She shoved my hand away. “Just because you are never getting Riyan back did not mean you had to take me away frommyhusband!”
She pushed past me, but I matched her fire with my own. “Annalisa, Iwillget him back, but why are you angry—?”
Annalisa was nearly at the door before she turned and threw down her fists at her sides. “No! No matter what you and Brietta do, Derrick will never let go of Fraleigh, he will never sign a reformation, and nothing willeverchange!”
My white flame blazed. “I will force him, I am powerful enough to—!”
But her watering eyes quieted the flame around my heart. She shook her head, as if no power in the world could chase away the storm in her mind. “We were never lionesses…we were just crazy like my mother.”
She opened her door but paused for a heartbeat. “And we were doomed like my grandmother.”
She slammed the door. My white flame intensified with every pound of my heart.
I could have found Derrick and forced him to bend to my will, but my heart’s desire did not lead me toward wrath.
Though the pull around the diamond in my heart went against all logic and sense, I chose to trust it.
I left Annalisa’s room and pushed open the doors with the carved bulls. The panel in the northern wall was already open.
Riyan was my reason for starting this journey, maybe that was where my heart’s desire was leading me.
I walked toward the northern wall when the air tightened around my neck and stopped me. I looked down as the magic in the air strangled me. I was in the same spot on the floor that had pulled my eyes earlier.
My white flame flared around my heart, pouring power in my veins. What about this spot was so important that my magic directed me to it?
Then I caught a sparkle of white light in the corner of my eye. On the Duke’s bed, Ilsa’s Nordingaard crystal flared white light through the blankets. The air around me was sticky, saturated with magic and memories.
I swallowed as I stared, and every question I had led to one answer.
Ilsa.
I turned toward the Duke’s bed, ready to unlock the truth beneath Ilsa’s Nordingaard crystal, when the sight of a maid holding a silver tray made me freeze.
My heart pounded in my ears as our eyes met. Her eyes widened as she gripped the tea tray in her hands.
“Pardon me, Miss Hyton,” she said with a dip of her head. “This is for His Excellency’s afternoon tea.”
I held my breath. She was looking at me, not the bed—she did not see the glowing crystal beneath the blankets.
I gave her a tight smile and took the tray from her, trying not to appear too eager for her to leave. Derrick would be back to his chambers for tea soon. I did not have much time to search through Ilsa’s memories.
The silver tray rattled as I set it on a low table. Steam softly curled out of the teapot’s spout and tickled my nose.
Smelled perfectly brewed…and I had not refreshed myself in a while.
I poured myself half a cup and tasted it. The sweet taste coated my tongue and I hummed in delight as it ran down my throat. Rosaline definitely did not brew it.
I set the cup on its saucer with a clatter and jumped back into the large bed. I fished Ilsa’s crystal from under the blankets and poured my magic into it.
Show me how I can fix what is broken.
The soft beating of white wings carried me into a memory of the Duchess’s bedroom and placed me on a couch next to Ilsa. The pleasant scent of freshly-cut flowers filled the room. Ilsa’s Nordingaard crystal dangled from her neck as she traced the leather cover of the book in her lap.
A young maid with curly chestnut hair opened the bedroom door. Her eyes were wide as tea saucers. Ilsa’s eyebrows raised at the rhythm of her footsteps.
“Oh, Merri, Baron Thornebow sent me another book!” Ilsa said with a smile. “The cover has the most delicious design worked into the leather, but could you read it to me?”
Merri took the book and flipped open the cover and her face went white. I stood and looked over Merri’s shoulder. On the front page read: “Run away with me, Ilsa. I understand you like he never did.”
