“I’m hardly surprised with that cheap swill my sister is serving. Guards?” Her voice turned into a shout. “Guards!”
Two guards rushed in.
“Take Aristoph to one of the guest rooms. See that he has water and a soothing tea.”
Footsteps retreated from the room, but how many? Had Regula left, too?
“I’m in the middle of a crisis and you’re cavorting around like you don’t have a care in the world,” Regula hissed.
Of course not. I couldn’t be so lucky.
Lurena spluttered. “But you told me to—”
“Oh, be quiet. The Selenian Jewel has been stolen.”
“What?!”
“The thief assaulted me as soon as you left me alone on the balcony. You didn’t even notice, did you? But now you have a chance to redeem yourself. All those hours you spent studying the useless rock, pouring over dusty tomes of magic instead of learning something useful—can you cast a spell to locate it?”
It felt like I’d swallowed a rock even bigger than the Selenian Jewel. A tracking spell? I thought we’d planned for every contingency, but I hadn’t dreamed of that one.
“I— I don’t know,” Lurena said.
“Well, go find out,” Regula snapped. “Or do you want our family’s honor to be ruined?”
Lurena’s footsteps moved rapidly out of the room, but I heard no sign of Regula leaving. My heart skipped a beat. Had she sensed our presence somehow?
“Fuck,” Regula whispered to herself.
Ah. She hadn’t sensed us. She was processing how much shit she was in.
My heart wept for her. Truly.
A butterfly alighted on a nearby flower, its pale purple wings as delicate as glass and glowing faintly. I’d worry about it catching Regula’s eye if we were on Earth, but weird magical animals were normal here on the moon. I breathed carefully and shallowly, trying not to make a sound. As long as Regula left through the same door she’d entered, she wouldn’t come anywhere near us.
Regula muttered another curse and then stomped off—straight toward us.
Shit. My muscles coiled, urging me to run. The bush didn’t give us enough cover. Regula’s footsteps charged closer, and the path would put her less than two feet away. Unless she was completely oblivious, she’d spot us when she came storming past. She might not recognize me as the thief, but she’d certainly be suspicious. There was no reason for me to be hiding behind a bush—
What was I thinking? Of course there was.
I shapeshifted, dove onto Valen’s unconscious body, and kissed him.
Chapter 37
Valen
“Valen,” my mother rasped.
She was dead, wasn’t she? Or maybe she wasn’t. I couldn’t bear to see her again, but I couldn’t close my eyes or look away. I felt nauseous, feverish, my heartbeat as fast as a hummingbird’s wings and just as weak.
My mother lurched toward me, bleeding from the wound in her stomach. We were in my childhood home—or my chateau. The scene kept blurring and shifting, full of shadows and malicious intent.
My mother lay down in a pool of blood. “It’s your fault.”
“I know,” I tried to say. “I’m sorry.” But my mouth wouldn’t move, and my throat had clenched shut.
Then, instead of my mother, it was Emmeline lying on the palace floor, dead because of a plot I’d dragged her into.
