I tilted my head, meeting his gaze full-on. “Now?”
The corner of his mouth curved, but he didn’t answer, which said plenty.
We left the training area and walked toward my chambers, the sound of our boots echoing off the stone wall. Gavelle glided low over our heads before landing on a stone jutting from the wall higher up, watching our approach.
Pherin chirped, tiny and absurd, yet somehow looking ready to take on the entire world.
Trew glanced at her, then me, and his smirk softened into something that made my chest feel…complicated.
For once, I didn’t push the feeling away.
Maybe Iwasready to burn.
43
ISI
Evening bled into my chambers in streaks of rose and gold, the sun slipping low enough to paint the stone with warmth. Torches flickered in the draft from the window, their light sliding over my gown strewn across the bed.
The air smelled faintly of citrus oil and the sharper tang of warmed metal from the curling tongs resting on my bureau.
Lexie didn’t knock so much as tap once before sweeping in like she’d been born to command rooms. She was already dressed in the yellow gown she’d mentioned, the one that spun her warm brown skin into gold and her eyes into molten honey. A goblet of wine swung from her fingers, and she smiled like someone who knew a secret.
“Well,” she said, letting her gaze drift deliberately from my bare shoulders to my stockinged feet. I’d just gotten out of my bath, my damp hair hung down my back, and I wore only my sleepshirt shirt. “You’re about to cause an inter-court incident.”
I tilted my head. “I’m not even dressed.”
“That’s not what I meant.” She crossed to my bed and shifted mygown to the side before flopping onto the surface, somehow not spilling even a drop of wine. “You’ve got that look—half lethal to all the men and women in the ballroom, and half ready to bolt. People go wild for it.”
Before I could reply, Kerralyn arrived with her usual composure, balancing a small, polished box under one arm and a stack of books under the other. She also wore a gown, a gorgeous creation in soft rose that molded to her figure and brought out the color in her cheeks.
“I wasn’t going to attend,” she said, setting her books neatly on my desk. “But Lexie talked me into it.”
Lexie took a sip of wine, then toasted us both with it. “You think I’m letting you hide with your books while we dance until our feet ache? Besides, you said you wanted to learn some tricks with hair.”
Kerralyn reached up to touch where she’d bunched her hair up at her nape. “I do need help with this mess.”
“You’re also the only one besides me who can make Isi admit she wants the king to look at her tonight.”
Heat pricked my ears. “He’s going to look at everyone tonight. It’s a ball.”
And yet,a treacherous part of me whispered,you know the way his gaze finds you as if you’re the only one in the room.
I told that part of me to shut up, but it only grinned like it knew better.
“I’m sure he’ll scan the crowd,” Lexie said. “But not after he sees you.”
Kerralyn set the polished box on my desk and lifted the lid, exposing rows of jeweled hair combs and pins. I took a peek, admiring the ones with delicate leaves and blossoms, some tipped in green stones that matched my gown.
“I borrowed these from Nia,” she said.
My eyebrows shot up. “Nia doesn’t seem like the type to bother with her hair.”
“Which is why she’s happy to loan them,” Kerralyn said. “They were in her room when it was assigned to her. She happened to mention them when we…” Color rose into her face.
“When you what?” Lexie cast her a sly look.
Kerralyn huffed. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
