“She would deny it, you know. And the King will listen to his lover before you,” he smirked. “And I’m sure when I tell him you’re trying to get into his private study, I’ll get a massive reward.”
“Luckily, Gina is spectating Aquarene’s trial,” Sawyer said, returning his smirk. “She won’t be back for days. And by then, my father would have already killed you to rid the suspicion.”
They engaged in a battle of wits for a while, until Fin sighed through his nose. “I’ll trade you for them.”
Sawyer angled her head, pretending to be interested. “Oh?”
Fin snaked an arm around her waist, pulling her into his room before she could step back. He shifted her to the wall, pressing her against it.
Sawyer resisted all urges to flare as he craned his head down, his breath on her forehead. She glared at him. “Release me.”
“A kiss for the keys.” His lips grazed her neck as she turned away. “For a little more, I’ll stand watch outside until you finish whatever you need in the study.”
Slowly, she rolled her head toward him. She looked from his eyes down to his lips. “Enticing offer,” she smiled. “But don’t ever fucking touch me without my permission again.”
Sawyer pulled a dagger from her waist band and jammed it into his thigh.
As he doubled over in pain, she frowned. “Pity. I was aiming a little higher.”
“Fuck, Sawyer.” Fin growled as he knelt to take the knife out. “You really should’ve thought that through.”
Sawyer examined his room. It was well organized, way more than her own. It took no effort to find the silver key ring strung along his armor on the wall. She strode to it, the long, ancient keys jingling as she put them into her pocket. “Probably.” She stepped over him on her way out. “I should think through a lot of things I do, actually.”
She shut the door behind her, turning the knob into a meltedmess. “But, alas, I don’t care.”
The key slid in easily, more so than she remembered. She had always struggled with the old thing as a child, but it took only a soft turn for the door to click open.
The door creaked as it revealed the room.
It smelled of smoke and embers mixed with dust, so reminiscent of Melisandre that, for a moment, Sawyer felt as if she was back in her home tower.
She shook off the nostalgia with a lung-clearing cough as she stepped into the room.
Unlike her father, the place was organized. Everything had a place and a purpose, most undisturbed for ages. There was a large mahogany desk for writing correspondence, neatly folded parchments and feather pens arranged at its center, and a large window at its side overlooking the rolling hills toward the Dunes of San’ann. A large bookshelf was against the wall parallel to it, but instead of books, it held mostly small boxes or stones, all from different places of the South. The red carpet spread in a strip across the room, making the black sofa and chairs atop it stand out against its brightness.
Now what.
Morna had been incredibly vague, as she usually was.
Sol and Cas had one more trial after Aquarene’s, then the final duel. Nina, Sawyer, and Alix had been giving constant offerings to all the gods for their friends’ well-being, but they had also been searching for whatever lapse in rule Irene used to save Draven and her father, just in case anything unexpected transpired. So far, they’d all come up empty.
Footsteps in the hallway behind her made her jump.
“I will not be long,” King Semmena said, his voice mere steps from the study. “Gather the rest of the Court in the throne room for an announcement.”
Sawyer threw herself behind the desk, pressing herself into the small opening where the chair went.
She pressed a hand to her mouth as boots shuffled against the floors. “Damn idiots,” her father muttered. “They had one job.”
Breathe quietly. Slowly.
She thought she might hurl as the footsteps got closer, then dared a small sigh of relief as the sound of crinkling leather signaled the King had sat down.
“What a way to refer to your people, Majesty.”
The floors vibrated with command in the voice, a low, hollow, otherworldly timbre.
Sawyer felt all the heat within her turn to ice, the air around them plummeting into winter. She didn’t dare move or take a single breath as the stench of a Mind Slayer permeated the room. It was easily distinguishable—it had never left her memory since Morna in Melisandre.
