Liana used toplay a little game every time Amron was surrounded by people—which was often, because they naturally gathered around him, pleading, gossiping, demanding. She, always annoyed by the yapping crowds, would move out of earshot, retreat into the shadows, and watch him.
She’d imagine he wasn’t hers, imagine he didn’t know her: He was just a haughty prince in his palace, dispersing favors left and right, soaking in adoration, diluting malice, solving petty disputes. She watched his face, the way he looked straight at the people who spoke to him, the way he smiled at pretty women as they flocked like colorful birds. Her heart would tremble, theache and the desire spreading through her chest, filling her with bittersweet longing.
Surrounded by people, he was as distant as a bright star in the sky. If she were a stranger to him, he would never find her in the crowd. But she would want him just the same: She’d stalk him like an infatuated shadow, glued to his heels, watching him as he moved, her fingers itching for a touch, her heart fluttering at the sight of his face.
She could keep it up for hours, letting the flowers of jealousy bloom like black dahlias in her heart, envying every woman, every charming man who brought the spark of animation to his face, who was awarded a brief flash of Amron’s smile, his warm touch.
She’d push herself to the edge of despair, thinking how easy it would be to lose him. One day, the crowd would pull him like a strong current, drag him away from her, and she’d never be able to reach him again.
And then, just as she was ready to work herself into a frenzy, he’d stand on his toes, scanning the room. His eyes would find her, a mischievous smile would crack his princely mask, and he would wink at her above the heads of the crowd.
In an instant, he would be hers again.
• • •
Like a wetleaf sticking to the glass, Liana remained at the window until the buzz of the palace reminded her that someone might spot her on the balcony. Numb and clumsy, she retraced her steps through the rooms and corridors, down the stairs, and into the courtyard.
Amron was married.
She’d forgotten about Melia, she’d forgotten about that Elmarran snake Amron had been married to. In all their yearstogether, Amron had never mentioned her, and why would he? It was an arranged marriage that fell apart when her father betrayed the king, and she disappeared from the kingdom forever. Liana had never found out if Melia was dead or alive and she’d never cared to ask. She was irrelevant, Amron had never loved her.
But she was not irrelevant now.
Paying no attention to the servants and clerks rushing around her, Liana walked out of the palace. Amron had never touched another woman behind her back, not when they flattered him at court, trying to sneak into his bed, not on the long journeys across the realm without Liana, when any kind of solace would have been welcome. He wasn’t the unfaithful kind, he’d seen too much intrigue and drama in his everyday duties to seek them in his private moments, and his validation never sprang from what he did between the sheets.
He’s twenty-three, you idiot.
It was entirely possible that he was a different person here, now.
Music floated in the morning air, a lively tune that wrapped itself around her ankles, inviting her to dance. The smell of food made her stomach churn: grilled meat, fresh bread, spices and herbs, fried fish and mussels with garlic and parsley. Someone tried to push a cup of wine into her hand, taking pity on her gloomy face.
She let the stream of people carry her forward, down the streets where she knew every stone, and yet where every detail she sought looked different. Very different. Enchanting scenes built of canvas and wood stood in the squares and on the street corners. Dramatic mountain landscapes of the north, the high towers of Myrit, the royal palace in Amraith laying like a bejeweled dragon beside the deep blue lake. It was like a walk around the kingdom and every turn revealed somethingnew and breathtaking. It was as if every corner of the city, every street, every neighborhood tried to outmatch the next one. The whole city shone, bathed in the morning sunlight. Not even the narrowest alley, the humblest little passage, remained unscrubbed and unlit.
Liana’s mind felt fuzzy and slow, but even the thick fog of shock couldn’t hide that something important was happening. It dawned on Liana that she’d never seen Abia quite so pretty and festive.
“What’s this all about?” she asked a woman selling fried fish on a street corner.
The woman gave her a strange look. “Which rock have you been living under, girl? It’s the royal wedding. Our prince is getting married tomorrow.”
The royal wedding?
Liana stopped dead in her tracks. Someone ran into her from behind and almost knocked her off her feet. “I’m so sorry,” she muttered, moving out of the way.
Thewedding!
Liana bit back a frustrated whimper, breaking out in cold sweat. Her memory was skewed, fragmented, and it wasn’t the shock of seeing Amron with Melia, no. Liana could recognize a divine trick when she saw it.
The wedding had been a doorway to chaos, the start of a war that shattered the kingdom. She couldn’t linger here, in this facsimile of the past, and wait for the bloodshed. She had to make Amron kiss her and get him out of here.
That was the reason the gods had sent her here, wasn’t it?
She found a quiet alley where no one sang or tried to sell her beer and sat on a low stone ledge. Then she took off her medallion and held it dangling before her eyes. The silver oval caught the light, sharp and bright, impervious to magic, helping her tell memory from illusion.
Remember, she commanded.
• • •
Liana sifted throughher memories. She had begged her mother in the heart of the divine forest to lead her to Perun. Grudgingly, for an extortionate price, Lela agreed.
