My heart skipped a beat as I recalled my dream. I had heard Riyan’s voice. For the first time since he left, I heard his voice.
But how? Daigen was in the room when he had invaded my dream. If Riyan was in the place West of the Moon and East of the Sun, how had he connected with me at all?
I slid my hand under the blanket toward my leg. Maybe the Nordingaard crystal had something to do with…
Wait…where was the crystal?
My hand touched the bare skin of my leg and my heart stopped. I lifted my pillow. The crystal was nowhere in sight.
“Looking for this?”
I slowly looked over my shoulder to see Annalisa standing next to the bed and dangling my choker in front of her.
I just needed to tell the truth in a way that benefitted me. “It was a gift from the North. It reminded me of home and it is very precious to me—”
“Do not lie!” Annalisa snapped. “You think I do not know exactly what this is? You were kicking around in the middle of the night andthiswas glowing on your leg!”
My heart raced. Annalisa could be cruel, but she would not turn me in to her father. Not after everything we had been through.
Her deadly eyes glistened. “You will end up likeher.”
She was too afraid to say the name, but I knew she meant her grandmother.
Even though her brows were furrowed like twin arrows, Annalisa was not angry with me. She was scared for me.
My hands rested over my heart. “I know.” The truth of everything bounced around in my chest, waiting to find its way to my lips.
And I let it out. Not because I was not strong enough to keep it down, but because my friend deserved to know everything.
Most of all, Iwantedher to know everything.
Annalisa sat on the bed and listened while the rosy dawn turned into bright golden rays. Her brows furrowed in confusion when I told her my blood bond was gone. She smiled when she heard about my adventure to the Bloodstone lilies. Her hand found mine when I told her of our journey up Nordingaard mountain.
“Grigory told me all about Nordingaard—such a strange and frightening place,” Annalisa said. “I wish he were here. He would know how to make Ganora pay for taking Riyan.”
Though the crystal was back on my thigh, my stomach clenched. Had her bond affected her too? “How did you fall in love with Grigory if you were only together for two days?”
She looked down at the floor and smiled. “After the…you know whathappened, he stayed up all night and talked to me. He listened to me. He…he thought I was important and worthy.” She hugged her middle and her cheeks pinked. “If that is not love, I do not want anything else.”
A gentle knock echoed through the room before the door swung open. Merri entered carrying a small box with a bright pink bow on top.
The corners of Merri’s eyes crinkled with her warm smile. “Happy birthday, Madame Thornebow.”
In Annalisa’s mind, her birthday was not until the evening. Every year, just before a quarter past five, Annalisa would whisper “Happy birthday, Derrick” and wait exactly twenty minutes before it washerbirthday. As soon as she reached that magical time, she would tear open whatever gift Derrick had sent to the school.
I had to witness the odd ritual for years, but Annalisa apparently was fine with breaking tradition for Merri. She ran to Merri and crushed her to her chest before taking the box in her hands.
Annalisa’s eyes sparkled. “A pink ribbon? It’s from the finest jeweler in Hyton square!” She pulled the pink ribbon from the top of the box when another, younger maid walked into the room carrying a large tray filled with breakfast delights.
The maid’s chestnut hair was neatly coiled into braids on the back of her head, but I did not miss the crystal blue in her downcast eyes—Rosaline.
What was Fraleigh’s servant doing in the palace disguised as a maid?
Rosaline set the tray on the table in front of Annalisa’s couch. Merri gestured to the tray as Annalisa tore through the box. “I brought all your favorites.”
I left the bed and crossed to the couch as Rosaline met my eye, raising a single finger to her lips.
If Rosaline had told me about Daigen in the first place, maybe she was part of his “gentle hand of guidance.”
