Page 46 of The Poison Princess and the Lord of Misrule

“Are you mad,” she hisses. “What are you doing here, jester? If you’re seen near her chambers?—”

“I have to see her.”

Her ire deflates. “You can’t.” She shakes her head. “I’m sorry, but you cannot go anywhere near Sera. No one can.”

My brow furrows. “What does that mean?”

Her sigh is dejected. “She’s been confined to her chambers, Ren.” My name drops heavy from her mouth, and the use of it sparks a wick of fear. She’s never called me anything but jester. “Under guard. By the king’s order. She hasn’t been allowed to leave her rooms since the night of the feast except for the fittings, and even then she’s watched.”

Dread ices my veins. “Tell me what’s happened.”

Isolde’s eyes flick away. “I don’t know the whole of it,” she says warily. “Sera won’t talk about it, but something happened after that feast…” She sighs. “The bloody king has gone mad, that’s what I think. He’s keeping her locked up tight until the wedding. He doesn’t want her out of his sight.” Her mouth twists around the words like they taste foul.

Real fear washes through me, that someone saw us together in that alcove. That Sera is now being punished for our rash actions. But no, if that was the case, then surely I’d already be a dead man.

My hands have curled into fists at my sides. The old, familiar heat is climbing the back of my neck—the one that walked me into a throne room with murder in my blood, the one I felt at the feast with a glass shard biting into my palm.

Despite anger flooding me, there’s a breath of relief. It wasn’t her choice not to come to me.

Isolde looks at me. Really looks at me, like she’s reading the pages of me—and whatever she finds in my face makes her exhale slowly.

“You have to leave here, Ren,” she says.

And I understand that she doesn’t just mean this corridor.

“I’m not leaving her,” I say, and there’s a finality in my voice that keeps her from pressing the matter.

“I know you care for Sera, but?—”

“Which means I’m going nowhere, Isolde. Now.” I step closer, lowering my voice. “Are you going to help me see her, or am I going to have to do something rash that will likely get me killed?”

For a long moment she just studies me, this sharp-faced woman who has been Sera’s shadow for so long, who carries her loyalty like a blade. I can see her weighing it. The risk. The cost. The thousand ways this will end badly for us all.

Isolde shakes her head, and something in her expression softens by a fraction. “You truly are a fool,” she says, but there’s no venom in it.

“For her, yes,” I confess.

She sets the basket down on a shelf.

“Help me see her,” I say. “Three days, Isolde. That’s all Ihave before—” My voice cracks, and I hate it, but I don’t stop. “Before the wedding.”Before he takes her.

Isolde stares at me. Then she looks down at herself, at the plain gray of her dress, and lets out a breath that’s half a curse.

“The guard on her door is named Halmen,” she mutters, mostly to herself. “Young. Impetuous. Spends every coin he earns at the brothel.” She reaches up and unpins the top of her bodice, tugging the laces loose, shimmying the neckline down until the swell of her breasts pushes high. She fluffs her auburn hair loose from its knot. When she looks back up at me, she’s transformed, replaced by something soft and inviting.

“Go to the library,” she tells me, all business despite the display. “The one she sneaks off to, I know you know where.” She gives me a look. “Wait there, and don’t let anyone see you on the way.”

I hesitate before leaving. “What are you going to do?”

Her smile is sly. “Something I may regret.” She jerks her chin toward the corridor. “Now go, jester. Before I remember I have sense.”

I catch her wrist before she turns away. “Thank you, Isolde.”

Something like warmth flickers across her face. “Don’t thank me,” she says. “Just don’t do anything brash to hurt her.” Her eyes harden. “And if you do, know I’ll do far worse to you than any cruel king.”

I believe hercompletely.

With a lopsided smile, I nod. Then I depart to the library, my heart in my throat.