“A bear?” Mareleau pulled back from him, face ashen. “Bears can’t claw through tents, can they?”
He forced a reassuring smile to his lips. “There will be guards on patrol, ready to confront any hungry interlopers.” Even as he said it, an unsettling chill fell over him. In the wake of the roar, he heard only silence. He was grateful not to hear a repeat of the sound, but he expected to at least catch strains of commotion coming from the camp. As far as he could tell, the roar had come from nearby in the woods, which meant everyone else would have heard it too.
But…now that he thought about it, he hadn’t heard anything to suggest the hunting party had returned from their hunt. The darkness blanketing the tent walls told him it was well past nightfall, so they would have returned hours ago. Of course, it was possible he would have missed the party’s return. He had been rather…distracted.
Ever since he’d first entered the tent and laid eyes on Mareleau, she’d consumed his every thought. In the hours that followed, he’d been immersed in pleasure, in the joy of their reunion. Then came her confession, which had brought an entirely new set of emotions to contend with.
But in the hollow wake of that roar, he was reminded of all the other reasons he had to feel uneasy.
He pulled farther back and met his wife’s eyes. “Mare, I need to ask you some serious questions.”
She shrank down a little, pulling the small blanket her father had gifted her to her chest. He knew she’d purposefully changed the subject when he’d first suggested they speak of serious matters, but they’d ended up on one of the most significant topics anyway. Still, he couldn’t let her escape his line of questioning this time.
“There was a reason why I left my retinue to make haste to Ridine. That same reason drove your father to join me.”
“What reason?”
Anxiety tickled his chest. “Has my brother been acting…odd?”
Some of the tenseness left her composure, replaced with haughty annoyance. “Odd is a word for it.”
“How so?” Larylis held his breath, hoping her answer would be something mundane, dismissible.
“In the way he talks, I suppose. For a handful of days, I thought I could come to like him as a brother, but then he got…weird. There’s something going on with him. Did you see his hair?”
Larylis frowned. “He was wearing a hat when I saw him.”
She barked a laugh. “Of course he was. His hair has gone half white, like an aging old man, but he acts like it’s nothing. He looks unwell lately, yet he refuses to acknowledge it.”
His mind stumbled over her words. Teryn’s hair had gone half white? He was unwell? Larylis didn’t know what to think. The hat had hidden Teryn’s hair and had cast his face in shadow, so he hadn’t noticed anything too odd about his appearance. Then again, he could deem Teryn’s sudden inclination for tricorns odd enough. Not to mention that too-formal tone he’d used.
“Did he and Cora quarrel?” he asked. “That you know of, at least? Have you seen her lately?”
Her brows lowered, revealing a hint of concern. “I haven’t seen her since the day she found out she had to marry Teryn. She was worried about…about a certain conversation they needed to have before she’d feel comfortable marrying him, but I thought she’d made peace with it. I tried to see her on her wedding day, but Teryn said she’d taken to seclusion for her own protection. He said I wouldn’t be able to see her until after the peace pact was signed.”
His muscles tensed. He’d already been alarmed when she’d used the wordshad to marry Teryn, for that wasn’t right. Teryn had come to propose to her and fulfill the terms of the pact, but he’d never force her into something she didn’t want. That, however, wasn’t the most troubling thing she’d said. “What do you mean their wedding day?”
“They were supposedly married five days ago.”
“Why? The alliance terms should have given them a year.”
She pulled her head back. “Has no one told you?”
“Told me what?”
“Dimetreus was deemed incapable of ruling by his council. Cora was forced to take his place and ascend to queen, but the alliance agreement states she must marry Teryn for the council to accept her rule.”
A chill ran down his spine. He hadn’t heard a word of this, and Verdian hadn’t said anything either. He could understand some level of secrecy, but this…
This felt like something else.
He rose from the bed and began to pace. “You said you haven’t seen Cora in how long?”
“Six days.”
“And how long has Teryn been acting different?”
“A week at least.”
