I could feel Clarissa’s pointed stare on me the entire time. But when I risked a glance up, she had thrown her arms around Nox with a wide smile.
“You sure like to be fashionably late, don’t you?” Clarissa asked.
He laughed. “You know I’m only here for the food.” She released him, and he looked up at the palace entrance. “Long time, no see, lover boy,” he boomed.
A new face was coming down the steps with a brown-haired little girl perched atop his shoulders—Clarissa’s fiancé, Lord Thorne Reaux, and his daughter. I knew Thorne from my time working for his mother in Mysthelm. Lady Reaux was a piece of work, but her son had always been kind.
He and Clarissa were a good pairing. Both grounded and fair, neither of them with that air of formality or condescension I saw from so many wealthy nobles. I was happy for them, no matter how strained things were between us.
Thorne grinned and shook his head, his long, dark brown hair brushing past his shoulders. “It’s only been a few weeks.”
The statement caught me off guard, but Nox didn’t see my questioning gaze. He beamed at the little girl on top of Thorne’s shoulders.
“Yes, and look how much you’ve grown since then. You’re practically a lady!” he exclaimed.
“I hope you’re talking to Marigold,” Thorne said.
Hisdaughter giggled and patted her dad’s head. “You’renot a lady, Daddy.I’ma lady.”
Thorne swung her off his shoulders, tickling her sides as she squealed with laughter. Mia’s tail thumped against the ground at the excitement.
Nox took Marigold, and she squeezed his neck tight. “Daddy and Rissa let me stay up so I could say hi!”
“I’m so glad they did, darling.” Nox ruffled her hair with one hand, and I cursed my stomach for bursting into butterflies. It was such a cliché, watching a rugged, handsome man turn into a puddle for a sweet child.
But, Fates, I fell for it.
“Nox is right. It’s bedtime for you. We’ve got a busy day tomorrow,” Thorne said, taking Marigold’s hand. As she said her goodbyes and he led her back inside, I figured it was as good of a time as any to face the music.
I stepped forward until I was at Nox’s side, stomach churning and shadows twisting anxiously between my fingers. His hand came out and brushed briefly against my elbow, enough to anchor me.
I gave Clarissa a small curtsy. “Hello, Your Majesty. It—it’s good to see you.”
Clarissa instantly sombered, the smile she’d had for Nox now guarded and hesitant. Those onyx eyes assessed me in that cunning fox-like way of hers, the one that said she was reading me like a book. I remembered the wrath they held just a few short months ago. The hurt. The instant distrust.
She finally raised an eyebrow and hummed. “Welcome to Veridia City, Devora.”
52
Devora
Nox grabbed our bags, and we made our way up the entrance steps. I caught a glimpse of rich mahogany floors, dark green rugs, and dozens of sparkling chandeliers peeking out from the open doors. Clarissa was ahead of us, speaking with the guards, so I took a second to turn to Nox.
“What did Thorne mean when he said you saw them a few weeks ago?”
“Remember when I left Tenebra for a short while to take care of something for Scarven?” Nox started, and I nodded. “I brought the rebels he wanted me to get rid of here, to work for Rissa.”
“Oh,” I blinked back my surprise, “that was…that was good of you.”
He winked at me before we walked through the open door. “Besides, how else did you think I got your blanket back?”
“Wait, Nox,” I hissed after him. “Are you saying?—”
“That he almost plowed down my palace to get me to send an emergency message in our next correspondence with Mysthelm? Yes, yes he did,” Clarissa called. She waited for us just inside the doors. “I told him it better be important.”
Nox, eyes still trained on me, said, “It was.”
A blush crept up my neck and to my cheeks. The thoughtof him roping inClarissajust to get my childhood keepsake back hadn’t even crossed my mind. And he did this when we were in Drakorum? That was so long ago—before he and I had any semblance of trust, any camaraderie or care for each other beyond the mission.
