‘Now?’
She nodded.
Roul glanced down the corridor. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea. Fletcher would prefer you safe in your bedchamber.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘History has proven that my bedchamber is theleastsafe place for me.’
He released a heavy breath. ‘All right.’ Looking her up and down, he added, ‘Cloak? Shoes?’
Ah. She slipped on some boots and put on her thickest cloak. Tugging the hood up, she stepped past Roul and headed for the stairs.
The air in the courtyard was still and crisp as she stepped outside and looked up at the sky. ‘When was the last time you saw stars, Thornton?’
‘Yesterday during training.’
She laughed quietly as she made her way over to the fountain and lay down on the edge. Clasping her hands over her stomach, she stared up at the sky. The running water was loud in her ear, exactly what she needed to drown out her thoughts. Roul stood a few feet away with the same serious expression Harlan always wore.
‘I can’t sleep,’ she confessed. ‘I’m so tired, but my mind won’t stop.’
At first she thought he did not hear her, but then he said, ‘Are you afraid of fire?’
She blinked, and tears slid into her hair. ‘I’m afraid I’ll die alone in that room.’
He nodded. ‘Well, you’re not in that room now—and you’re not alone. So sleep if you want to.’
Her eyelids felt like they weighed a hundred pounds suddenly. She blinked a few times and found she could not keep her eyes open. ‘If the stars can break through this eternal cloud cover, then why can’t the sun?’
She never heard his reply, because sleep took her.
Lyndal woke to blinding daylight and running water. She turned her head, registering the fountain, then sat up with a gasp.
‘Good sleep?’
Her head whipped around, and there was Astin standing five feet away, watching her. She looked down at the rolled-up cloak that had been placed under her head as a pillow. Picking it up, she held it out to him. ‘You didn’t have to freeze on my account.’
He stepped forwards to take it. ‘You were sleeping on stone.’ He continued to watch her as he put it on. ‘Thornton tells me you were out here most of the night.’
‘And some of the day, it seems.’ She stood and stretched her arms luxuriously above her head, feeling rested for the first time since the fire. ‘Did he tell you that we saw stars?’
‘Oddly, that was not part of his debriefing, no.’
She smiled at the ground. A few weeks earlier, they had barely tolerated one another’s company, and now seeing him each morning was one of the highlights of her day.
‘The king and queen mother have asked to see you,’ he said.
She stilled. ‘Together? Am I in trouble?’
He angled his head. ‘Not to my knowledge. Unless there’s something you wish to confess.’
She shook her head. ‘Not if you don’t already know about it. I suppose I should go get cleaned up.’ She looked down at her nightdress, visible through the split of the cloak.
‘Probably a good idea.’
Astin stood outside her bedchamber while she washed and dressed, then escorted her to the terrace, where Borin and Fayre were playing chess.
‘Finally,’ Borin said, rising from his chair.
Lyndal curtsied and found a smile. ‘Apologies for keeping you waiting, Your Grace. You wished to see me?’
