Sweat beaded on Reyla’s brow, but chills wracked her frame. I wanted to kill whoever was frightening her. Naveer would do quite nicely.
“My lady,” Calista cried out, rushing to my wife with Moira trailing behind her. “Are you unwell?”
“I’m fine,” Reyla said, but she allowed them to help her to the sofa and sit.
Moira snapped her finger and a throw blanket appeared in her hand. She draped it across Reyla’s lap, studying her face. “I’m here. Everything will be alright. You can trust me to keep you safe.”
Reyla nodded, her gaze on the table in front of the sofa.
Dorion watched Calista and Moira with a frown that soon smoothed. He shook his head and directed his attention to me.
I gestured toward the door. “Calista. Moira. Please go to thekitchen for bread, cheese, and a few unopened bottles of wine. Plus whatever you find that’s not…” Tainted, though I couldn’t say that. “Simple things will do.” Reyla had eaten almost nothing at dinner.
Once they’d returned and placed the food and drink on the table in front of the sofa, I dismissed them and sat with Reyla, renewing my wards to keep others from spying on our conversation.
Dorion stood near the fire, warming his backside. Farris had laid down on the sofa on Reyla’s other side and rested his chin on her thigh. He stared at her with a soulful expression.
Reyla explained about the portrait, the skulls weeping wax, and how a drop had burned her. I quickly healed her wound, snarling to see she was hurt. The idea that something in this castle had attacked her, marked her, made violence sing through my veins. I traced the spot where the burn had been, soothing it.
She curled her finger my way, and when I leaned close, she kissed my jaw.
“Could Prager have done it?” Dorion sat across from us. He leaned over the tray and took a slice of bread he layered with cheese. He’d already poured the wine and placed his glass on the table.
“If she’s decided to drive me out of my mind instead of outright kill me, then sure, it could be her,” Reyla said. She told Dorion about what happened in our room after we arrived.
He glanced over his shoulder at the mirror and shifted to another chair, out of the mirror’s path if Prager should weaponize it again.
“So what the fuck do we think was going on down there?” I asked, raking my hand through my hair before laying that arm across Reyla’s shoulders.
“That was some weird chant,” Dorion said.
Reyla whispered it to us. “Honor those who walked before. Their sacrifice opens every door. By choice they gave what could not be taken. So future paths might yet awaken. Time bends back for those who serve. The willing heart gets what they deserve.”
Silence stretched between us as we absorbed the words.
Reyla looked up at me. “What do you think it means?”
I shook my head.
After scooping up a slice of cheese from the platter to nibble on, she leaned closer. “Maybe it’s a tradition at Irridain Court.”
“It felt less like tradition and more like a warning to me,” I said.
“I agree. This was my first dining experience at Irridain,” Dorion said. “I’ve only been on the grounds a few times before.”
“The willing heart gets what they deserve sounds ominous.” Reyla shivered, and I tightened my arm around her shoulders. “Let’s not be too willing when Naveer makes demands.”
“Wise, Wildfire. Very wise.”
Swallowing a bite, Reyla watched Dorion closely. “You and Laphira were…”
Unease flickered across his face. “We met at a fair.” He stared down at his now empty hands. “Neither of us knew who the other was. Since we’d both snuck out of our courts and weren’t supposed to be there, we used fake names.”
The corner of his mouth twitched up in a half-smile that held sadness more than anything else. “We spent the evening together and after, I asked to see her again. She…was everything.” His penetrating gaze met mine; he knew I understood. “Funny and always laughing. She loved to dance, and she dragged me over to where musicians played, and I spun her around until she was dizzy. We met up other times after that. I still didn’t know who she was, or I would’ve stayed away.” He shrugged. “Maybe. It’s hard to do that when you’re falling in love.”
“Do you think she felt the same?” Sympathy came through in Wildfire’s voice.
“She told me she did.” With a sigh, he drank some wine, returning the glass to the table.
