was bad to change vessels too soon?
Constantine
is an example of that.
Part
of our spirit can get warped if we body-hop
too much
and we go
...
well, crazy.

So why did
Constantine
do it?

We didn’t know until it was too late.
Hunter bit back a sigh.
There was so much we didn’t know when we first ended up in this spirit state.
Some drakes loved the idea of changing their vessels
regularly
, kind of like clothes.

That’s disgusting,
Anaea
said.

I always thought so.
But others felt differently and by the time we realized it was
dangerous
it was too late.

The Jester snorted and started zigzagging from one side of the hall to the other.

Is that what happened to
Giacomo
?

He’s a different problem.
And one Hunter didn’t know how to explain to
Anaea
.

And what problem would that be
?

Nothing you need to worry about.

They reached
Constantine
’s chambers, the double doors inlaid with gold leaf.

I’m starting to get the impression that “nothing you need to worry about” is code for something I definitely need to worry about.

Can we talk about this later?

I’d rather not.

And I’d rather get through this meeting.

The Jester shoved the doors open, straightened as best he could with his twisted body, and strode into the King’s suite as if he owned it.

Anaea
stopped at the threshold and crossed her arms.
How about the abridged version
?

Anaea
.

She didn’t move.
Hunter.

If he had eyes to roll...
Mother of All, she was going to be the death of both of them. He didn’t want her to panic, not in front of
Constantine
, and he was certain that she would once she knew the Jester was crazy because his human spirit wasn’t strong enough to share a body with a dragon.

Oh my God, it’s bad!

Not that bad.

Yes it is. I can feel you thinking about it.

“Enter,” the Jester said with a manic giggle.

He’s me. It just flashed in my head. He was
a human who had a dragon in him and now he’s a raving lunatic.
Her heart raced and even without control of their body, Hunter could feel a clammy sweat chilling her hands and neck.

He jerked his consciousness back and threw up another mental shield between them. His concern was making him slip and she was hearing his private thoughts. He hadn’t believed he was leaking so many of his unconscious thoughts to her. And he couldn’t risk letting it continue. It would only accelerate their spiral into soul sickness.

But she felt his sudden withdrawal and her heart raced even faster. Shit.

I won’t let
you become soul sick
.

The Jester cleared his throat and waved his hands around his head. “I said, enter.”

But
—

Hunter could feel a ragged sob threatening to escape.
You won’t go crazy. I’ll get out before that happens. Now please. We have to get through this.

Anaea
sucked in a quick breath.

He could feel her fighting the urge to nod.
You can do this. Just
be
stoic.

Yeah. Stoic,
she thought at him.

And don’t make eye contact.

What?

Think of dragons like big cats. Eye contact is a sign of aggression, a contest for dominance
.
Constantine
might be crazy, but he’s still
k
ing.

She sucked in another breath.
Anything else you want to add?

Nope, I think we’re good.

You have a strange definition for good.

Given the situation, I’ll take what I can.

You have a point.
She crossed the empty receiving room and entered the king’s private chamber. It shimmered with mounds of coins—gold, silver, and bronze—and all types of jewels. There wasn’t any furniture.
Constantine
sat on a pile of coins, his already small stature dwarfed by his dazzling hoard.

Anaea
dropped her gaze and without prompting, knelt.

Good girl. If she kept this up and luck was on their side, they might make it through this evening alive after all. When this was over, he’d disappear for a while, leave the Royal Coterie, and let someone else be Prince’s Assassin. He might even be able to survive without a coterie. During his long life, he’d developed financial resources that should be enough to sustain him. Maybe now was the time to use them.

But that was a fool’s dream. Others had tried it and failed. What made him think he could do it? Leaving made a doyen and the coterie look weak, and every doyen, not just Regis, would chase down the deserter to maintain power. And while neither death nor
rebirth were
options, since desertion was a private matter, there were other disciplinary alternatives that were painful and maiming.

Constantine
sighed, sounding very much like his sane self. Not good.

“Rise,”
Constantine
said. “I would congratulate you on maintaining your position in my coterie.”

Anaea
trembled but didn’t stand.

Anaea
.

The trembling increased. It thrummed through her, her muscles twitching.

Get up.

“False humility doesn’t become you, Hunter.”

Anaea
, stand up.

“I said, rise.”
Constantine
’s voice was dark, promising danger. And with the king more than halfway to crazy, Hunter didn’t even want to guess where that would take him. More than one dragon had been reborn merely on the fact that
Constantine
didn’t like the color of his eyes—and that was his own eyes, not the reborn
dragon’s
.

What do you think I’m trying to do?

Something snapped within her. It zinged through her head into his thoughts.

This was going to be a disaster. He should have told Regis he was staying in his chamber until the rebirth ceremony.
Meditating or something.
Not that he’d ever meditated in his life, but there was always a first time for everything.

He ground his teeth.

Wait a minute.

He could feel that.

He bit the inside of his cheek, or rather,
Anaea’s
cheek.

Praise the Mother of
All,
he had control of their body.

He stood. “Is Your Majesty attending the feast?”

“Falsely humble and falsely polite.
One would think you had a personality change as well as a physical one. How am I supposed to show my appreciation now?”
Constantine
’s voice turned petulant and he slapped the pile beside him, sending coins skidding across the floor.

The Jester
cartwheeled
to Hunter, grabbed his chin, and peered into his left then right eye.

Hunter jerked back and in his head he felt
Anaea
shrink away.
Smart girl.
Getting caught wasn’t a good idea. Not that anyone could tell two souls were inside just by staring in his eyes. Only someone with sorcerer ability could tell and there were only two who were strong enough.
Jade, who remained by her gate, and the Handmaiden—a true sorcerer—who stayed in her chambers.
With luck the Handmaiden would be too busy tomorrow with the ceremony to notice.

What is he doing?
Anaea
asked, her mental voice a whisper.

Giacomo
clicked his tongue three times, hopping on one foot and humming ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.’

Being annoying.

“
Your
Majesty, no appreciation is necessary,” Hunter said, unable and unwilling to keep the growl from his voice. It sounded strange with
Anaea’s
higher pitch, but he was sure it got his point across. Mother of All, just let him leave.

“I don’t know why my son is so fond of you,”
Constantine
said.

Regis wasn’t fond of him. Not really. But Hunter wasn’t going to remind the King of that.

“You’re trouble.”

The Jester giggled.
“
Gimmie
a T.”

If the fool didn’t shut up Hunter was going to strangle him.
Both him and Constantine.
Boy, that
would feel good.

I’m inclined to help, but I think that’s your emotion.

And right now, you’re not helping.

Hunter dragged his attention back to
Constantine
. “You should be glad then, that I’m trouble for your enemies.”

“You are my enemies.”
Constantine
gasped and clutched an armful of his hoard to his chest. “Who are you? What do you want? Guards!
Guards!”

Anaea
trembled within Hunter, but he could sense she was still watching, studying, collecting even more questions he was sure he’d have to answer at the most inopportune time. But she was also facing her fears like a dragon should—but unlike many of dragon-kind these days.

The Jester took up the call for guards, laughing and dancing, kicking coins and gems this way and that. Two drakes rushed from an inner chamber, swords drawn, but stopped when they saw Hunter.

He fought the urge to roll his eyes. There were reasons Regis didn’t listen to
Constantine
any more, and had likely stopped centuries ago. Trapped, half-sane, in his current form,
Constantine
needed to be reborn, but Regis refused to do it. Of course, with only two gold drakes left, Regis and Constantine, that meant there was no one directly behind Regis to contend for the throne. A convenience that likely helped with the stability of Court but left a bad taste in Hunter’s mouth.