Page 28 of The Rose in the Shadows

There had been no updates regarding my life prior to court.

In the evenings, my foyer would fill with Iris, Lorelai, Camilla, Kent, and Rankor, and we would all eat our dinners together. It often frustrated Nessira to have extra mouths to wait on, but Geia seemed thrilled to be around them, listening in on their gossip. Most nights, I just watched them all interact. They all had an easiness among them, the kind that lifelong friends always seemed to have with one another. Iris had told me they had grown up here in the palace together. They’d trained together, and mastered their powers together, and now, though many of them were free to leave the castle, they stayed here together. They were a family.

Rankor was the most boisterous of the group, always telling larger-than-life stories from the past year that he’d spent exploring Athenia. Kent listened to him readily, often asking questions about the towns he saw or the cultures of the people he encountered. Kent hungered for knowledge in all forms, I had noticed. He often had a book in tow and never the same one for over two days in a row. Iris was even more exuberant around them, while Lorelai was pleasantly sweet, always allowing the others to talk before telling them how her day had gone. Camilla was typically quiet, frowning as if she had somewhere better to be. When she did speak, she chatted freely with the rest of the group, but hardly bothered to look at or acknowledge me.

I wasn’t quite sure what I had done to piss her off, but each day she grew to be more insufferable than the last. I tolerated her presence, and I suspected she tolerated mine, because of the others. Their friendship was worth her attitude.

I didn’t know what exactly I had done to earn their company each night, but I was grateful for it, nonetheless. My blossoming relationships with each of them added a much-needed dose ofexcitement to my life. And I did very obviously seem to need a family.

I was growing incredibly impatient with waiting for the Dragon to deliver news about the investigation into my background. It had been nearly a month since the incident on the bridge. A month and there was no more information about who I was than musings and suspicions. Nothing certain.

On the few occasions I had seen Clay, typically only when we happened to pass each other in the halls, he promised me he was still looking into it, but each day that passed left me less willing to trust those promises.

Someonehad to know something.

So either they weren’t looking hard enough, or they just weren’t telling me what they had found.

Either way, it left me without the answers I desperately needed.

And so, one month after my arrival to court, I found myself wondering if perhaps it was time for me to become a bit more involved in that investigation. Perhaps it was time for me to go seeking some answers myself.

“What’s got you so distracted?”

I jumped, letting out a shrill squeal as Iris rounded the corner into my bedroom, looking over me suspiciously. I’d been so lost in my thoughts I hadn’t even heard Dimitri welcome her into the suite. Even as I joined her to sit at the foot of my bed, I found myself distracted by thoughts of escape.

“Nothing,” I muttered.

She smacked my arm as she rolled her eyes. “You’re a terrible liar.”

That’s true, I was. But did I have to lie to her? Iris had been nothing but kind to me, a true sister in every way. She had taught me everything I needed to know about court, introduced me to her circle of friends, and stood by me without ever doubting meas so many others had. If I could trust anyone, it was her, and yet, she was the Dragon’s niece and Clay’s cousin. So I couldn’t be positive that anything I confided in her wouldn’t be reported back to them.

But I had decided to trust Iris on my first day in this castle, and she had given me no reason to regret that choice.

“I want to get out of this castle, Iris,” I confessed.

She laughed and lounged back on the bed, jade hair falling wildly around her shoulders. “It’s a bit late for a walk in the gardens.”

“I don’t want to go to the gardens.”

She frowned. “I don’t understand.”

I stood, crossing my arms over my chest as I took to pacing the room. Pacing had become a new habit of mine, brought on by too many hours alone in this room with nothing to do but wonder about my past and fear my future.

“I want to go into town,” I told her. “I want to find someone who knows something about who I am and where I come from.”

“The Dragon will let you know when he learns something,” she told me, voice thick with what I suspected was pity.

“Then why hasn’t he?” I questioned, throwing up my arms in frustration as I paused my pacing to look out the window longingly once more. “It’s ridiculous to think thatnothinghas been learned over the past month. Someone had to have raised me; someone must have loved me at some point. So, where are they?”

Iris was quiet. I didn’t turn back to look at her, afraid I would see the telltale signs on her face that she was going to tell me that what I was asking for was impossible. Perhaps I had made a mistake in trying to ask for her help in this. Maybe I had misjudged how much she valued our friendship above her duty to family and country.

“This is really bothering you, isn’t it?” she asked me after a moment, voice low and caring.

I nodded, throat too thick with emotion to speak.

She was at my side in an instant, sighing as she grabbed my hand and pulled me into the bathroom. As we passed the closet, she drew out the plain black gown she’d initially given me to wear on my first day at court during the Council interrogation.

“Put this on,” she instructed as she sat on the edge of the bathtub and rolled her neck. “Has anyone told you the details of my role within this court?”

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