CHAPTER 53
Zev
Zev splashed his face with cool water, soothing the itch on his skin. He stared at his reflection in the bureau mirror, yellow eyes looking back at him. After years with the Madness, sometimes his head felt too quiet.
Perhaps it was the stillness and unfamiliarity of his borrowed bedroom in the Norrlen estate that unsettled his wolf. A light breeze picked up and blew in through the open balcony, rustling the branches outside. On days like these, when all he heard was the whisper of the trees, he heard another voice. Zev glanced at his pack resting on the bed where he had tucked Lara’s letter. The scent left on those pages seemed to linger, or it may have been simply imprinted on him.
The image of a beautiful white wolf arose in his mind. It was so clear that he could almost see her there, standing in front of him. But there was no room to think about what he wanted when Dyna needed him first.
Zev grabbed his pack off the bed and left the bedchamber. The others must already be awake. He could hear their voices drifting from the grand hall along with the chirp of birds outside of the hallway windows.
The sky was pink with the coming dawn, coating the land in a light dew. He could smell the dynalyas from here. A dark green carriage adorned with gold filigree waited on the path. The Rangers were already outside, and an entourage of servants loaded a wagon with luggage and supplies.
Zev strode down the hall for the east wing where Dyna was staying. He let the conversations of the passing servants swarm over him, ignoringthe guards eyeing him uneasily. Most had seen him shift yesterday and were naturally wary of him now.
Reaching Dyna’s hall, he clenched his jaw when he found Cassiel there. The newly appointed King of Hilos slept with his back against the wall, arms crossed, head hanging. What was he doing there?
Before Zev could ask, Dyna’s bedroom door swung open. She came out with her disheveled hair still in yesterday’s braid as she quickly tossed on a cloak.
Cassiel jolted awake, and she halted at the sight of him.
“What are you doing? Did you sit outside my door all night?”
Rubbing the sleep from his face, he rushed to his feet. “I only wanted to make sure you were all right. Were you able to rest?”
Dyna stared at him mutely. The color had returned to her face, and she appeared more rested than she had in days. She must have slept soundly enough to even wake up late. Zev frowned. It couldn’t have been because Cassiel had simply been a few feet away from her.
“Your necklace…” Cassiel said when he noticed its absence. “Where is it?”
Dyna swept past him. “I tossed it in the rubbish where it belongs.”
She quickly strode down the hall and vanished around the corner. Sighing heavily, Cassiel rubbed his face.
“You did that,” Zev said from the shadows. “You filled her heart with hate. That was done byyou.”
Cassiel gazed lowered to the floor. “I know,” he said faintly. His voice was tired, strung with emotion. Nowhere near the cold, black-hearted prince Zev was used to. “I know…”
“Why stay here when her indifference is the only thing you will receive? You said you could live with her despising you, so do it. Live with it, because that’s what you’ve earned.”
Sorrow creased his tired features. “If her resentment is all I am given, so be it. I can stand being nothing to her, even if it’s only to serve as the source of her loathing.” Cassiel tugged at a loose string on his cuff. It pulled away from the meticulous lacing, unraveling the fine cloth row by row. “I’m not entitled to her affection simply because she has mine…”
Zev didn’t know what to say to that. It was pathetic, really. He had everything, then tossed it all away. For what? It infuriated Zev; it infuriated him more that some small part of him felt something akin to sympathy for the one who used to be his friend. And he couldn’t stand the suffering on Cassiel’s face.
He looked tired of lifeand so lost.
Zev hated it. He hated it so much because it reflected him when he had also lost his way. Despair hung over Cassiel like a dark cloud. It had only lifted for a moment yesterday when Zev noticed him conversing with someone out of view. Whoever they were had used a tall shrub for cover.
“I saw you by the stables yesterday,” Zev said. “Who were you speaking to?”
Cassiel paused the unraveling of his cuff. “Don’t concern yourself with that.”
He grit his teeth. “Well, I am.”
Taking the loose thread he’d undone, Cassiel wrapped it around his fingertip, turning it purple, until the thread audibly snapped. Sighing, he tucked his hands in his coat. “It’s irrelevant.”
Gods, he continued to disregard them as the day he left.
“Then tell me why?” Zev growled. “You owe me at least that.”
