When exhaustion finally drove her back to the bed, it accepted her weight with unnatural eagerness. The covers wrapped around her without her pulling them, soft and inescapable. The lights, their source unknown, dimmed, plunging the room into darkness.
She stared at the ceiling, where tiny lights moved in slow patterns.
"Allegra," she whispered. "I hope you're okay. I hope this was worth it."
The mark pulsed in response. And somewhere else, she felt that strange warmth in her chest flutter. Just once. An answer to a question she hadn't asked.
Chapter eight
Dawn came and with it the sensation that something was watching her.
Not eyes, she'd learned the weight of those last night. This was different. The walls themselves seemed aware, tracking her breathing, noting the moment consciousness returned.
Pale light filtered through the windows. Not sunlight but something else, the forest's version of dawn. It made everything look submerged and strange.
The mark throbbed. She pushed back the covers and checked her arm.
It had spread while she slept. The thorned vines now wrapped past her elbow, delicate and terrible. When she traced one with her finger, it pulsed warm, almost pleased.
"Stop it," she muttered.
A knock at the door, firmer than last night's. Before she could respond, it opened.
Thaine leaned against the doorframe, taking in her sleep-mussed appearance with obvious amusement. "Morning, rabbit. Sleep well?"
She pulled the covers higher. "Get out."
"Such hostility. And here I brought breakfast." He gestured, and the bark-skinned woman from last night entered with a tray. "Well, I supervised while she brought breakfast. Same thing."
The woman set the tray on the table, eyes downcast, and fled.
"His lordship expects you in an hour," Thaine continued. "Bathed, dressed, and marginally more pleasant than you are now."
"For what?"
"Your education, of course. Can't have you stumbling around court offending everyone with your human ignorance." He smiled. "Well, we could. It would be entertaining. But he seems to want you intact."
"How kind."
"Isn't it?" He pushed off from the doorframe. "Bath's through there." He indicated a door she hadn't noticed last night. "Try not to drown. The water here has opinions."
He left before she could ask what that meant.
The bathroom was another marvel of organic architecture. A pool carved from living wood steamed gently, fed by water that flowed from somewhere inside the walls. Flowering vines provided privacy.
She approached the water cautiously. It looked normal enough. Clear, warm, inviting.
The moment she stepped in, she understood Thaine's warning.
The water didn't just surround her. It examined her. She could feel it cataloguing every scrape, every bruise, every place another's magic had touched. Where the mark spread across her arm, the water seemed to purr with recognition.
"This is insane," she said aloud, just to hear something normal.
The water rippled in what might have been agreement. Or laughter.
Briar bathed quickly, unsettled by the sensation of being known by liquid. But when she emerged, her skin felt different. Softer. Polished into a better version of herself.
The dress waiting for her was deep violet silk that shifted to black in shadow. When she lifted it, she noticed the intricate beadwork that glittered with each movement. It was beautiful, graceful and served as another reminder of how completely out of place she was here.
