I faced Owain again. “The choice is yours, Your Highness. Food or rest?”
He considered for a moment then inclined his head. “Rest, thank you.” Taking my hand and bowing low once more, he said. “But I trust you’ll be at dinner this evening?”
“I shall,” I said, smiling broadly.
He gave my hand one last lingering touch before following the steward toward the guest wing. I stood for a moment in the hush that followed his departure, trying to quiet the nerves in my chest.
That had gone far better than I’d hoped. I’d expected him to question me about Nisien or press for more information on Emrys, but Owain seemed to take my greeting in stride. Maybe I’d simply been lucky. Maybe he truly was tired and thus happy to overlook any small indiscretions in his rush to get off the road.
I had no time to waste. There was less than two hours before dinner, and I needed a bath. Whether my hair would dry enough to be styled or if Catrin would be able to press a gown on time were other questions altogether.
Turning back toward the castle, Catrin had disappeared, likely already running down the hall to get her iron. When I reached my apartment, I found her inside, sweating over a dress. Seeing me, she ran to the tub, dropping lavender into the bathwater male servants were busy filling.
I waved her away. “Don’t trouble yourself, Catrin. Icanbathe alone.”
She exhaled slowly, loosening the strands of hair sticking to her face. “Isca, moments like these make me grateful to be serving a woman who knows how to take care of herself. Thank you!”
The gown she’d chosen was a midnight blue trimmed with silver embroidery. It was sleeker than others I’d worn thus far, the neckline slightly lower.
She was muttering something about the hem not sitting straight as she pulled the silver belt tighter at my waist, when I asked, “Has Prince Emrys been informed of Owain’s presence?”
My hair was still unbound, curling in waves down my back. Braiding it while wet would only make it take longer to dry.
“Yes,” she said, frowning as she adjusted the sleeves. “His steward told him an hour ago. But…” she hesitated, eyes flicking to mine, “apparently, he…might not attend dinner.”
My hands clenched at my sides. “Hewhat?”
Catrin winced at my tone. “He didn’t say no. Just… hasn’t said yes.”
Fury caught in my chest like fire through kindling.
“He can’t leave me to do this alone,” I said, my voice rising in panic. “This is aprinceof Larethia. I don’t even know what he came for.” Talking to no one but myself, I gritted out, “No. Absolutely not.”
I turned from Catrin, rifling through the carved wooden box that held the small sum of my personal belongings. My fingers found the glass vial tucked in among trinkets and notes. Still full and cool to the touch, I pulled the pale blue bottle out like I was unsheathing a weapon. And for someone like me, it was one.
I turned and stormed toward the door.
Catrin opened her mouth, but I was already summoning my magic. The door flew open with a resounding crack, slamming against the stone wall. She squeaked in surprise.
Only as I stomped over the threshold did I realize that Catrin had never seen me actuallyusemagic. And it had just swept out of me like wind lashing the storm-ravaged coastline.
“I— Sorry,” I muttered back to her as I stalked into the corridor, vial clenched in my fist. My hair spilled across my shoulders in a wild curtain, but I barely noticed its disarray I was so enraged.
Catrin’s soft slippers pattered on the stone behind me. A glance back showed her peering through my open door, half-hidden, half-worried.
I reached Emrys’s chambers and banged hard with my knuckles.
“Prince Emrys!” I shouted at the wood. “Idemanda moment of your time in my capacity as a diplomat for the Assembly!”
A surge of his dark magic answered, flinging open his door.
A second later, Emrys stood on the threshold. His dark, tousled hair framed eyes blazing with terrifying volatility. I could feel, almost see, his magic pulsing just beneath his skin. He looked half-crazed, half-starved, not for food but for control.
My heart lurched, traitorous thing, at the sight of his shirt askew off his shoulders. A bit of exposed skin should not have been enough to make me forget the stakes of dealing with this cursed man entirely.
“What?” he snapped. His voice had teeth. Had I been less panicked about dealing with the prince of Larethia alone, I would’ve realized that pushing Emrys into a formal dinner when he was like this wasn’t the wisest decision.
I stepped forward and thrust the vial into his chest. “Take this.Now.”
