Merri politely dipped her head and walked over to the tub. I obligingly lifted my wet hands out of the water and placed them both around the warm cup. Inside was what looked like cream with flecks of brown dust on top.
Soft steam tickled the bottom of my nose. The promised taste was tantalizing, but I was not foolish enough to drink it—not with both Freya and Brietta watching me like a pair of eagles.
Freya scoffed. “You will knock back faerie wine but worry about this?”
She snatched the cup out of my hands and took a drink. She handed the cup back to me while pointedly licking the cream off her top lip.
She might have been a drunk lunatic, but the Duchess of Lycaster would not willingly poison herself. I lifted the cup to my lips and swallowed.
Every part of my body from my lips to my chest was suddenly warm—like I was getting a hug from my mother. I savored every moment of it until I was sucking the dregs from the edge of the cup.
“What a good girl,” Duchess Hyton said with a smile as I lowered the cup. “Good to see someone else enjoys my little invention.”
I licked my lips, searching for any remaining drop of cream or tingle of spice. “Invention?”
“The heaviest of cream,” she replied wistfully. “A Meadowshyre spice blend. And the secret—hunter’s root. Ground so finely that you cannot taste it, but enough of the hearty root to fill you up.”
I smiled. Hunter’s root was all over the forests in Ravenwood. Our cook who was fond of spirits after dinner once revealed that my mother had ordered her to mix hunter’s root in my porridge every morning because she was concerned with how scrawny and small I was.
Too bad the damn root never made me grow taller than five feet.
The delicious drink turned in my stomach. I had greedily slurped down their offerings and yet I was there to extort the Duke.
Although the Duchess would likely not be too upset if I threatened her husband with anything, especially the truth of what had happened with his mother.
Regardless, I had a contingency plan should the House of Hyton come crumbling down. I would take the innocents and run to Bloodstone Fortress. Maybe my magic would be under control by then…hopefully.
Hopefully I would not leave the Dukedom in chaos, either.
I gritted my teeth and set my empty cup on a nearby table. The fate of Lycaster was not my problem. The star that guided me through the hazy night was the thought of getting Riyan back from the Queen of the Giants.
If Riyan gave everything for me, I had no problemtakingeverything for him.
It was…the right thing to do. It was a repayment for his sacrifice, justice, or even merely giving him the second chance at life he deserved.
No matter how much I tried to honey my reasoning, my motives were still cold.
I let out a frustrated breath and looked over at Brietta. Magnus had somehow left her lap without me noticing. She straightened her spine and glanced over at the Duchess. “I can take things from here, Freya.”
Freya let out a sloppy yawn. “I am certain you can. I need to acquaint my face with my pillow anyway.”
She left her stool and slunk into the darkened doorway of what I could only assume was her bedchamber. Magnus’s bell tinkled as he dutifully followed her, his fluffy tail dragging behind him.
That was…odd, but so was every encounter with Duchess Freya Hyton.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Brietta extending her hand. I hesitated for a moment before I took it and she helped me out of the tub.
This was not the cordial reunion I had planned for.
She wordlessly handed me a towel and I patted myself dry. I put on undergarments and menstrual wrappings as the wordless tension grew heavier.
Silence was my symphony, but it was a foreign tongue from Brietta’s mouth. The longer she went without talking, the more suspicious I became.
Just as I was about to start a polite conversation about palace life, Brietta handed me a folded nightgown. The hem tumbled to the floor as I held it and my heart stopped.
It was not just any nightgown, it wasmynightgown.
“Took it from your trunk while you were eating,” Brietta said.
