Or unwanted creatures,Thalia thought.
She shuddered, not able to push the image of the creature from her mind. Her collarbone had scabbed from where it’d dug its claws into her chest.
“Anything else?” Thalia said, focusing on him once again.
Cassius studied her. “The bathing chamber is through that door.” He pointed to a closed door at the back of the room. “And the kitchens are stocked if you get hungry.”
Thalia nodded.
Cassius opened and closed his mouth. “I’ll be back later.”
Thalia didn’t comment on his strange behavior. She was just grateful for the bathing chamber, which sported a porcelain claw-foot tub, set against a wide-paned window overlooking what must have been the manor’s back courtyard. An overgrown garden stretched before a small stone wall, and behind it was the glittering lake. The trees surrounding the lake didn’t look as ominous as the forests she’d been accustomed to in Vaccarium. In the distance, a snowcapped mountain poked through the overcast skyline.
Lorceium.
Thalia swallowed, not having realized how close they were to the mountain—to the ore that provided the humans their shot at surviving, and whatever other secrets the Mages and shifters held within its heart.
Thalia quickly bathed before digging in the armoire for something to wear. She didn’t know whose clothes lined the dresser, maybe Camilla’s, although the attire seemed less daring and dramatic than what the shifter normally wore.
Thalia grabbed a dressing gown, feeling that to be the safest option, given that the other dresses seemed too small for her to squeeze into. She pushed aside the thought that another woman she didn’t know about was part of the prince’s inner council. If there was some other female who was close to Cassius …
She tied the dressing gown tightly before she opened the door, slipping out of the room.
Despite the quietness of the old manor, Thalia didn’t feel the hair on the back of her neck rise as she moved through the halls, noting that the upper floor had only a few rooms. She moved down the stairs, glancing to her left and spotting a formal dining room. To the right, she found a small music room with a worn pianoforte, an equally small library, and a sitting room.
Thalia paused at the top of a small stairwell, which descended into the lower levels of the manor. She didn’t see much besides a solid oak door. But Cassius’s warning rang low in her head.Don’t go into the lower levels.
Part of her wanted to ignore his warning. But that other part, the part that didn’t actually want to fight with him, heeded his words, and she went to the very back of the house where the kitchen sat.
She grabbed an apple before pushing through the door into the back courtyard. A garden overflowing with ripe fruit and vegetables greeted her along with a small pen containing goats and chickens, the birds’ clucking making Thalia’s lip twitch. It was all peaceful. Surprisingly ordinary. A place she would never expect a royal to take refuge in.
Thalia wandered through the back gate, moving toward the glittering lake. The air was crisp, biting at her cheeks, but not cold enough for her to flee inside.
She stopped at the shores of the lake, the water lapping at her toes. Her feet sank into the soft mud, and she took a deep breath, letting the pine-scented air ground her.
Movement across the lake caught her eye.
Thalia’s gaze sharpened, trying to see what was flashing among the trees or if it was just a trick of the light reflecting off the waters of the lake.
Then, there—another flash of white.
Her throat dried, but she couldn’t quite seem to focus on whatever was at the tree line. Whatever it was, it didn’t move closer.
Thalia shivered, the wind picking up, and she hurried back into the manor, praying that whatever she’d seen in the forest was nothing more than a curious creature.
Chapter Thirty
Thalia had found a quiet library to read in until a noise had her lifting her head.
She glanced out the window.
The sky was beginning to darken, the strange clouds starting to disperse, indicating that the moon would rise and night would soon fall.
Perhaps Cassius and Keegan had returned from wherever they’d been off to. Thalia set her book down; the romance she’d found was too dramatic even for her taste, although Camilla might like it. The thought of the shifter sent a strange warmth through her chest.
Thalia wrapped her dressing gown tighter around herself, padding to the door. She poked her head into the hall, shadows starting to make tracks along the floor.
“Cassius?” she called, walking farther.
