“I’ll be back.” But not without her.
Then I’m off, weaving through a sea of masked royalty and nobles. Skirting my way around the pompous show of wealth being flaunted at every corner. Chandeliers swaying from the ceilings, dipped in gold. Huge swatches of navy fabric adorn the walls in elegant swooping patterns. The crescendo of music rises, as does my heart rate as I lose sight of the king and his escort.
Hoards of partygoers flock to the dancefloor, clogging my path.
“A dance, handsome?” Startled, I turn to see a woman glancing up at me. Her creamy white skin stands out against her vibrant red hair, and I flinch as her hand wraps around mine, pulling me to the center of the room.
Pulling me away from Galen.
I turn again, his back is to me now, but over his shoulder he looks. Just once. Those blue eyes I’d know anywhere meet mine, and my heart stops all over again. His lips pull to a tight line, but his eyes remain locked on me.
He knows.
I open my mouth to shout, but before I can, the music quickens again and with it, the crowd of revelers erupts into a frenzy. The red-haired woman pulls me around the dance floor like a ragdoll, I’m too lost in my own mind to bother what my body is doing. Too focused on my best friend standing merely feet away and yet, there may as well be an ocean between us.
Galen is the reason she is locked up.
Galen is the reason she is gone.
But why?
Small hands slide up my back, and it’s that contact that finally breaks me. Whipping my head downward, the woman casts me a smile. Her eyes widen and lust quickly fills them under her golden cat mask.
“Sorry,” I mumble, pulling her hands away from me. She scoffs but quickly recovers as another gentleman in a simple emerald mask swoops by and pulls her in for a dance. The two of them spin widely, heads thrown back in laughter. Dozens of couples swarm me.
I’m stuck. Frozen in place. Nausea roils in my stomach as I watch these people dance and gorge themselves knowing what’s happening right beneath us. Knowing the starvation in the villages and storms that curse the seas right outside the Valebridge walls.
My stomach twists again, my arms searching for anything to grab onto. I push my way out of the crowd, desperate for air.
I find my way to the exit I spotted earlier. Only Galen is no longer there. Frantic, I scan the room again. Surely, the king would be easy to spot.
No luck.
Sighing, I reach up and rub at the very real pain starting to form in my chest. Whether it be panic or heartbreak, it’s all the same at this moment.
Thaddeus spots me from across the room, his ivy mask glaring brightly against the gold candelabras mounted to the wall. I should stay. I should do what I came to do. Seek the Guild members. Fortify my decree of birth. My hand begins to travel to my jacket pocket where I know the single piece of paper that will change everything sits, but I stop.
There isn’t any more time to waste. Thaddeus shakes his head from across the room but it’s too late.
My mind is made.
I slip silently in the dark doorway, away from the party, away from the Guild members surely waiting for me in the opposite direction. I follow a narrow path that leads out of the ballroom, but before I can make it to the end, someone stumbles down the hall.
Eighteen
Samaria
The puppies have grown significantlyin the last few days. They tumble about, entangling themselves; it's difficult to tell which body ends and another begins.
Ruse and Alaric have left for Valebridge with Sorin, how he got them to understand him I’ll never know. So now it’s on Jarek and I to watch over the raucous pups. Keeping them indoors was certainly an argument with Lord Thaddeus, but Sorin convinced him it was for the best considering they haven’t quite learned the art of being inconspicuous. Their growls and yips from the greenhouse proving his point.
“They grow fast, don’t they?” Tallulah steps to my side. I hadn’t realized anyone else was in here, but I suppose a Florecas like herself would probably be fond of the greenhouse, given their ability to grow and conjure plants.
“They do.” I offer her a smile which she returns. Her eyes, more blue than I’ve ever seen, are radiant under the gray light that filters through the windows of the room. “The Stones?” I let my question linger in the air.
“With your mother,” Tallulah says. Relief settles in my chest so I prop myself against a workbench and try to trick myself intorelaxing. “She’s been resting, but I’ve ensured she has plenty of tea to keep her company.”
Warmth blooms in my chest. The Stones are safe and my mother’s been cared for. Her health has been worrisome to Sorin and I for the last several years, but stubborn as she is, she’s never seen a Healer.
