She rolled over and faced me. Her eyes were glistening. “Mama calls me Raindrop…because I used to cry a lot.”
I gave her a smile. Annalisa had cried more in the past two weeks than in all the seven years I had known her. Selection Night was rougher than any of us had expected, and everything that happened after…
Well, I understood. Deep within the bleak coldness of my chest, I understood.
A thin smile pulled at Annalisa’s lips. “Mama used to sing ‘Raindrop, Raindrop, make the rain go away’ to help me calm down. Then my sisters started singing it to…do the opposite.”
Her six older sisters all shared names with gemstones, but they sparkled like sewage. Ashmore had collectively sighed with relief every time one of them graduated.
I eyed a peacock with sunset-colored feathers in the tree above us. “Your sisters are horrible.”
“No, they were right. Hytons cannot cry.” She sighed. “Your rainbow will come another day.Too bad my rainbow never came.”
My white flame pulsed with a gentle heat around my heart. Maybe just like with Brietta earlier, finding my heart’s desire was not just about finding Riyan.
I could not risk more people knowing about my sorcery…but my friend needed me and I wanted to help.
I kept my eyes on the ravens and thought of my brothers. “Maybe your rainbow is coming.”
She snorted. “Not in Lycaster. The storm never ends.”
Isolation. Darkness.
But then there was music.
I could not place the tune, but I danced alone in the dark. I slowly moved my limbs to the sweeping notes and gentle melody.
And then a voice made my feet freeze.
“Keep that crystal on your skin,Litlnadr.And tell the truth as it benefits you.”
I opened my eyes. I was in Annalisa’s bedroom and my fist was wrapped around my Nordingaard crystal.
Daigen had somehow invaded my dream and talked to me. Annoying, but about damn time he gave me some advice.
I pushed myself up from the mattress to see Annalisa at her easel. I was not eager to wear the illegal Nordingaard crystal around the palace, but Daigen was deliberate—what little information he gave me was important.
Trusting an old sorcerer from the mountain was testing every ounce of sense that I had.
I slipped the crystal under the blankets. Daigen had only said to keep the crystal on my skin, he never specified where.
As I watched Annalisa to make sure her eyes did not leave her canvas, I pulled up the hem of my nightgown and tied the choker just above my right knee. Unless someone committed the unspeakable offense of lifting my skirt, the crystal would go undetected.
Annalisa’s eyebrows raised at the sound of me shifting on the mattress and she peered over the canvas to look at me. “How are those giants supposed to look?”
I stretched like I had just woken up. “Grey. Fifteen feet tall. Lumpy.” I shot her an incredulous look. “Why are you painting giants? I thought you said the ugliness of the real world does not belong in your bedroom.”
Her face disappeared behind the canvas. “This is a portrait of Grigory’s victory on the mountain, a present for when he returns from his secret assignment.”
Grigory’s victory?Riyanhad slayed all the giants.
Annalisa’s brush flicked across the canvas. “He assured me in his most recent letter that he should be back for me soon.” She sighed. “He misses me so much.”
Despite the Hyton and Thornebow rivalry, Annalisa and Grigory seemed to have fallen for each other. Their marriage was already consummated, so I could not blame her feelings on Fraleigh’s enchantment.
Maybe the affection her and Grigory shared was actually real.
Annalisa peered around her canvas again. “Get over here. I need you to pose for me.”
