Her eyes shifted to the man who rose at her entrance.
Sonah balked.
Her throat tightened and she took a reflexive step back, stumbling into Jenos.
A woman she knew very well sat regally next to the man on the king’s left, her eyes the same piercing dark brown Sonah had seen every year at the abbey for the first ten of her life before being sent to the White Palace.
She looked away from Sonah, her eyes falling to her plate.
The man standing stiffly beside the king, wearing a dark velvet doublet with a high collared tunic and satin breeches, stole her breath. His pale face looked even more colorless as he stared back at her through small brown eyes beneath a heavy brow.
Duke and Duchess Ovenno.
The people who’d pretended to be her parents her whole life.
Come back to me.
Daris Antonius shook his head for what felt like the hundredth time that day, pacing the small study he used as his office within Arestia Castle.
He’d had another awful night; sleep eluded him until the small hours of the morning when he was roused by his lieutenant, Jason Sotoris. The same dream he’d had since thatday in Seleste a month ago haunted his sleep last night. Terena wrapped in his arms, sated after a night of passion. The last night before everything had gone to hells. In his dream, she nestled against his neck, her lips brushing the whorl of his ear as she whispered those words, over and over.
Come back to me.
Daris had taken to working himself to the bone during sparring sessions or out on scouting missions so as to fall into bed too tired to dream.
It failed every time.
Muttering to the gods about how much he needed to rest without Terena harassing his sleep, Daris stopped his pacing to scrub a hand down his face as he awaited the arrival of King Altos. Rubbing absently at the damnable ache in his chest he couldn’t seem to soothe, he paced the confines of his study.
Compared to the king’s rooms and the rest of the castle, this room was bare. There was a large round table to hold his maps and papers, and a small hutch where he kept some of his personal books and items. There were only enough chairs for himself, the king and one of the other officers in Altos’s armies that would sometimes occupy the room. No curtain decorated the lone window overlooking the training yard and barracks.
The king had told Daris they’d meet after his dinner with Duke and Duchess Ovenno. Daris had fumed at being surprised by their visit, having had only a few days notice from the Spartans patrolling the eastern border. Even then, the king had warned him to say nothing to anyone until their arrival, especially Sonah.
Not that Sonah was speaking to him.
She’d made her opinion of him known—loudly—most of the trip back from Seleste. He’d tried to see her once more while at the castle, to no avail. The handful of messages he’d sent to her rooms were returned unopened and with messages of her ownthat made Jenos, her guard, color and stutter when he’d been forced to repeat them.
Daris cursed. He resumed his pacing, his thoughts once again occupied with the duke and his unexpected visit. Daris had warned King Altos there was no benefit to Sparta for the duke’s visit. The only motive Daris thought made sense was Duke Ovenno planned to use Sonah. For what, though?
A knock sounded at his door, and before Daris could answer, his lieutenant, Jason, entered. His hair was mussed and clothes mud-spattered. He scowled as he caught Daris’s eye and shut the door before cursing under his breath.
“What is it?”
“Heylisia’s legion from Elis has crossed into Ibros. They’re headed south.”
Daris roared, swiping a hand across the table. Paper scattered and rained onto the floor with his uncharacteristic loss of control over his emotions.
Fuming, he ran a hand through his hair, cursing when it snagged over the ties to his eyepatch. Turning away from Jason, he adjusted it before glancing at the Liodari. “Find Captains Athanasi and Leonidas. I want them here within the next ten minutes.”
“Aye.”
“Jason.”
His lieutenant turned back.
“Ready the men to ride out. I’ll speak to the king after his dinner. I have a feeling Duke Ovenno travelled with the legion. And if I’m right, he’s once again sided with Emperor Solon. I need you and the men ready in case they’re here for Sonah.”
Jason stilled at Sonah’s name but recovered quickly, nodding as he strode for the door.
