“I better not.” My mind drifts to the last time I drank too much wine and I wince.
Loxley.
Sorin must read my thoughts because he puts the bottle aside and runs his fingers over my sore knuckles. Their soreness is replaced by an electric thrum as his skin connects with mine. Hisfinger glides over each knuckle in a barely-there touch, but it’s enough to make me shiver. It’s only when Ruse yawns again that he removes his hand to pet her instead.
Join the pups, Ruse.She growls so I reach down our bond again and again until, reluctantly, she gets up and heads for the stairs. Alaric stays by my side, his heavy head now placed in my lap.
You should go to bed, too.
He snorts out a loud huff of air and settles further into my lap. Sorin reclines in the seat next to me, and for a moment, I let myself pretend this is our life.
Me and Sorin and the wolves. A blazing fire and a belly full of fresh bread and wine. His fingers laced with mine. Sam laughing and Jarek…not being bruised at the hand of Sorin. I’m lost in the daydream when Calix joins us.
“I don’t mean to intrude.” He gestures to mine and Sorin’s clasped hands. His hair is a mess, as if he suddenly woke from his sleep. Alaric perks up, his ears standing straight. “I wondered if I could have a word with you two.” His gaze passes between Sorin and I.
“By all means, Lord,” Sorin says. “Pull up a chair.”
Calix smiles but there’s something uneasy about it. Like it’s painful to do so. But he pulls over a wooden chair anyway, fingers twiddling in his lap.
“Something on your mind?” Sorin takes a timid sip of his wine, watching Calix over his cup.
The Lord of the Onyx Guild tenses, the worry in his eye causing my stomach to swirl.
He’s regretting his decision to help us.
We’re just another burden.
More mouths to feed.
“Yes,” Calix says. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about and seeing as how we will be traveling to theOnyx Guild tomorrow, it seems as though I’ve run out of time.” He glances at his hands again before back at me. “Tell me, Elora, do you remember anything from when you lived in Valebridge?”
My brows pinch together, wondering why this is the conversion he wishes to have.
And why now?
“Bits and pieces,” I admit. “After I lost my mother, most of my memories are a bit hazy. Memories of my childhood seem to come and go.”
Sorin rests his hand on my knee.
“I see.” Calix nods. He feeds a log to the fire, the bright sparks sizzling and snapping.
You’re safe with him, Alaric says.
Shush.
“I moved here from Scandavi when I was just a boy, nearly thirteen,” Calix says.
I nod, now understanding how he and Jarek have gotten along so well. Some sort of countryman camaraderie, I suppose.
“My Ma and Da had connections with the first ruler of the Onyx Guild, Lady Birna. She was my Ma’s great, great aunt, and when she passed, the Onyx Guild was left to my Ma’s cousin. But she never married. Never had children and so, eventually, it was left to me.” He smiles, the lines around his eyes crinkling as he does.
“When I became Lord of the Onyx Guild, a new law had been passed. A law that would allow Enchantresses to produce heirs, to keep magick alive in Valebridge.”
“Arrangers,” I say. “We know of this law, my mother had one of her own.”
“Right,” he says before clearing his throat. “I, myself, was selected to be an arranger. I was young, unmarried. It made perfect sense to contribute an heir to continue to bless our country and king with magick.” He pauses and my stomachstarts to sink. Dread and nerves war with each other and I fight the urge to leave.
Run.
