The other woman answered without hesitation, her voice soft and serious. “Because you were screaming. Thrashing. I couldn’t wake you.”
Seraphina paused and peeked at her friend over her shoulder.
Within the moonlight streaming in through the windows, Olivia’s features hardened. “You promised me he didn’t hurt you.”
A frown tugged at her lips. “Who?”
“The Crow.”
Seraphina sighed, retrieved a new nightgown, and promptly pulled it on over her head. “Hedidn’thurt me,” she insisted again, remembering the way Olivia had looked ready to stab her husband the moment she had seen the cut laces on her wedding gown. “He didn’t even touch me.”
Her husband. She could still hardly believe it. She was…married. To Aldric.
Her eyes lowered to her left hand, to the emerald darkly gleaming there. She stroked its faceted surface with a fingertip and frowned all the more.
His mother’s ring. He had given her his mother’s ring.
Olivia limped closer. “If he didn’t hurt you earlier, then why were you shouting, ‘Stop,’ just now?”
Her stomach churned. Her pulse quickened. Had she truly been screaming the word “stop” over and over loud enough to bring her Queensguard running?
With a groan, Seraphina let her face sink into her hands. It was almost too embarrassing to admit, even to Olivia. But she knew she would have no peace until she told her friend the truth. Besides, Olivia already knew everything else about her. She might as well know this, too.
Well, she knew almost everything. Seraphina hadn’t told her about the voice she had heard when she kissed Aldric at the wedding ceremony. Nor that she had wished he would kiss her more.
Hands falling away from her face, she straightened her back and admitted aloud as casually as she could, “I was just having a nightmare about a strange voice taunting me that nobody wants me. Not even my husband, seeing as how he is probably with his mistress right now.”
Olivia offered her a slow blink.
Seraphina pasted a smile on her lips, refusing to be ashamed.
Oracle Tsukiko had cursed her with these visions—a “gift” from the Lord on High Himself, she had said.And if her God wanted her to dream of such things, so be it. Perhaps it was a trial. A test of faith.
A rather frightening test of faith. She was quite sure she never wanted to speak with that voice again, whether waking or sleeping. It felt so…cold. So ominous. So menacing.
Unbidden, a verse from the Scriptures that had always brought her comfort in the past unfurled within her thoughts:“Though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”
Drawing in a deep breath, she inscribed that verse on her heart. She would no doubt need it again in the weeks to come. The Lord was with her.
What did she have to fear?
Without a word, Olivia turned on her heel and marched toward the trunk containing her clothes and other various odds and ends that she had shoved into a corner of the room. Though they had been sharing this space for over a week now, her friend still refused to officially “move in” and unpack.
Seraphina stifled a yawn while she watched the other woman rummaging about. “What time is it?”
“Late,” Olivia answered, righting herself and tossing a bundle of clothes her way.
She frowned down at the coarse cloak, shirt, and trousers, unsure what she was supposed to do with them. “Why are you giving me men’s clothing?”
Olivia made a face. “I’m giving youmyclothing. And it’s so we can smuggle you out of the palace unseen, obviously.” Her friendpursed her lips, glancing toward the door. “But let’s wait another ten minutes before we leave. Just in case Percy comes running to make sure you’re all right.”
Her friend slanted her a look and explained, “He has several of your guards in his pocket, you know.”
Seraphina blinked, not following this latest caravan of thought. “Where, exactly, are you intending to smuggle me to?” She wasn’t even going to touch on the fact that her godparents were spying on her. She already knew that.
Just as she knew Olivia kept eyes on her at all times, too.
Without missing a beat, Olivia drawled, “To spy on the Crow, of course.”
