Her brows shot up, skeptical.
“Not all of the time.”
One last kiss.
And then, before seeds of dissension and revolt could be sown back home, I pulled back. Rested my hand on her cheek, my thumb memorizing every curve and warmth of her skin, as if that single touch might hold me together when everything else threatened to break.
* * *
In that space between sleep and wake, I could almost feel her.
Tossing aside the memory of more than a fortnight ago when I last saw Lyra, I rose and began my day. Not as the son of King Balthor, but as the ruler of Gyoria. A role I never expected, but one I was determined would negate, if not erase, some of my father’s worst offenses.
Of which there were many, I’d learned.
Kael and I had long known he trafficked in shadows and secrets, but the full breadth of his treacheries still staggered us.
“Good day, your majesty,” Dren said as I stepped into the solar. The look I gave him only made him smile more broadly.
He relished my new role. Excelled in his own. And without Kael, I could not imagine having stepped into it without him. But he could be damned annoying.
“Just practicing,” he quipped.
“We are alone,” I reminded him.
A feat not easily accomplished. It had taken days to clear my mornings in such a way.
“Not for long. I’ve asked the envoy from Thalassaria to break our fast with us.”
When a knock at the door was followed by Dren’s hushed conversation, I thought nothing of it, until he returned to the table and informed me of a visitor.
When Dell walked in, my chest constricted at the sight of him.
No longer blending in with our clan, muted browns and greens were replaced with the colors of Aetheria, his pale-blue tunic delicately ornate. The sight was oddly startling.
It brought me immediately back to her.
He approached, and began to bow, but I stopped him.
“There are no formalities in this chamber,” I said. “Come and break your fast with me.”
He sat down, looking different than usual, though I could not explain the reason.
With a smirk, Dell reached for a crust of bread.
“Can you inform the envoy,” I asked Dren, “I am unable this morn but will meet them instead at the midday meal? Have something special, distinctly Thalassari, prepared?”
“Of course,” Dren said, leaving us, clearly still pleased with his jest.
“If I could bring him back, I would.”
It needed to be said. Addressed.
Dell startled, which is when I remembered he wasn’t privy to my thoughts. Immediately on seeing him, I was brought back to Seryn’s death.
I had been so far down the wrong path, it was a wonder I’d not fallen into the same abyss as the father I’d so admired.
“Seryn,” I clarified, realizing he thought I had been speaking of my father.
