The first pass of the towels revealed a map of scratches and welts that had been hidden beneath the Brilliance. Some of the wounds looked infected, raw and red. I washed his chest and arms, cleaning everything till pink skin showed once more.
Moving on to his face, I swabbed the ragged skin as gently as I could. Though he was older, with crow’s feet and lines across his forehead, I could still see a glimpse of the haughty young man from the portrait outside.
Even Aloysius smiled, seeing the result. “It’s very good to see you, Your Majesty.”
I took off the gloves and discarded them, feeling inordinately proud of myself.
Marnaigne sat up, swinging his legs off the table before crossing to a large mirror. Standing before it, arms held slightly out from his body, he marveled at his features. He turned to look at his back,then around again to his front, preening. I wondered when he had last seen himself so free of the Brilliance.
“Aloysius,” he whispered, joy coloring his tone. “I’m me again.”
But as he spoke, a tic began at his forehead, twitching with sporadic jumps. Fluid welled up, pushed from his pores as he dabbed frantically at his hairline.
I took a sharp breath as I saw the shade.
“Sire?” Aloysius asked, stepping forward.
A single line of burnished bronze ran down Marnaigne’s face, cleaving it in half with a long, ugly slash.
Wiping it aside, the king smeared its dark shadow across his cheeks. He studied the remains on the back of his hand, his eyes wide with horror.
“Aloysius?” he murmured. His voice was thick with panic. “It’s darkening.”
Their eyes met in the mirror, acknowledging some secret I wasn’t privy to, before the king burst into tears.
In an instant, the room erupted into chaos.
“Out! Get out!” Aloysius shouted, waving at the guards.
Marnaigne sank to his knees, weeping. The more he sobbed, the more Brilliance gathered across his spasming face. It ran down his cheeks like painted tears.
I had assumed Aloysius meant the guards, but they turned to me, crossing their halberds and ushering me back from the king.
“What are you doing? I need to help him!” I shouted as they herded me from the room, the points of their weapons glittering dangerously.
Before I could protest again, the door shut in my face, and in the silence of the empty hall, I heard a lock click into place.
Chapter 25
“What are you doing outhere?”
I startled awake with a gasp, nearly falling over.
After being removed from the king’s chambers, I’d been unsure of what to do. A small part of me had wanted to remain on hand, in case I was needed. A much larger part wanted to take a nap. The only thing that kept me from abandoning the monarch was the certainty I’d never be able to find the way back to my rooms on my own.
I must have dozed off, leaning against a column, as I debated what to do.
How long had I been out? It felt like the middle of the night, but in this windowless hall, with its black marble and candlelight, it could have been any time of day. My neck had an uncomfortable twinge in it, and I felt impossibly grubby.
The voice belonged to a figure several columns away. He peered at me skeptically, giving me a wide berth.
My blood curdled as I realized who he was.
He was older now, obviously, but I would have recognized him anywhere.
Leopold.
Though he bore a strong resemblance to the young King Marnaigne in the portrait, his face was thinner, more pointed and angular, and his dark gold hair had been styled into a ridiculous set of curling waves. A flicker of irritation began to kindle in me.
