“Sam.” My chest constricts at the sound. Turning, Ulric is before me. His face and hands are covered in ash. His ruddy cheeks and nose are lined with scratches and knicks.
“What happened?” I pull him into a hug. His arms wrap around me and smoke fills my nose.
As we separate, his eyes glaze over. Dozens of people continue to filter past us. Listening to the orders of Evren and Jarek that I’ve completely tuned out.
“They burned it.” Ulric runs a soot covered hand over his bald head. “They burned Loxley.”
Nineteen
Roman
“You’re drunk,”Galen says, pulling me through the crowded ballroom.
“Well, it is a party.” I gesture to the dancers behind me. “We haven’t celebrated in ages, why are you so uptight?” I plant my feet as firmly as I can to the ground so he can no longer pull me.
His eyes cut like ice through his dark mask that matches my own. His gaze wanders past me, so I follow it. He’s locked eyes with that Lord’s nephew. Evan or something close.
“See something you like?” I snicker, taking the last sip of my wine.
“What?”
“You haven’t peeled your eyes from that man since he arrived.” My words slur, the wine going straight to my head. I’ve never been one to handle alcohol particularly well but considering the tensions the last few weeks, why not indulge?
Several moments pass by and I realize Galen hasn’t responded to me. His eyes still locked on the Lord’s nephew. “Truly, Galen. Could you be any more obvious? At least wait until I’m not in the room before you make a pass at someone else.”
His grip tightens around my forearm. “You need to go to bed before you say something that you’ll regret.”
“This is my party.” I wriggle away from him. “Yougo to bed if I’m bothering you so much.” Before he has a chance to say anything else, I turn and disappear back into the crowd of dancers.
“A dance, Your Majesty?” The voice startles me, and I almost drop my empty wine glass. I glance down, and she looks up at me with big, brown eyes. Her blonde hair piled high in dozens of ringlet curls. The golden color reflects off the lamplight, and suddenly, I’m sick. She looks so similar to the woman we have in chains downstairs. The woman Galen has beaten and starved.
The wine in my stomach threatens to spill onto the floor.
“I must decline.” I push past her and weave in and out of the crowd, only stopping when I reach the dark hallway meant for the castle servants. Exhaling, I take a moment to ground myself and lean against the wall of the hallway, letting the wine resettle in my belly.
The hallway is barely lit, not unusual for this time of night. But what strikes me as odd, however, is that there are no servants coming or going.
Shouldn’t they be refilling drinks and filling food trays?
I suppose it’s no matter. Better they don’t see their king drunk out of his mind. The thought makes me chuckle. How high and mighty I have forced myself to look. How cruel and unjust. If only the people really knew?—
“Your Majesty?” The Lord of the Jade Guilds nephew appears before me as if from thin air.
“Oh.” Clearing my throat, I pull my mask off. “Sorry, Evan is it?”
“Evren,” he says. The dark lines of his wolf mask are sharp and angular and they catch the light as he straightens from abow. “My apologies, Your Majesty. It seems I got turned around looking for the washroom.”
I cast him a smile, but with his mask, I can’t tell if it’s unreturned.
“Please, remove your mask, Evren. No need for them outside of the party, and I would be pleased to meet the next heir of the Jade Guild face to face.”
I want to see you.
I want to see who has caught Galen’s eye over mine.
Evren’s hand reaches for his mask but stops before dropping back to his sides.
“I should be getting back to my uncle.” He steps forward, but I stick my arm out to block his path.
