Knowing where the king’s chambers are lets me know which waynotto go, but I nod anyway as we come to a stop in front of a white door, a gold flower embedded at its center.
“This door will take you to your sitting rooms; from there, you will see two more doors—one that leads to your sleeping chambers where there is a bathroom,” Brisk says as he steps back to make room for me to enter.
“I’ll convene with the other staff and make sure all of your belongings are brought here from the Windseren,” Eve adds with a smile. “And I’ll bring up some refreshments.”
I reach out to open the door, but my fingers pause on the handle. “Brisk,” I call out, halting the guard’s steps. “You said there were two doors. What is the other one for?”
I quirk an eyebrow when a blush stains his cheeks, his hand rubbing at the back of his neck. “Uh, it’s for meetings with the king.” At the confusion still present in my expression, he adds with subtle innuendo, “Premaritalmeetings.”
My blood runs cold, and I quickly turn back to face the door, waiting until I hear Brisk’s steps begin down the hall before I push the door open and step inside. Heart pounding in my chest for a different reason, I stop in the center of the sitting room, my eyes roaming over the space. Floral patterns cover the rugs and the upholstery, gold a dominant color from the sconces on the walls to the chandeliers above. A coffee table made of light wood is intricately carved with flowers at its edges, and the glass slider that leads to a balcony is covered with sheer white curtains, embroidered roses trickling down over the material. The room is grand—so much more than any sitting room in Nox’s home. But where Nox’s rooms had felt intimate and safe—had felt likehim—this space is cold. Desolate. A room meant to be shown off, not to settle down in.
The two doors Brisk mentioned were set on either side of the sitting room, and it had been pure luck that I chose the one to my left, which led to a bedroom just as lavishly decorated as everything else but more importantly, was attached to a bathroom. We had only been on the ship for just over a day,but I can feel the salt in a thin layer over my exposed skin, and nothing currently sounded better than a hot shower.
A stained-glass window across from the shower paints the bright white space in splashes of yellow, orange, and red. The image is a roaring lion, its mane wild while a crown floats a few inches above its head, rubies inset on its front. My hand falls to my hip unbidden as a tightness crawls up my chest before I grip the fabric of my dress and pull it over my head, taking the chemise beneath it. My fingers tremble as the culmination of the past month—a godsdamnmonth—crests all at once now that I’ve found myself alone in a new place. I focus on the task at hand, turning the shower on and waiting for the water to warm, when I catch my reflection in a nearby mirror.
My first thought as I examine myself, turning to face it and then stepping close, is that I don’t look as different as I feel. My fingers drift over my collarbones and lower, feeling the way my skin seems thinner as it stretches over my bones. My gaze inevitably falls to the brand and how it is scabbed in some places while a pink hue has taken over others. I prod the flesh around it, the wound still tender enough to make me wince as I study the way my body now looks off balance. No other scars mark me, something that has me as equally disturbed as it does relieved, but this one speaks enough on its own.
It certainly will to Nox.
The thought ushers me away from the mirror and into the hot shower, steam quickly filling the room. As water drips from my hair and over my body, my thumb pushes at the ring on my finger, spinning it as I reach for my magic. I’m not sure why I do, why I hope that anything other than that hollowness that resides within me will answer. Sometimes, I think I might feel something rising to meet my call, just a spark before it’s suffocated again. I could laugh at how I ignored my magic for solong when I lived in the tower. How I forced it into an illusion of submission when I lived in the Mage Kingdom.
When Eve announces her return in the bedroom, I finish cleaning myself and turn the shower off, forcing my regrets down until I can’t feel them anymore. It takes a moment to find the towels in a cupboard beneath the sink, but once I wrap the soft yellow cotton around me, I exit the bathroom, finding Eve in the adjacent closet.
She smiles warmly when she sees me as she hangs a pink gown on the metal rod that runs from one wall to another. “How are you feeling?”
I try my best to match her grin, eyeing the dresses as I step further into the closet. “Fine. And you?”
She huffs out a half-hearted laugh, grabbing another garment from a trunk on the floor next to her, it’s shade green. “Kind of you to ask, but I’m more concerned about you.” I can feel her gaze on the side of my face, my stomach fluttering with nerves that I justcan’tacknowledge right now. “Rhea—”
“Are all of these dresses from the Windseren?” I ask, clearing my throat awkwardly as I finally meet her soft blue gaze.
She pinches her lips together, chin tipping down as she shakes the dress out and then grabs a metal hanger from the rod. “No. A lot of these the king had made for you months ago.” I grip the edge of the towel at my front as I stare at them.Of course he had. “There are a few personal items in the second trunk by the bed that I wasn’t sure what to do with. I figured I’d leave them to you to make sure they are put away in places you approve of.”
It takes me a moment to catch her subtle hint, but then I remember Alexi’s journal that I had wrapped into one of the gowns as we packed.Gods, if anyone else had found it… But Eve had made sure she was the one to help me unpack. I blink back the rising pressure behind my eyes at her kindness. That’s all she has ever been with me. The softness of the gesture smooths arough edge within me, one that had been desperately clawing at my chest ever since I stepped foot off of the boat.
“I also brought some food freshly made from the kitchens. I noticed you didn’t eat anything on the ship, so you should try to replenish now.” Her voice drops a little lower, as if the next words hold more weight. “It’s important to keep up your strength.” Her gaze moves back to the dresses as she reaches down into the trunk for another.
“Would you like to share a meal with me?” I ask, feeling foolish for doing so while dressed in nothing but a towel with my wet hair draped over it.
But Eve simply gives me another genuine grin. “Let me finish up here, and then I’d love to.”
When she meets me back in the sitting room, I’m dressed in one of the longer-sleeved gowns I swiped from the closet on my way out. It’s a lovely pale pink color, sequin beading working around the bodice in a pattern that reminds me of vines of jasmine. I gesture for Eve to sit across from me at the small four-person table set off to the left, and together, we enjoy the first few minutes of our meal in silence.
It’s a simple enough spread, warm bread and roasted chicken, vegetables glistening in butter still warm enough to have steam wafting up from them. I let my mind wander as I eat, wondering how I might convene with Xander in a way that won’t rouse suspicions now that we are in the palace. I know he vowed to help me escape, but I would settle with an update on Nox first.
It startles me when Eve clears her throat, putting her fork down gently on her plate. “If I were to show you something that undernocircumstances could be found out by the king, would you swear to keep it a secret?”
Intrigued, I lay my fork on the table, my stomach feeling full for the first time in a while. “I want to say yes,” I begin, leaning my elbows on the white tablecloth. “But this ring prevents mefrom disobeying the king inanyway. If he asks me about it, I will have to tell him. The magic willmakeme.”
Eve nods as she thinks, leaning back in her chair. “It’s worth the risk. You should know, just in case you ever need a place to hide.” My brows draw together as her face grows serious. “Tonight, I’ll show you.”
When we’ve both eaten our fill, Eve excuses herself to attend to some other duties, and I’m left alone to pace this foreign space until night falls. I’m told I have permission to explore the castle as long as a guard is accompanying me. Apparently, one will be stationed outside of my rooms at all times. My annoyance at that is the last thing I remember before drifting to sleep on the stiff couch in the sitting room, waiting for Eve to come.
Sometime late into the night, a gentle hand shaking my shoulder wakes me. “Come on,” Eve whispers, helping me to stand. “We shouldn’t be gone for too long.”
I assume we are heading back out into the hallway, but Eve stops me, instead pointing to my bedroom.
“This way.”
