“The shadow creature she sent after us was a test,” I said, explaining about the serpent. “She wanted to see how we'd react. What skills we'd reveal.”
Understanding dawned in Dorion’s eyes. “And you showed her you're faster and more skilled with a blade than Lady Bliss might be.”
“Exactly. Now she's even more curious about us.”
My belly rumbled as I took a bite of a slice of cheese on bread. Lore and Dorion grabbed food and started eating as well.
We consumed most of it, then sat back. Farris hopped up onto the cushion beside me, circled several times, before dropping down to take a nap, his puffy tail flipping over his eyes.
“Tired baby,” I said softly, stroking his silky fur. “We need to be careful not to give her the proof she's looking for, but we also can't waste time. Every moment we stay increases the risk she'll see through our ruse.”
“If we play the game perfectly, we might survive long enough to get what we came for. But one mistake…” Dorion left the threat hanging.
My chest tightened as I thought of the curse ticking away inside Lore. We had three days to balance this deadly game of deception while racing against time.
I squeezed his fingers. “She knows I'm trained. The question is whether she'll assume I’ve been practicing or suspect I'm something else entirely.”
I exchanged a look with Lore, and when he gave me a short nod, I turned to Dorion. “We saw Laphira in the hallway last night while we were exploring.”
Dorion's hands tightened at his sides. “How did she look then? Any different?”
“The same as last night at dinner and this morning,” Lore's voice stayed measured. “Blank. Staring forward. Not responding, just obeying whatever someone tells her to do, I guess you could say.”
Blocked in some way.
A shiver ripped through me. It wasn't hard to let my mind slip back to the time when I must've looked the same, after my father tried to drain everything vital inside me.
Lore's arm came around me before I realized I was shaking. He pulled me against his warmth, his fingertips tracing circles on my shoulder.
“A servant was leading her through the hall,” Lore said. “Telling her to hurry, that she didn't want to upsether.”
“Do you think the woman meant her mother?” Dorion asked.
I shrugged. “She didn't say who. But if she was speaking to Laphira, she must've assumed Laphira could hear and understand on some level.”
“There was more.” I met Dorion's eyes. “We saw a boy with her. About five years old.”
Dorion went rigid. “Her son from her?—”
“He had your eyes.”
“Fuck.” The word tore from his throat. “You’re sure?”
I shrugged. “Pale blue. I have no idea what color eyes her husband had.”
“Brown. I’d met him.” He shook his head. “All this time, and no one told me.”
“Could he be your child?” I asked.
His shoulders dropped. “There's a chance. I… We were together, but her mother was forcing her to marry her now-dead husband. We planned to run away, but my father threw me into the labyrinth before we could.”
“When the boy spoke to her,” Lore said, “pleaded with her, actually, she didn't respond.”
“Laphira is…” The pain in Dorion's eyes shocked through me. “This isn't her. She's a nice person. Not a bit like her mother. She takes after her father who died a few years before she and I met.” His lips twisted. “Some say Naveer was involved in that.”
“To take the throne,” Lore drawled. “I'm not surprised.”
That seemed to be a common theme in this part of the world.
