She blinked fast. “One of my assistants went with her.”
“Fully armed?”
All color fled her face. “No one would?—”
“She was poisoned!”
Her eyebrows lifted, and she wiggled her neck, loosening her spine. I was much taller, so she had to tilt her head back to meet my eyes. “I knew your mother, King Trewyn. We were good friends. You can stomp around this castle all you choose, except here, inmydomain. Go to her chambers and stop bothering me.” Her smile softened her words. “I’m happy for you, Trew. Your mother and father would be as well.”
“Thank you,” I said gruffly, my shoulders curling forward. “And thank you for taking good care of Isi.”
“She has lovely eyes. I’ve seen that color before.”
My breath caught.
“Of course, I won’t say a thing about it to anyone,” she added. “Your parents would still be proud.”
“After what happened?”
“Of course. Her mother was an amazing woman.”
With a nod, I left and took the stairs fast to Isi’s room, lifting my hand and rapping hard on her door.
No one answered, despite my waiting.
I knocked again.
Thunder cracked overhead, followed by a bright surge of lightning. The storm must be overhead.
She whimpered inside the room.
Fuck, someone was hurting her.
I unlocked the room and flung myself inside, finding Isi sitting on her bed, her hair damp tendrils around her shoulders, her face full of terror.
39
ISI
The thunder cracked so loud it rattled the windowpanes. I’d barely managed to wrap my hair with a towel and dress in a sleep shirt before thunder boomed overhead and a bolt of lightning lit the sky, painting the walls in a flicker of silver-white. My heart leapt against my ribs. Every muscle locked.
Another roll of thunder. Another flash. The storm was right overhead.
I flung myself from the bathing chamber, my towel dropping behind me, and leaped onto my bed, hugging my body, pressing my back against the headboard. My hands trembling so badly the quilt slipped from my fingers. The storm had come fast—an ambush of light and fury rolling in from the mountains.
I tried breathing through it. One breath, two. But the next lightning strike tore through the sky so bright it seared my vision, and I couldn’t hold back the choked sound that escaped me.
That was when the door crashed open.
I shrieked and flinched, throwing my arms over my head. For a moment, all I saw was the blaze of magic flooding the room.
“Isi,” Trew rasped. “It’s me.”
He froze on the threshold, thunder echoing between us. I knew he hadn’t meant to startle me but my whole body refused to listen to reason. My pulse pounded, my breathing coming too fast.
He eased the door closed and moved slowly toward me, one palm lifted.
“Minx,” he said, his voice as smooth as honey. “It’s just a storm.”
