Adelaide relinquished the death grip she had on her sheets, her eyes finding Amaris’s in the vanity mirror. “You mean leave Luana Bay?”
“Why not? Come with me, and then maybe Esaias won’t have to risk leaving. You could be a soldier in the King’s Guard or somewhere else.” Amaris held her tongue. If she decided to leave with her, they’d have a long enough journey where she’d eventually find a way to tell her where she was from.
“I can’t.” The few silver specks around Adelaide’s irises fizzled out. “I just got him back. I can’t leave.”
“Theodoric?” His name came out in a whisper.
Adelaide nodded. “I’ve missed him so much, but he’s changed. After his flogging and learning what happened to him.” Adelaide paused, taking a steady breath. “I want to help him find himself again.” She reached for her makeup, pressing her finger to the red pigment and brushing it along Amaris’s lips and cheeks. A black paste was used for mascara as Adelaide dragged it over her lashes. “All done,” she uttered, a dead cadence in her tone.
“It takes time.” Amaris inhaled a deep breath as Adelaide threw her makeup into the drawer. “What he went through, people can learn to live with it, make sense of it all, but he needs time.”
“I hope you’re right,” she choked, grasping Amaris’s hand and heaving her up. “But in the meantime, I need to be here for him. He’s spent much of his life protecting and taking care of others. I think it’s time someone else stepped up and showed him the same gratitude.”
Adelaide turned to her wardrobe and pulled out a pair of silk flats. Their connection had Amaris wishing she had siblings. If her parents had lived, would they have wanted more kids? Viv was the closest thing Amaris had to a sister. She wouldn’t know where she’d be without her. She’d hopefully still be a paramedic, but would she have been brave enough to take the lieutenant’s test? Would she have even passed the academy to become a firefighter?
Adelaide stepped in front of her mirror, fussing with her dress to cover the knives. She was willing to sacrifice what she wanted most in the world for her brother. Amaris bit the edge of her thumb. If she left, she’d never see any of them again. No more conversations about books and magic with Pricilla, gossip sessions with Adelaide, or teasing Theodoric over his love for erotic novels.
She stood behind Adelaide, catching a glimpse of herself in the full-length mirror. If she stayed, she’d be a prisoner. But if she returned home, wouldn’t she still be a prisoner trapped in a relationship she didn’t know what to do with anymore?
Chapter 31
Theo
Theo rapped uponAdelaide’s door. Immediately, he noticed the scandalous nature of her dress and threw his sister a disapproving glower. Her intentions were likely to enrage their father, but Theo’s eyes were lured to Amaris swishing her dress before the mirror. All matters of Adelaide’s dress left his mind.
Their eyes locked in the mirror, and Theo could have sworn his heart stopped. She was beautiful. His instinct to suppress the feeling in his chest arose, but he compelled himself to allow it to grow. His dagger was strapped to his belt, but his hand didn’t tremble or shift to grab the hilt. No, a warmth spread through him. He even smiled back at her.
The kohl around her eyes enlightened their deep, oceanic color. In all his travels through the Nebulous Sea, he’d never seen a blue so incredibly enchanting.
Amaris strode toward him, hands swinging and brushing the bouncy fabric of her dress. Tulle poured from her waist, wrapping her in an exhibition of elegance. She exchanged his assessment as her eyes drifted over his own appearance, his golden waistcoat fashioned from silkimported from Soyenia and his navy frock coat. But her eyes stopped on the brass buttons and the Fastrada crest etched into each one.
Before Theo could speak, Esaias stepped out from behind him. His cousin had chosen a dark-green frock coat with golden buttons and a crimson waistcoat to match the roses sewn into Amaris’s dress.
“Amaris, you’re breathtaking,” Esaias said, attempting to further deepen his voice.
Theo rolled his eyes. Nearly every woman sought Esaias’s affections, but not Amaris. The humor of it all was the only thing keeping him from dismissing his own escort and spending the evening with Amaris in the center of the ballroom. The last few hours he’d likely ever see her.
“I could punch you in the gut and further cease your efforts to breathe.” Amaris smirked.
The pang of never hearing another one of her quips would be unbearable. He’d gotten used to her jokes and the whistling laugh she belted through the echoing tower.
“You can put your hands anywhere you like.” Esaias’s smug grin was malicious.
“How in the realm did I get stuck with you? And green, really?” Amaris asked.
Esaias patted down his coat, as if assessing for tears or stains. “What’s wrong with green?”
“Nothing for you, apparently, but it washes me out.”
“I don’t think anything could wash out that beautiful face, but if you’re worried, I have this for you.”
Esaias pulled out a red mask with feathers accentuating the corners. Theo’s gut writhed as Esaias fixed the mask to her face, covering every bit of Amaris’s beauty. It hid the spiraling curls around her crown and shadowed her eyes.
“Can you tell it’s me?” She smiled, revealing the two things left to be desired, her rose-tinted lips and thatsingle dimple.
“Hardly,” Theo said, fastening his own mask. He’d elected for a partial one to cover only a quarter of his face, so as not to be mistaken. If their plan was to work, he needed to be seen often and by many eyes during the event. His father would look to him as the first suspect when Amaris turned up missing the next morning.
Esaias’s mask was a replica of Amaris’s, and Adelaide fastened on an angling black mask fashioned to appear fractured. Dark gemstones reflected around the single string of rubies depicting a line of blood slashing across her face.
