“And you want me to come along because...?”
“Because you might learn something.” His gaze held mine, steady and unreadable. “And because you’re going stir-crazy in this castle.”
The glint in his eyes told me my outing with Cindrissian last week probably hadn’t escaped his notice.
“When?” I asked, hating how eager the word sounded.
“Within the hour. It’s only a day’s ride, and we’ll be back by tomorrow evening.” He paused, something almost vulnerable flickering across his features. “Unless you’d prefer to stay and incinerate more furniture.”
It was an olive branch. Clumsy, wrapped in his typical arrogance, but an olive branch nonetheless. After a week of him avoiding me like I carried plague, of stilted conversations and distance, he was offering... what? A chance to see his world? To be something more than a weapon in training?
“My children?—”
“Will be perfectly safe with Lira and the others. I’ll leave extra guards, ward the entire wing myself if it makes you feel better.” His voice dropped, becoming almost gentle. “They’ll probably enjoy having the run of the place without you hovering.”
“I don’t hover,” I said automatically, then caught Brynelle’s snort of amusement. “I’m appropriately cautious.”
“You follow them to lessons and lurk outside until they’re finished,” Shaelith said dryly. “That’s hovering.”
Traitors. Both of them.
But they weren’t wrong. I had been… protective. Bordering on obsessive. The attack in the courtyard had left me paranoid and watchful and probably driving my children mad with my constant presence.
Maybe some distance would be good for all of us.
“Fine,” I said, the word escaping before I could second-guess myself. “But if anything happens to them while I’m gone?—”
“I’ll personally hunt down whoever’s responsible and feed them to the kraken,” Varyth said solemnly. “The decorative one. It’s surprisingly vicious when motivated.”
Despite myself, I laughed. “You’re all insane.”
“Probably,” he agreed, and for the first time, his smile looked real. “Pack light. We leave soon.”
As he walked away, I caught Shaelith watching me with those knowing violet eyes.
“What?” I demanded.
“Nothing,” she said, but her smirk was sharp enough to draw blood.
I fled before either of them could say anything else.
Careful who you trust here,Cindrissian’s voice whispered in my mind.
But as I threw clothes into a travel bag, my hands shaking with something that definitely wasn’t fear, I wondered if the person I should be most careful of was myself.
I emergedfrom the castle twenty minutes later, pack slung over my shoulder and my hair still damp from the hasty attempt to wash the soot from my skin. A set of travel leathers had mysteriously appeared in my chambers, and the brown leather hugged my figure comfortably. I’d strapped the moonsilver blades to my thighs, and could only hope Varyth didn’t pry about where I’d gotten them.
Varyth waited in the main courtyard, and the sight of him stopped me cold.
Gone was the formal court attire, replaced by dark leather riding gear that clung to his frame like a second skin. His silver hair was pulled back, revealing the lines of his face, and there were weapons strapped to his body with the kind of casualness that spoke of a man who knew how to use them.
He looked dangerous. Predatory. Like something that hunted in dark and left no survivors to tell the tale.
And gods help me, my traitorous pulse quickened in response.
Beside him, Darian was similarly outfitted, though somehow he managed to make leather armour look like he’d thrown it on for a casual stroll. His sandy hair was tousled by the wind, and that insufferable grin was already plastered across his face.
“Ready?” Varyth asked, as his gaze raked over me far too slow.
