“Now, don’t scream, or the innkeeper will get really excited about what’s going on up here in the newlywed room.”
Before she could offer a retort, he made a few quick slices on her back, then clamped a damp cloth on the wound.
She sat up, twisting around to try to see the hexmark on her back. “That’s it?”
“I told you I knew what I was doing. Now, listen carefully.”
He told her the words of the spell and taught her the hand gesture, though she’d seen Rangar and the other Baer people perform it enough to already know it by heart. Within a few minutes, she’d successfully summoned a spark in the palm of her hand.
Valenden grinned. “Fate, as I told you. Now I’m going to bathe while the water is still at least slightly warm.”
She looked up from the flickering flame in her palm. “I promise I won’t look.”
He winked as he began unbuttoning his shirt. “Darling,Inever asked you not to look.”
She groaned and went to the window, placing her back to him as he shamelessly stripped. While she continued to practice sparking a flame in her palm, she said, “So you think you can get a message to Barendur Hold about Broderick?”
“In the morning,” he said from behind her. “I’ll ask around. The villages of the Baersladen have a messenger system, so it shouldn’t be a problem. The only issue will be maintaining confidentiality. I can’t very well confess I’m the famous Prince Valenden with a royal missive.”
Bryn summoned a flame again, then closed her palm to douse it. “Don’t you have a hex for that? To influence someone’s actions?”
“Why, Bryn, you’re getting devious with all these hexes. I like it.”
Her vision shifted, and she realized that instead of looking through the window she could also lookatthe window, which faintly reflected Valenden’s naked body behind her. Eyes widening to glimpse his bare backside, she quickly turned to face the wall instead.
He finished his bath and dressed, then flopped into bed with a groan. “My aching feet. There isn’t some Mir tradition of giving foot massages to your husband, is there? Even a pretend husband?”
She sat on the foot of the bed, rolling her eyes, but reconsidered. Hehadsaved her life. She tossed back the covers, grabbing one of his feet. “Oh, fine. A few minutes.”
He sat up on his elbows, face scrunched. “Really?”
“Really.”
He leaned back on the pillows while she tugged off his sock and began kneading his feet.At least he’s freshly bathed,she reckoned. Foot massages werenota Mir tradition and not something she’d usually deign to do, but she was also very aware of the fact that Valenden was risking his life for her. There were assassins after her who wouldn’t hesitate to kill Valenden. He might be infuriating, but beneath his posturing, he was doing one of the kindest things for her anyone ever had. Not to mention one of the bravest.
She supposed it earned a few foot rubs.
Leaning back on the pillows, he grew serious. “If they find Rangar guilty of Trei’s murder, they’ll hang him.”
She stilled for a moment before returning to rubbing his feet. She’d suspected as much, though she hadn’t wanted to think about it. “They’ll prove his innocence. I know they will.”
She gave Valenden a sad smile over her shoulder. Rangar might be her lover, but he was Valenden’s brother. Valenden feared for Rangar’s fate perhaps even more than she did, especially after having lost Trei.
“I know how hard it is to lose a sibling,” she said quietly, her mind on Mars. Grief swelled in her, but she forced it down, channeled it into her hand movements. “I’m grateful for the years I did have with Mars.”
“You actually liked Prince Mars, didn’t you?”
“Of course.”
“I mean, and let me think how to put this delicately, you truly loved him, didn’t you? Not just because he was family, but because of who he was. Even after his actions after the siege.”
Bryn tried not to take offense at Valenden’s words because she knew he didn’t mean any. He was merely speaking the truth. Everyone in the Eyrie had heard of Mars’s failings as a benevolent heir to the throne.
“I will always love my brother,” she said, eyes filling with tears for the few good memories they’d had as children. “I understand he wasn’t fit to rule, but I will never believe he acted out of malice or greed. He was simply taught to be the way he was. If only he had a second chance at life, I think he could have been a great king.”
Valenden didn’t answer, and when she glanced at him over his shoulder, she found him snoring.
She scoffed and tugged his socks back on, then tucked his feet in the bed and pulled up the covers to his chin.
