The cottage had been burned down because of my relationship with Kythel. Of that, I was certain. And I couldn’t help but remember Lesana’s threat that night in her office when she’d slapped me, when she’d lied to me about Grace, and when she’d threatened me.
Don’t cross me—or House Arada—again. You won’t like the consequences,she’d told me.
I hadn’t even told Kythel of my suspicions about who was responsible. But the more I thought about it, the more certain I was.
“Whoever it was, too bad they didn’t realize that Kythel had dumped me before the fire,” I tried to joke, though the words landed hollow and dull. “It’ll take a lot to rebuild.”
“And you’re living at the keep now? With him?” she asked.
“Yes, but…” I trailed off. “I’m going to live in Erzan Inn, I’ve decided.” Grace made a face. “I was heading there before we stumbled across one another.”
“Gods, why would you want to live there?” she asked. But she knew—because it was cheap. Out of everyone at RaanaDyaan, I thought that Grace understood best about worrying over every credit. “No, you’ll live here with me. And I won’t charge you a single credit, if you promise to cook me dinner every now and again. I miss your fruit pastries. The ones you made for my birthday.”
I straightened in my chair. “Grace, I couldn’t impose on you like that.”
“Nonsense,” she said. “If you’re worried about my, um, clients, they don’t come here. I go to their residence for all feedings, and I usually stay the night when they request me. You’ll have time to yourself—it’s only me, and I have another bedroom.”
Longing went through me. Hope too.
“You can stay as long as you need,” she assured me.
Tears pooled in my eyes, her generosity and kindness making me feel even worse for having thought the worst of her.
“Don’t,” she said, rising from her window seat, as if reading my mind. She took the chair next to me, taking my hand—mygoodhand. Outside the window, I watched Kelan walk through the meadow, waiting for me. “Don’t, Millie.”
“She knew about the letters,” I tried to explain again. “Do you think she went through my belongings when I wasn’t there?”
“One of the reasons why I left,” Grace said quietly, “was because I believed she was spying into the private rooms. Bugging them with tracker scouts. And you know she had that window in the storage room, the one that looked into the lounge.”
“Tracker scouts?” I asked, knowing I’d overheard a conversation with Kythel and Azur about them.
“Vraad was being threatened,” Grace told me.
“He was?” I asked, my brow furrowing.
“He got a letter delivered to his residence. In it, they said they would tell his wife about me, about what really went on between us in the feeding rooms. It made me think that whoever was watching didn’t track us all the time because then they would’ve known that Lynara and I were intimate too. Nevertheless, he was threatened. They demanded credits. He never paid because it wasn’t an issue. No one ever contacted Lynara, and we all had quite a laugh over it. But someone knew what was happening at RaanaDyaan.”
“I didn’t tell her about Vraad, I swear,” I said, wondering if she thought it had been me.
“No, I know. I know you wouldn’t,” Grace said. “I never thought it was you. But I do think Lesana was responsible. And if what you said is true about Kythel’s involvement with House Arada, then I wouldn’t be surprised if they were the ones responsible for the fire. They had everything to gain if you…disappeared.”
My chest tightened, but I nodded. I’d come to the same conclusion myself. To think that a person could so easily attempt to murder someone, to burn them to death…it made me sick to my stomach.
“Do you think he knows?” Grace asked.
“It’s possible,” I said, lifting my shoulder in a small shrug. “Which puts him in a difficult position, considering he’s still planning to marry Lyris.”
“He’s not,” she said, her tone dry. “You cannot believe that, Millie. Not after what youareto him.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore what I am to him,” I said, hating the defeat I heard in my tone. “I’m just trying to move on.”
Grace was silent momentarily.
“You don’t think there’s a chance that you’ll find your way back to one another?” she asked gently.
“You’ve always been a romantic, Grace,” I said, giving her a sad, soft smile. “But no. He puts his duty before everything. He serves his people and his family before all else. Me? I’m only a distraction, an obstacle in his way. And maybe it’s selfish, but I don’t think I can be with someone like that. I don’t want to always feel like I come last to him.”
“That’s not true,” she told me. Her hand tightened on my hand.
