‘My Lady Rose, the gifted.’
Hisvoice sounds from behind me. Warm, almost triumphant. The same voice that only hours ago made me want to shut the world out so that only two of us remained. My heart ricochets off my ribs as I turn to face him.
Kyor. He looks every inch as perfect as he did when he left me earlier. But is he?
I hate Thea in this moment, for what she has ruined for me.
I try to smile, but I know it doesn’t reach my eyes.
‘Thorn, are you okay?’
No. The answer rattles around my head, but I can’t speak openly with him here. This is not the right time or place.
‘I need to see Kay,’ I say instead. ‘Have you seen Kay?’
It is as though the Goddess gifted me the power to summon my sister, for I have barely finished my question when I hear her voice.
‘Rose? Rose!’
Her white-blonde hair flashes through the crowd and in this moment, nothing else matters. Not Kyor, not even the magic that fills me. Kay is safe. Kay has a place here in the High Hold. That is what I did all of this for. It’s been Kay and me always, and it can go back to that if it has to.
The instant she reaches me, I throw my arms around her tightly, trying to absorb her happiness to share in it.
‘You did it! This is incredible. Our lives, Rose!’ She’s beaming like I should be. ‘This is amazing! Unbelievable. Oh, I have so much to tell you, so much to tell you.’
I can feel Kyor’s gaze hovering on me.
Every dance,that’s what he promised me. Now I’m not sure how long I can even stand to be in the same ballroom as him. I need to talk to him about Thea, but I can’t face it here, surrounded by hundreds of fluttering court butterflies, each as deadly as a viper.
‘Tell me, tell me your news,’ I say instead to her.
She frowns slightly. ‘Do you not need to be, I don’t know, mingling, dancing? People look as if they want to speak to you.’
As I glance around, I can see that she is right, and almost every pair of eyes is trained on me. But this is the celebration of my triumph, my gifting, and I have earned the right to spend it as I wish.
‘I wish to hear your news,’ I respond, continuing to drag her away, and this time she doesn’t protest. Behind us, I can hear Benny loudly talking about how beautiful our reunion is, trying to make it acceptable that I’m slipping out of the ball held in my very honour. He is truly a God among men.
We slip into one of the first antechambers, and it’s with a new bout of nausea that I realise it’s the one Kyor and I were in the night Llinos was murdered. I want to move, find another place, but then Kay will only ask what’s wrong, and that’s not a conversation I’m ready to have.
‘So tell me your news,’ I say impatiently, needing a distraction from the thoughts raging in my head. ‘What is it?’
‘Rose,’ she starts, her voice tempered in the way I know well. It meansshe’s about to tell me something she thinks I won’t like. ‘I couldn’t be happier,’ she continues firmly. ‘The court, it’s where I’m meant to be.’
‘I know. That’s why I entered the Retterheld. I always knew you would be happy here.’ I frown. ‘Is it your magic? Has it not come back?’
She shakes her head. ‘No, not that I’ve noticed yet, but I’ve not tried to do anything. And it’s not like magic can matter that much. You won the Retterheld without it.’
I press my lips together. Did I? I wouldn’t have survived without the powers I got on that frozen lake. But Kay doesn’t need to know about that right now.
‘Rose.’ Kay places her hands on my shoulders. ‘I don’t need to worry about whether I have magic or not anymore … not now I’m getting married.’
The shock is enough to force the air from my lungs, but I try to disguise it as best I can. ‘Hew? Do you want to marry Hew?’
My throat thickens. Hew and Kyor are close. This marriage would bind us, however loosely, for the rest of our lives ahead.
Kay’s usually soft face is inscrutable. ‘No,’ she says finally. ‘No, not … Hew.’
My mind goes blank. ‘Then who? Kay, I understand that you were worried about having to leave the court after the competition ended, but that’s not going to happen. You’re a lady again now. A proper member of the court. You don’t need to be hasty. You don’t need to get married to stay here.’
