Her brows rose, faint amusement stirring in her eyes. “Do you think backing me will save your skin?”
“I think your cousin has set Emrys on a path of destruction. I’ve seen him rip a hole in the side of a mountain without sweating. I don’t want people to die for me.”
“Such a soft heart.”
“Yes,” I said, tired of hiding it. “Frankly, I don’t care about your opinion on the matter. Now,” I pushed the apple core to the edge of the table, “your druid was correct. I need the chamber pot, and itisquite painful. So please leave.”
Anwen threw her head back and laughed, a full, open sound that echoed in the quiet space, coloring her cheeks a bright pink as she struggled to breathe.
“I will leave,” she said, pale blue eyes dancing with mischief. “We are nothing alike, but I think I already like you, Lady Isca.” For once, she saidmy borrowed title without a sneer. “I’m moving you to my rooms. Safer. I have food and a bath waiting for you there. We’ll talk again after I put on a show at dinner.”
She let out a growl of disapproval not softened at all by her gender. As she stood, she covertly removed the ring from her finger. Its pulse vanished the moment it disappeared into a hidden pocket.
“Recover. Your prince will be here by tomorrow morning at the latest. I’ll have your dress cleaned and pressed. You’ll wear something of mine in the meantime.”
Your prince. When Owain had first suggested it, I’d denied any claim he had on me outright. But now it was impossible to deny. I wanted him to bemyprince. The question was whether he would want that after I told him the truth of why I’d been sent to Darreth.
“Tomorrow?” I asked Anwen.
Emrys had likely already been on his way back from the meeting when I was taken from the tent. Why such a long delay?
“I said Maelric’s men would be an issue. My watchers reported that your prince has already been attacked.”
“Is Emrys okay?”
“…He is.” Her hesitation made my stomach drop like a stone.
“Then why did you say it that way?” I winced, hearing the harshness in my words. Anwen was showing me kindness in the face of everything.
“He’s leaving none alive.” Anwen delivered the line casually, as though it was of little consequence. I didn’t have to be an empath to realize she was hiding behind a mask of indifference.
“My father is Gelidian. My brothers serve a lord in Larethia. My allegiance is only to my family. So…I’m sorry about your countrymen… I don’t want your people, any people, to die because of me.”
“It’s too late for that now,” she said curtly.
After a glare, and then a sigh, her tone softened. “You’re not to blame. Maelric and the damned Assembly are.” She was already leaving.
I reached out, allowing a tiny sliver of magic to reach her as she walked toward the door. The moment my gratitude hit her, she almost lost her balance before quickly righting herself.
The door closed behind her with a soft click of the lock sliding back into place. I hoped all this meant that Anwen was closer to friend than foe.
Still, I was left shaking my head in the quiet with the taste of apple on my tongue and the first inklings of how big the thing I’d just started might become.
Chapter 54
Emrys
The silence after a battle was never truly silent. It carried the ghost of screams, the echo of steel striking bone, the poisonous pulse of the dark magic writhing under my skin. If my men had been with me, I would’ve had to endure looks of horror and fear, and their hushed respect. I hated it. But I’d learned to live with that weight.
The mental scars of battle would never leave me.
This time, though, the heavier burden was on my body. I’d never fought so many men at once, and in such close quarters. In its desperation to feel the fight, the curse had risked killing us both. Had the beast not been so enraged, I could’ve taken down many of them from a distance.
Riding north, my limbs dragged as though weighted with lead. With each stamp of my stolen horse’s hooves, my thoughts lagged even farther behind. Only when the world tipped sideways did I notice the warmth soaking through the left gap in my armor.
I pressed my free hand to my ribs. Pain cut through my other senses instantly, and my hand came away slick with warm blood. I leaned into the pain, trying to lessen its impact, but my muscles didn’t fully cooperate. The cut was deep enough to part muscle, and I hadn’t even felt it.
The curse was keeping me alive, pulsing through my veins like it wanted me to remember what I owed it.
