“No,” I said, too quickly, a little too firmly. The word tasted like denial. “I am not a citizen of Darreth.”
“I see.” His gaze turned forward again. Then, with a small smile, he added, “Still. I may have earned his wrath all the same. I’m used to being barely tolerated. But Prince Emrys glares at me like he thinks I might spirit you off and steal his kingdom in the process.”
I looked down at the path. “He’s…complicated.”
“ThatI’ve gathered.” Owain chuckled. “Far more complicated than when we were children together. I have only pleasant memories of the time I spent with him and Nisien.”
We turned down a quieter path, away from the guards and servants, where ivy reached high up ancient stone and the garden wall cut the wind. In the stillness, his voice gentled further.
“I meant what I said last night,” he said. “About you being distracting. I didn’t mean it as a flirtation. Well, not entirely. It was the truth. You’re different.”
I studied him. “Different how?”
“You’re not trying to impress anyone. But somehow, you still manage to.” He paused, as if to weigh his next words. “It’s rare in courts like ours. For people like us.”
Once more, the quiet, piercing honesty I’d begun to associate with him appeared. I hated how much I wanted to believe him. Yet he was also not-so-subtly hinting that he knew my secret.
“The assumption you’ve been kind enough not to say aloud is true.” I offered him a tight-lipped smile, a bittersweet expression that betrayed my true feelings. “I’m not a high mage. My family has no name and no fortune. The Assembly sent me here because they didn’t want to risk someone valuable.”
“They were wrong,” he said softly. “Has Emrys destroyed anything since you stepped foot in the castle? No?”
That startled a real laugh out of me. “No. Not even threatened to today, I think.”
Owain grinned, pleased. “Then I stand by my assessment. You’re valuable. Even if the Assembly is too blind to see it.” His voice dropped into sincerity. “If you ever grow tired of being stared at like you’re dangerous…you’d be welcome in Tir Larethia.”
He’d offered it as a simple kindness, devoid of flirtation or manipulation. It thawed a part of me I hadn’t realized had been frozen since lunch. It was also an offer I couldn’t ignore, since I had no idea how things would progress after Nisien returned.
And yet my foolish heart was already wrapping too tightly around Darreth and all its thorns.
Finally, softly, I said, “Thank you, Prince Owain. Truly.”
“You may call me Owain, Lady Isca.” He smiled. “I won’t be dropping your title, however. For one with as much grace as you’ve shown—I refuse. You may have saved many lives today by convincing Emrys to send men to our border. Thankyou.”
He bowed then gave a half-smile that didn’t feel princely at all. It was undeniably sincere. Unless I was truly off my mark in reading people, this man could be trusted with my life. That was an incredibly rare thing.
Owain offered his arm again.
Two princes calling me graceful. What a thing to happen to a girl like me.
We strolled back to the hall in easy silence. Owain, a chance encounter, a prince of a great kingdom, had offered me the quiet gift of his friendship.
If only things were that simple with Emrys.
Chapter 24
Isca
Emrys vanished back into his rooms before Owain’s party had even departed. No one spoke of it—not the servants who slipped in and out of his quarters nor the guards who treated their absent ruler as just another eccentricity.
Dinner that night was another lonely affair. Emrys sat beside me in the great hall, but it was as though he were carved from marble—present in body but absent in soul.
The man who’d once listened to me in the library was gone. Seeing the difference decided me. I began making lists of the herbs I would need for more tinctures to ease Emrys’s suffering—whether he’d ask for it or not.
Worry over whether he’d accept it didn’t stop me fromneedingto do it—for him, for the piece of me that still ached when he vanished without a word.
The kitchen garden paths the next morning were still damp with dew when I stepped outside with a basket on my arm and Catrin by my side. It was easier to scour the land surrounding the Tir for valerian root and mugwort than to think about the way Emrys had calmed under my touch, even after the curse had stolen his tongue from him.
“We could’ve purchased all of this from the market, you know,” Catrin suggested as she bent down to tug at some sage.
