“He speaks of you constantly,” Cecily said, directing her words at Gareth with an intensity that seemed oddly intimate. “You’re all he thinks about. The way you escaped. The way you’ve built this place back up from nothing. It torments him.” She leaned forward. “He won’t stop until one of you is dead.”
That much is true,Gareth signed.
“So you believe me?” Cecily’s face lit with hope. “You’ll let me stay? Please, my lord—I can’t go back. If he finds out I’ve betrayed him?—”
She started crying again, pretty crystalline tears sliding down her cheeks.
Gareth exchanged a glance with Miles.You may stay. We will arrange quarters with the other refugees.
“Oh, thank you!” Cecily was on her feet, crossing to Gareth before anyone could stop her, throwing herself against his chestwith enthusiastic gratitude. “Thank you, my lord! I won’t let you down, I swear it!”
Elodie turned and walked out.
She told herself it was practical. The solar was crowded, the information had been delivered, and there was work to be done helping the refugees settle in for another night. Her departure had nothing to do with the sight of Cecily pressed against Gareth’s chest, her golden hair brushing his jaw.
Nothing at all.
She was supervising the distribution of evening rations when Cecily found her.
The great hall was warm with firelight and the press of bodies, refugees and servants alike seeking comfort from the autumn cold. Outside, the wind had picked up, rattling the shutters and sending dead leaves skittering across the courtyard like restless spirits. October. More than five months since she’d fallen through time, and still no way to go back to her own time.
“Lady Elodie, is it?” The girl appeared at her elbow, all sunshine smiles and wide blue eyes. “The servants speak so highly of you. They say you’ve been wonderful with the refugees.”
“I’m just helping where I can.” Elodie kept her voice neutral, her attention on the queue of hungry people.
“Still, it’s kind. Especially for someone in your position.”
“My position?”
“As a guest. A stranger.” Cecily’s smile didn’t waver, but something sharp flickered behind her eyes. “It must be difficult being so far from home. Not knowing if you’ll ever return.”
Elodie’s hands stilled on the bread basket.
“The servants talk, you know,” Cecily continued, her voice dropping to a confidential murmur. “They say you appeared in a flash of lightning. That you’re one of the fair folk, come to walk among mortals.” She laughed, light and musical. “Suchwonderful stories! I do hope they’re true. It would be terrible if something happened to you and you had nowhere to go.”
The threat was wrapped in silk, but it was a threat, nonetheless. Elodie met the girl’s gaze squarely.
“I appreciate your concern for my wellbeing,” she said, her voice flat. “But you needn’t worry. I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
Something flickered across Cecily’s pretty face, surprise, maybe, or a quick recalculation. Then the sunshine smile returned, twice as bright.
“Of course you are! I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. We displaced women must stick together, mustn’t we?” She squeezed Elodie’s arm with false warmth. “I do hope we can be friends.”
She drifted away into the crowd, leaving Elodie with a cold knot of certainty settling in her stomach.
“Something is very wrong with that girl,” she muttered under her breath.
Elodie foundGareth in the armory after the evening meal, checking weapons and armor with the meticulous attention of a man preparing for war. The forge fires had banked for the night, leaving the space lit only by a few scattered torches that turned his profile to gold and shadow.
“We need to talk about Cecily.”
He looked up, his expression shifting from focused intensity to something softer when he saw her. He signed.You do not like her.
“It’s not about liking. There’s something off about her story. The timing, the details—” She shook her head. “She knew thingsabout me. Personal things. She implied that I’m vulnerable, that something might ‘happen’ to me.”
Gareth’s expression hardened.She threatened you?
“Not directly. She’s too clever for that. But the message was clear.” Elodie crossed her arms, pacing in the confined space. “Think about it. She shows up out of nowhere, claiming to have escaped from Dunharrow with perfectly actionable intelligence. She throws herself at you, makes herself indispensable, gets inside your defenses?—”
