She saw him wringing his hands from the corner of her eye, something she’d never seen him do, before he clasped them together and released a long breath. “Auraelia–”
His placating tone made her blood boil, and she jumped from her chair. The abrupt movement sent it skittering backward and worsened her head's throbbing. “Don’t. I don’t want excuses; I just want to know. You’veneversugar-coated anything with me. Never treated me like one of my mother’s fragile flowers. Don’t you dare start now.”
She turned away from the table, her hands flexing at her sides, and began to pace.
One, two, three—she counted to ten in her head, then back down again, until her mind began to still and her magic settled. It was the only thing that worked anymore.
She could no longer use the memory of Daemon’s voice to steady herself. Whenever she’d tried, all she saw was his face etched in pain as she walked away from him. All she felt was the icy cold hands of her heart being ripped out of her chest. Andthat was a pain she refused to let herself feel again.Four, five, six—
Ser Aeron stood slowly and walked over to where she paced in front of the windows that looked out over her mother’s garden. What was once full of pink and white peony blossoms was now a wasteland of dying shrubs and wilted blooms.
“I’ve always known about Verena. Your mother—” he paused and walked closer, peering out of the window at the lifeless flora before continuing. “Your mother only told me about Davina a few years ago. I’m not sure how long she’d been holding onto that secret, but I’m almost certain she’d always known.”
Auraelia stopped pacing and walked to stand next to him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It wasn’t my secret to tell.”
For a while, they stood there in silence. Watching the sun sink into the horizon as it painted the sky in pinks and purples, the stars began to poke through the last remaining streams of daylight.
“I tried, Auraelia.”
The deep rumble of his voice cut through the silence, and she turned to look at him. He was still gazing out the window, but she could see the glassiness of his eyes and hear his breath's shakiness. When he finally looked her way, her heart broke, and her anger ebbed away.
“I tried to get her to tell you and Xander. I tried so many times. But your mother was a stubborn woman. And there were times when it was her greatest asset, but in this case, it was also her greatest downfall. I am so sorry that I wasn’t there to save her.”
Grasping his large hand in hers, she gave him a reassuring squeeze as tears lined her eyes as well. “It happened so fast that I’m not sure even you could have saved her. But none of this isyourfault. Nor is it mine, though we both carry the weight of her decisions.”
Pain that mirrored her own shone back through his eyes, and as he nodded, a lone tear ran down his cheek.
A soft knock on the door broke the silence that had begun to settle between them, and Auraelia called for whoever was on the opposite side to enter.
Piper poked her head in, her brow furrowed in frustration. “Rae, you skipped lunch…again. I’m here to force you to eat dinner.”
Ser Aeron’s gaze turned from sadness to annoyance. “You haven’t been eating?”
At the mention of food, her head began to throb once more, and she cringed.
“You have another migraine, don’t you?” Piper asked as she entered the room.
Auraelia nodded slowly, trying not to make any jarring movements, while Piper huffed out an annoyed breath and crossed her arms as she leaned against the table.
Ser Aeron squeezed her hand, pulling her attention back in his direction, and narrowed his eyes. “Go eat. I mean it. You have a lot on your plate, and I saw the hold on your magic slipping throughout the meeting as your emotions got the better of you. You need to be in control, not letting it control you.”
Auraelia nodded and tightened her hold on his hand before letting go and allowing him to excuse himself.
When the door closed firmly behind him, Piper dropped her arms and released a heavy sigh. “Okay, food is in your room. We have enough time to eat before we have to meet Xan at the stables.”
Xan.She still wasn’t used to the nickname that Piper had given her brother. But she was the only one who used it, and it made him smile every time.
The two women hastily walked down the short hallway that led to the door of the queen’s apartments—one that only the reigning queen could open.
Once inside, they practically inhaled their meal of roast and potatoes before they donned thick wool cloaks and snuck out through the queen’s garden.
They had somewhere to be and not a lot of time to get there.
Walking into Vee’s alone was one thing.
Walking in with an entourage was something else entirely.
