Seraphina fought hard to have no reaction to that.
He thought she was clever?
“She can read anything you throw at her, too—Kunishi, Ancient Drakmori, Lothmeeran. She can understand it all. If you ever want to understand how something works, just let her study it for you. She can play chess. Sovereign.”
So far, Reyla Hargrave sounded exactly like the sort of daughter a king would be proud to claim.
“But she’s…very naïve,” Aldric finally admitted on a whisper. “Trusting. She’ll believe anything you tell her. Do anything you want her to do. Go with you into a dark alley. Ingest poison.”
Seraphina froze in the midst of reaching for the roll of bandages on the table. Now, she understood why Reyla was a secret. It was for her own safety.
She would not have lasted long in the Drakmori court.
Her Crow huffed, clearly frustrated. “I feel like her jailer, keeping her locked away all the time. But what else can I do? At least she has Dame Florence, I suppose.”
Seraphina swallowed hard against a fresh wave of emotion welling within her as she gently wound the bandage aroundAldric’s foot and tied it off.Love. He loved his sister dearly. She could hear it in every word he spoke.
When she finally sat back on her heels and lifted her gaze back to his, she found him watching her. Frowning.
“I don’t know why I just told you all of that,” he muttered under his breath.
She didn’t know either, but she was glad he had. It helped her understand her Crow just a little bit better—to know that beneath his leather armor and his growls, there was a man just trying to do his best for the one he cared about most.
Rising to her feet, she rubbed her knees and stretched her sore legs. She was unaccustomed to kneeling for any length of time, especially on such a hard floor. “How many people know about Reyla?”
Aldric tracked her every movement. “Calix, Rakon, Leif, Kyn. You.” After a beat, he growled, “Edmund. I suppose that’s more than one hand’s worth of people now.”
Edmund? More questions bubbled up to the forefront of her mind at that revelation. But just as she was about to ask them, she noticed the way Aldric was staring at her. Like a man trying to riddle out a particularly difficult puzzle.
She frowned. “What?”
He shrugged, his one-eyed gaze fixating on her legs. “I just never thought I’d ever see you wearing pants.”
Heat bloomed in her cheeks. Stiffly, she twitched her cloak closed, hiding her trouser-clad legs from view. Trying to mask herembarrassment, she hastily asked, “And how did Reyla come to have a holy knight for a companion?”
“Former holy knight,” Aldric corrected, his attention drifting back to her face. “I’ve answered all your questions, kirei, and now you’re going to answer mine.” His harsh tone made her bristle, her hackles already rising. And then he asked his question.
The one she had been dreading.
“Why were you spying on me?”
Sucking in her cheeks, she bit down hard on the inside of them and shot another look toward the bedroom door. She expected Dame Florence, Reyla, and Olivia to still be preoccupied with their own matters. But they weren’t.
Her stomach plummeted when she realized they must have finished tending to Olivia’s hand some time ago. Now, all three women stood there, watching her and Aldric.
What had they seen? What had they heard?
Aldric followed her gaze. “Florence?”
The lady knight stepped out of the bedroom with a grunt. “I’ll put some tea on. It seems like it’s going to be a long night. Would you like to help me, Reyla?” She glanced at Olivia. “You. You’re coming, too.”
Olivia thinned her lips, obviously wanting to protest being bossed around by the older woman. But one look from Seraphina was all it took for her friend to slink off after the other two.
Affording her the semblance of privacy with Aldric once more.
Glancing down, she scuffed her booted foot against the floor. She didn’t want to tell him. It all seemed so ridiculous now. Butshe knew if they were ever going to truly be allies, they needed to start being honest with one another. He had shared with her about his sister.
She might as well start being honest with him, too.
