Kairyn pulls back, but his helm is still focused on me. He’s deciding something. He’s lost his patience with me. Will this be the day I’m sent down to the Queen of the Below?
I drift my gaze past him to the schools of fish outside my window. I suppose I’ll come to miss even this tiny bit of light when I’m rotting beneath the surface. The brilliant colors swarm past the glass in frantic motions.
I blink. There’s something else out there, in the deep water. Not a fish.
A girl.
CHAPTER 6
Dayton
No light streams out of the tiny apartment window, but that doesn’t mean she’s not home. We keep the curtains drawn to attract less notice. Slowly, I enter.
She is here. My mate.
Wrenley’s smile broadens as I arrive, and she crosses to me, resting a hand on my arm. “Dayton, you’re back. I was worried about you. Well, I always worry about you, talking to all those people out there.”
“I’m all right,” I say, dropping my bag near the door and throwing off my cloak in such a way it causes her to move her hand from my arm.
The air hangs heavy with the scent of sea salt and mildew. The walls, once adorned with vibrant frescoes, are now cracked and peeling. Flickering oil lamps provide the only source of light, casting eerie shadows that dance across the floor.
The furnishings are sparse and worn. In one corner, a rudimentary hearth serves as the kitchen, backed by smoke-stained walls. Pots and pans hang haphazardly from hooks above. A rickety wooden table sits in the center of the room. Wrenley has piled it with items she’s pilfered from the Summer Palace. She returned to her job as an acolyte by claiming she was lost after the attack on Queen’s Reach Monastery. She’s been learning what she can from Kairyn, but it’s dangerous work.
“Good haul,” I say, raising a brow as I look upon the table, laden with bread, fruit, and a jug that might be wine.
Gods, I hope it’s wine.
She skips to it. “The fig bread is great with a little olive oil,and the grapes make the most satisfying crunch!” She picks up a grape and slowly brings it to her mouth before sinking a sharp canine into it. The juice spills over her full lips.
Despite being an acolyte, she knows how pretty she is, with her sapphire eyes and wavy brown hair. I often notice people’s lingering glances on her the few times we venture out together. It would be so much easier if I was the one who couldn’t look away.
“Makes me sick to think of Kairyn and his goons eating food grown by the very people he invaded.” I reach for the wine and pour a full glass into a wooden cup.
“Did you learn anything that could help today?” Wrenley asks.
I take my cup and saunter into the next room. This one has nothing but threadbare cushions scattered on the mosaic floor. That’s where the wolf sleeps. There are two narrow alcoves in the back of the apartment, containing nothing but drab sleeping quarters, simple cots with moth-eaten blankets. One is where Fare stayed all those months, and even though she could sleep in the palace, Wrenley sneaks out and spends most nights here with me.
“There’s been another sighting of Delphia,” I say.
I collapse down onto one of the cushions, and Wrenley sits down on the floor across from me, concern flicking over her features. “I hope she doesn’t try anything brash.”
I can’t help the smile that twinges at the corner of my lips. “Are you kidding me? Being brash is in my sister’s blood.”
“But if a High Prince doesn’t stand a chance against Kairyn, what chance does a little girl have?”
“Delphie’s stronger than she looks.”
“Aren’t you worried?”
“Of course I’m worried. There’s still no news on Rosie. Farron’s been gone for weeks. I thought for sure Kel or Ez would have sent word by now, but we haven’t seen or heard anything from them. Fuck, I’d even welcome a visit from Cas if he’d tell us something useful.”
“And I’m working at Soltide Keep. If Kairyn discovers—”
Shit, I probably should have mentioned her too. “Of course, and you. I don’t know how you do it, serving that monster every day.”
“I have a lot of experience serving monsters.”
Right. Before Kairyn dispatched the High Clerics, Wrenley served them in Queen’s Reach Monastery. That was before theNightingale kidnapped Rosalina, and Ezryn painted the monastery red getting her back.
