“We’ll have dinner delivered to each as well,” he said, inclining his head and disappearing down a corridor.
“Sir Ganforth is the caretaker,” Blake said. “He manages the staff. They are much busier when the alliance is in session.”
I thought about chiding Blake for asking for two rooms but I was too fascinated. It was as if this place had a life of its own. My everi was humming again, no doubt responding to the veins of everi flowing within this tower.
“Is it normal for this place to be so empty?” I whispered, nervous to speak too loudly.
“This place is a haven for mages traveling from the rift,” Blake said. “It is equipped by all three kingdoms of the alliance to provide ample protection and recovery. There are more staff here than you will see. Come. We must rest if we are to go south tomorrow.”
I continued to absorb the rich warmth of the hall as Blake led us to a grand stairway. "Shall we?"
I breathed in a final breath of the fragrantly burning logs and followed him up.
We reached a darkened corridor where the torches burst to life, pair by pair, down its length. Apprehension danced on my skin. The gravity of where I was, and what it meant, was beginning to form roots in my mind.
I was in another world.
Somewhere, far, far away from Earth, my home, and everything that I knew. I was on another planet, in a different galaxy and completely and utterly dependent on the man who was holding me upright with his power.
Was this a dream? It was so vivid. My body shook with fear, or excitement, I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that I was most terrified of waking up, because whatever this was, I never wanted it to end.
I wanted to stay wrapped in his warmth forever.
With every step, I feared that moment when I would no longer have his presence nearby.
I swallowed.
Stop it.
This wasn’t a dream and Blake wasn’t going anywhere.
I shoved down the distracting thought.
I squeezed his hand and let my everi lace itself into Blake’s. It heated my blood from within, urging me forward until we stopped outside of two large wooden doors.
It opened upon Blake’s presence without him uttering a single word.
“This is where I stay when I am here,” he said.
Of course he had his own room.
Prince…
That was still hard to process.
He led me into a large, rounded room. A hearth was burning within, shadows dancing along candlelit sconces. A curved staircase with wrought-iron railing led to a loft above. I moved toward it, yearning to see what was up there, but a shifting movement drew my gaze.
Silken curtains wafted in a breeze before floor-to-ceiling windows. Beyond them was a view of this foreign land’s beauty draped in the darkness.
Blake was at my side, looking out into the landscape.
“Do not let it fool you,” he murmured. “This land is cursed.”
He shifted and moved away, my gaze trailing after him.
“Cursed? You mean from the Fall of the Great City?” I asked.
The Cursed Realm.
