Letting the blanket drape down my shoulders, I reach forward and pluck the parchment off the table. I open the desk drawer, find a pottle of glue, and use the stubby brush attached to the lid’s underside to swipe across the back of Rhordyn’s drawing.
Casting my gaze on the map that dominates the wall, I trace the streets like the threads of my thoughts—knotting, intertwining, clashing. Following the steps I took to get here.
From the moment I boarded that ship, I fumbled through the world like a newborn foal. I fed on freedoms that went against the grain of everything I’d hoped to achieve. I was sightless, gullible,impulsive.
I promised so much and gave so little, then I tried to bow out.
No wonder Zali slapped me so hard.
I’m a selfish person with no shoes and no sense of the world, leaving a trail of destruction, self-detonating because my own actionshurt.
My stomach roils, the vision before me becoming smudged from unshed tears.
This mirror … It’s relentless.Sickening.
Sobering.
I look at the drawing again—unfinished, just like the story ofus. A tear streaks down my cheek as I set the parchment on the wall in its rightful place and pat down the edges.
Living a cloistered life has led me to be so easily swayed, whether by Rhordyn’s silence or Cainon’s noise. But it’s time I learned to think for myself.
It’s time I grew up.
Another chill slips through me, making my teeth chatter, but I clamp them down, dash the tear from my cheek, and continue to trace the streets—a skeletal web beneath the busy world above.
I stretch my instincts, trying to see if any of them ache when I give them a firm tug.
There is no voice telling me to run. Nothing screams for me to turn my back and take the easy route. Instead, something’s niggling at me. Urging my gaze to chase the tunnel that dips beneath the palace before threading across the bay.
“I need to go back,” I murmur, wondering if that’s the tunnel I’ll eventually break into once I crack through the wall in the tapestry hall. “Keep Cainon occupied while you continue Rhordyn’s hunt for the ships. There’s a bunch of men downstairs he smuggled into the city who can sail them once they’ve been secured—”
“Orlaith, no.”
I spin my chair, clashing with Zali’s wary stare. “Are you in a rush to get back to your territory? If you need to go, that’s fine. I can come up with another plan.”
Her eyes harden. “My regent is more than capable of watching over my people while I work to secure their future. That’s not my concern.”
I’m pushing tendrils of hair off my face when her gaze drifts to the burn on the inside of my wrist, now a popped, weeping wound of angry, raised flesh.
I smother it with my hand.
“I made a promise,” I bite out. “I have to follow through. It’s the only way we can secure the ships without inciting a territory war we both know will cost Rouste and Ocruth dearly.”
She stalks forward, slamming her hand on the desk. “You’re willing to give yourself to a man who bartered to possess you?Really?”
My cheeks flame.
She shakes her head, upper lip trembling, eyes glazed with unshed emotion. “No,” she snarls. “Get your teeth out. Bring him to his fucking knees if you have to.Anythingis better than going back to that man and offering yourself on a golden platter. Pretending to behiswhen we both know you’re not.”
The words stab that raw, tender wound, making me want to buckle around it.
Don’t cry.
“You said Ocruth is mine,” I rasp. “That implies it’s mine to protect in any way I see fit.”
A clipped nod. “Correct. But you’re in a boa den, Orlaith. You’re one wrong move away from gettingbitten.”
She slams the statement down like a stake, making me flinch.
