Page 45 of When Wishes Bleed

And somehow, I made it through breakfast, enduring scathing glances from women who considered me a threat, smiling my way through a conversation I didn’t care about at all, and watching the one person I was beginning to care about very much break his fast with two other women.

Silently, I spent the meal begging Fate for a clue to help me quickly solve this mystery, to help me save him, and allow me to go home.

Fate remained stubbornly silent.

Mira promised she would join us later, but was in a tizzy because there was a heated indoor swimming pool here, and none of us brought swimsuits. She ran back to her room to remedy the situation, leaving Brecan and I to spend our “free” time together until she finished. Mira liked to swim and was determined to have us swim with her this evening.

We had no plan when we stepped outside, so when Brecan suggested, “Let’s see what the palace has to offer,” I eagerly nodded.

It took us half an hour to make our way around the palace, through beautifully manicured gardens and over to a lake where a gentleman sat alone under a tree.

“Hello,” he greeted cheerfully, rushing to stand up. He pointed to three canoes large enough to each hold six people. “Care to paddle out onto the lake?”

Brecan waggled his eyebrows. “What do you say, Sable?”

I smiled. “I say yes.”

I sat on one of the built-in benches and gripped the paddle while Brecan climbed in at the edge of the lake. The canoe bobbed back and forth until he sat down, and then the motion subsided.

The gentleman handed Brecan the other paddle and told us to come back whenever we were ready. There was no time limit.

“She’ll have to mind her schedule,” Brecan replied, giving me an ornery grin.

I felt like knocking him with my paddle, but refrained – only because I didn’t want to rock the boat again. I could swim a little, but I’d never been in water that was deeper than I was tall.

Lily pads hugged the lake’s edge. Brecan caught me admiring them and rowed close enough to pluck one of the only flowers left now that autumn was leaning further toward winter. He offered it to me with a tentative smile. I thanked him and cradled the pale pink bloom in my palm.

It was mid-morning, and warm sunshine yawned across the sky. “It would be horrible to have your entire life scheduled. It almost makes me feel sorry for our prince,” Brecan mused.

“Almost?”

He smiled. “Well, he has everything else anyone could possibly want.”

“No one has everything they want, Brecan.”

“No, but you see, Tauren does. He has an army at his command, power, unimaginable wealth, the respect of his people, and the love of his parents. He’s fully supported from every angle but one, and that deficit is about to be filled. He will literally have everything when he marries.”

I had no response to offer him. Tauren was certainly very lucky. “Why would someone want him dead?”

“Any number of reasons,” he said, resting his paddle on his thighs. I took mine out of the water too, and we floated contently in the calm, green-brown water, resting beneath the sun and the wispy clouds that attempted, but failed, to cover it. “He is to be King, so it could be to prevent him from taking the crown. He has a younger brother, if I recall correctly.”

Yes, I’d seen him at the Equinox. “I wonder why he wasn’t at dinner.”

“Likely to protect him from the evil witches from Thirteen,” Brecan replied, only half joking.

“No one here thinks that.”

He guffawed. “Please, Sable. Look around you! Everyone is pleasant. Too pleasant. Their smiles are forced. They’re glad to give us what we require so they can be excused from our presence. We frighten them.”

“Only because they don’t know us.”

“I heard the redhead talking at breakfast. She plans to provoke you so that you’ll retaliate with magic. She thinks you’ll be dismissed from the palace if you use magic against any of the other invitees.”

Rose, I thought. Her parents should have named her Thorn.

“I won’t use magic against anyone.”

“But you have used magic here. You spelled the room this morning.”

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