Amaris lifted her head. “You don’t?”
“Why would I?” she growled low. “Shackled to a single person for the rest of my life isn’t exactly what I envision for my future.”
A twinge sharpened in Amaris’s chest. Was that how some people envisioned marriage? She thumbed the inside of her engagement ring. They may have had their disagreements, but Amaris wanted to be with Derek forever, or at least however long they could get in their lifetimes.
“Is that why you ran away?” Adelaide asked.
Amaris held her breath. It was a blow each time one of them mentioned it.
“No.” Amaris nibbled the edge of her lip.
“What’s his name?”
Amaris contemplated giving up her weakness, but if she was stuck here, then they likely couldn’t find him and use him against her. “Derek.”
“What an odd name.”
“What do you want out of life if marriage isn’t on the table?” Amaris brushed back her hair and leaned against the worktable. She missed the caress of his hands across her arms and the kiss of his lips on her neck.
“To fight.” Adelaide didn’t hesitate with Sephardi in the room as she drew her shoulders back. “I want to serve in the King’s Guard one day.”
“How can you?”
“That’s the problem,” she breathed. “I don’t know yet.”
A cough echoed in the tower and Amaris shot her gaze to the tower door.
Theodoric braced a hand on the frame, his cheeks flushed and sweat beading his brows. “What are you doing here?” His eyes settled on Adelaide.
“Leaving,” Adelaide threw at him without turning his way. She offeredAmaris a smirk before she ran past her brother down the steps.
Amaris folded her arms, raising an inquisitive eye. “What do you want?”
“I have a patient who needs your help.”
Finally.Before her feet even moved, her hands were already fussing with her hair to braid it out of her face. “Lead the way.”
“I must warn you, it’s scrying fever.”
Sephardi faltered with her shuffling papers and sighed.
“What’s scrying fever?” Amaris asked.
“I thought you were a mystique?” he snipped.
“I am”—Amaris bit her lip—“but it doesn’t mean I’ve heard of everything. What is it?”
“It’s a deadly fever that gives someone a haunting rash,” Sephardi said, her voice losing all its warmth.
“A fever and a rash?” Amaris raised a brow. “Doesn’t sound that deadly to me.”
“Hardly anyone has survived it. I know of one person,” Theodoric said.
Amaris gulped, her fingers slowing as they neared the end of her braid. “How contagious is it?”
“It killed over a hundred soldiers during the war.”
Amaris didn’t have masks, but she sure as hell wasn’t catching some deadly disease and dying before she got a chance to escape. She scanned the room and grabbed a few pieces of linen. Amaris began down the stairs, not bothering to wait for him. Jumping the last few steps, she took off at a quick pace through the library. She wrapped the linen around her neck and let it drape loosely over her chest.
