“I must look like shit if you guys are fawning over me like this,” Nox says, running a hand down his face before taking stock of everyone in the room. He does a double take when his eyes meet mine. “When did you get home?”
“Not long ago,” I answer, avoiding the urge to shift in my chair beneath his gaze. Nox’s ability to tell when I’m lying is something I don’t know if I should find endearing or annoying. More often than not, I lean towards the latter.
My mother rises from the chair she’s sitting in and walks over to a small side table where a silver pitcher of water and a few cups are stationed on top. Nox drains the cup she gives him, setting it on the end table next to the bed with a grimace. A labored breath hisses between his teeth when he attempts to sit up fully. “I feel as if I’ve been tossed off a mountain and hit every ledge on the way down.”
“You look it too,” I tease, earning his flat glare. His eyes shift then to his surroundings, a line forming between his brows.
“Where am I?”
“The healers’ wing,” my mother answers, her hand reaching out to hold his.
My father approaches from where he was sitting on the other side of the room, his outward demeanor calm, even as a finger lightly taps the side of his thigh. “What do you remember?” he asks, and Nox stiffens at the question. His eyes move side to side as he tilts his head, as if the question has triggered a series of thoughts.
It takes him a moment to work through them but when he does, his expression shifts and his hands fist the comforter on either side of his hips. “Tell me it was just a nightmare,” he says, voice rough as his eyes scan the room. Looking for Rhea, I realize. “Tell me that she’s stillhere.”
“I’m sorry, my star. I’m afraid it was no nightmare.” My mother tells Nox of how long he’s been asleep, of what has taken place here in that time, including both my arrival home and the breaking of the Mirror and the council’s theory on Rhea and where she might have gone. She also tells him about the healers, which he has no recollection of.
“Iknowwhere she is,” Nox seethes when she’s finished, his hands cradling either side of his head. “King Dolian is the only one stupid enough to risk my wrath. He’s the only one who would spend the entirety of her freedom plotting a way to get her back. You shouldn’t be askingwhereshe is and instead asking who the fuck in our kingdom helpedhimget to her.”
A heavy weight settles in the room, one that carries with it truths that haven’t yet been spoken.
“I’m going to ask you something, Son, that Ineedto, even though I don’twantto,” our father says, looking at Nox. “Is thereanychance Rhea left of her own accord? That the pressurewould have gotten to her? Been too much? Did Rhea have any reservations at all about marrying you? About becoming our queen?”
He looks down at his lap, where his hands are resting. “We talked, of course, about everything a marriage to me would entail. What it would mean when it was time to step into a role that she had never considered for herself. Rhea is many incredible and wonderful and complicated things, but a willful liar hasneverbeen one of them. She wanted this, wantedme—” He stops abruptly to draw a deep inhale, roughly swallowing before lifting his gaze. “There is no doubt in my mind that Rhea’s absence isnother choice.”
“The council is convinced the opposite is true, and unfortunately, with the letter Rhea left—”
“Letter?” Nox interrupts Cass, jerking his body forward. The movement causes him to groan out in pain, his weight tipping forward before Cass and my father help to steady him. “I’m fine,” he grunts out, turning to look at his friend. “What letter?”
Cass reaches for a leather pouch attached at his belt, uncinching its ties and pulling from it two items: a familiar folded letter on cream parchment and a ring.Thering, I realize as he holds it out to Nox. My parents had told me that Nox had proposed, and while a small part of me had felt a pang of sadness at not being here for the engagement—and the celebration after—a larger part still finds it a bit bewildering that he is engaged at all.
Nox turns the ring in his hand, the diamond and surrounding colorful gems glistening beneath the amber light. “Where did you get this?”
“Both items were found on the landing where Barron usually stands guard. Though”—Cass stretches his neck from side to side—“he has been noticeably absent since the night of the ball.”
Nox takes in that piece of information with a frown, his attention then going to the letter. We fall silent as we watch him read, his eyes skimming it from top to bottom three times before he tosses it onto the bed ahead of him.
“She didn’t write that.”
Chapter Twenty-Two: Bahira
NooneasksNoxto explain how he’s so sure the letter isn’t Rhea’s. It’s unnecessary. I might have wondered, briefly, if Rhea could have possibly left of her own accord before, but I watched the tenderness on Nox’s face as Cass handed him another piece of jewelry from his small pouch, a locket that appeared broken, and I justknewthat what he and Rhea had wasn’t fleeting. It wasn’t something you ran from, but to. The kind of love that Daje might have described, perhaps.
“I want to speak to the council about taking a small group of our army to the Mortal Kingdom.”
All of the softness of Nox’s expression dissipates, leaving only hardened resolve in its place.
“That’s likely going to be an issue, Son. The council is viewing Rhea’s actions as questionable. They’ve insinuated that she might have been working to get close to you in order to gain access to our secrets.”
Nox blinks, a dark strand of wavy hair sliding over his forehead as he tilts his head. “I’m not even going to dignify that with a response,” he says, making Cass chuckle. “If I can’t count on them to help, then I’ll just have to go alone.”
“Excluding the fact that your magic is depleted—”
“It’ll come back.”
“And that you’re weakened”—he sends a look of annoyance my way—“leaving right now might be the worst thing you can do.”
“I don’t care.”
