34
On our last night together, we played a board game.
Thyme and Nelly were quite good at I Eat You, as they played often, whereas Edith and I both kept getting eaten. We stayed in Edith’s rooms to avoid the sight of my bags packed with no return date planned.
It would be the first time in my memory being separated from Edith by my own choice, and each time I thought about it too hard, my throat would catch.
We ate a lot of food, laughed and played, and Edith and Nelly drank some wine. I spent most of the time snacking from the tray of sweets and watching, as if I might memorize every moment of this evening and take it with me on the unknown journey ahead.
I waited until they were all asleep to dampen the fires and head back to my rooms. Impulsively, I wondered if I might be able to locate a certain Ambush Master instead.
The guard I asked pointed me to the left, down my ownhallway, toward the end, but the second I turned the corner, my body was grabbed up off the ground by solid, warm arms.
“Told you I’d come find you,” he whispered, dropping me with a smirk before him. I shook my head, smiling as he took my hand and began to pull me behind him.
“Blake—”
“Come with me for a moment. I have something for you.”
He didn’t need to know that I’d already been seeking him out.
His rooms within the palace were immaculate and cold, entirely different from his bedroom at Yvonne’s. His bed was perfectly made, not a fur or book or scrap of paper out of place. As if the room itself took on the intensity of who Blake had to be as Ambush Master and the king’s remaining Twin Blade.
I felt a sense of loss as I entered and sat on the bed that was infinitely softer than the thin mattress at Yvonne’s, and yet so much less welcoming—like the heart of Blake was missing in here.
He held up a hand before delving into his closet suite, which I could see mainly consisted of the leathers and metal he wore here.
When he returned, hands behind his back, he stepped toward me until he hovered over my seated position on the bed, legs crossed as I leaned against the large metal headboard. The heat from his gaze sent shivers down my spine as I dared to glance at him. He was so incredibly gorgeous. There was no mistaking the intensity in his eyes as they locked onto mine, a silent understanding passing between us.
“I have a late birthday present for you,” Blake said.
He pulled out two slender objects before dropping them into my hands. My fingers curled around the smooth handles, my mouth parting.
They were ribbon wands, engraved with intricate designs that shimmered in the light.
When I unfurled them, the ribbons didn’t just float like silk. They moved with weight, a presence, slicing through the air in controlled arcs. My breath hitched. These weren’t just for dancing. The edges gleamed with veins of storm-green metal, pulsing with power.
Thundervein.
They were weapons. Beautiful, deadly weapons that I would be able to wield with precision. These would allow me to turn fighting into a dance, a deadly dance.
“I thought there was hardly any thundervein left. Where did you get them?” I murmured, running my fingers over the metal, feeling the faint hum beneath my touch. Awe tightened in my chest. “What is this fabric?” It shimmered unlike anything I had ever seen before.
“Phoenix silk,” he answered, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s practically indestructible, and the incredible thing about it is that it can be set alight without burning to ash.”
“Expensive, too,” I murmured.
He shrugged and avoided my eyes.
“What are you not telling me?”
Too quickly, he answered, “Nothing.”
Phoenix silk was expensive, but his family was incredibly wealthy—and by virtue of his power and position, I knew Blake was as well. But the thundervein was beyond price.
“Where did you get the thundervein?” I asked again.
A red flush crept up his neck. “I melted down my dagger.”
