I find myself in front of his room, glaring at the doors as if they alone are responsible for my presence. I should have asked Media if she knew about the general’s tea before she’d fallen asleep. I don’t want to owe this male anything.
I tell myself that the bundles in my pocket should suffice, but there is no guarantee the tonic will continue to work. I cannot risk my demon revealing itself. And if between Kishek’s brew and the general’s, I can prevent my terrors, it will have been well worth my time to gather as much as I am able.
A light set of steps in the corridor behind me brings Riesh to my side.
“Are you going to knock?” he asks with an amused smile.
“I’m not sure,” I admit.
Riesh laughs under his breath. “He isn’t in there anyway. Is it something I can help you with?”
I cross my arms and eye the male, half relieved and half irritated that the general isn’t here when I say, “I was hoping to get a recipe from him. Fora sleeping draught he made me once.”
Riesh smiles wryly and I suspect that unlike his sister, he knows the truth of what happened the night the general drugged me at the cottage.
“I know the one,” he says, “but it isn’t easy to come by. I’ll send for the herbs, but it may take a week or two for them to arrive.”
“A week?” I groan.
“Or two,” he adds. “I’ll have some ordered. There is always a chance they will arrive sooner.”
I thank him and begin to debate sneaking out my window and sleeping under the stars, but I remind myself that the general somehow knew I left last time. Something I’m sure to avoid in the future with a little more caution on my part.
“Sera tells me you spent time with Media today,” Riesh says, “Thank you for doing that. She’s had a hard time getting around the last few years. She will never admit it, but I think she gets a little lonely sometimes. I try to visit every day, but it isn’t always possible.”
“She has her family,” I reassure him.
He shakes his head. “She has Sera. Her husband and three of their children died during the war.”
I don’t have to ask which side they fought on. I never imagined humans, let alone those born on La’tari soil, killing their own at the behest of the feyn. I pity the woman for her delusion that the feyn saved her, when all they really did was corrupt her mind until she was willing to watch her loved ones die for their cause.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I say.
He dips his head and excuses himself to put in my request for the tea with the palace courier. I hadn’t had a chance to ask Media what happened to his father, but I assume by his absence, Riesh and Awri lost him to the war as well.
By the time I make it back to my chamber and sip down one of Kishek’s teas, I’ve made up my mind to risk spending the night in my bed. There is no sign of the demon that plagues me or the lingering darkness that accompanies it.
Eon continues my lessons in sprite as Tig runs a comb throughmy hair. Now that I’ve expressed an interest, the sprite seems determined to have me fluent in the breathy language before long and isn’t shy about correcting my pronunciation, which I gather is unsurprisingly poor. I’m not sure mortal tongues were meant to craft the words of the fea, at least not those of the sprites.
Tig slips me into one of the short gossamer sleeping gowns, and I slide the letter opener from the pocket of my leathers and under my pillow when I lay down. It’s a far cry from my obsidian daggers, and I miss every nick and groove etched into my memory as I grasp the cool, smooth metal of the foreign hilt.
Tomorrow will be a day for exploring the options that remain beyond my lost pouch of herbs and the teas. Experience tells me that it is only a matter of time before my demon begins to grow restless.
CHAPTER 19
THE A’KORI PALACE
Present Day
I’m surprised when the light of dawn breaks the horizon, and I wake with no sign of my demon. Awri arrives early, dark circles beneath her eyes, much like the ones darkening Kishek’s of late. Despite her appearance she is her normal exuberant self, bouncing on the balls of her feet with a grin as she makes her announcement.
“The chef requested a boar for the party. It’s tradition for the king to hunt and supply an animal for the feast. As he is not here, I thought you might like to join me for the privilege.”
She watches me light up, her smile growing to match the one of pure delight firmly fixed upon my face. It’s been too long since I’ve held a weapon, too long since I’ve had a chance to exercise my skills. And it feels like a lazy stretch after a deep battle worn sleep when I run to my closet and pull on my leathers. Slipping on the darkest of my grey dresses, dark enough to blend with the shadows below the forest canopy, I tie the silk panels below my hip where the fabric will not interfere with the movement of my legs.
Awri’s eyes flick down to my leathers the moment I round the cornerfrom the washroom into my chambers, my dark cloak billowing out behind me.
“Where did you get those?” she asks curiously.
