Page 51 of Shade of Ruin

The gates to the Keep of Earth have been locked and barred. No one in and no one out. What will happen when I must give up the Crown to him? Roderic is losing it, too. Maybe Gethin is right. Maybe a cleansing is necessary.

But the losses…

~King Casimir, personal journals

“Well, you two look…not very betrothed.” Lee is grinning as she sits on a tree branch overlooking our camp. Cole and I both sit up almost at the same time. From opposite sides of the camp.

“It’s a farce,” Cole grumbles as he runs his hand through his thick, black hair. All of us have been on the road for too long for us to look pretty, but Cole has managed to do it. Even after sleeping on the ground, his backpack as his pillowwith the leaves and sticks as his bed, his hair looks as soft and regal as ever. His eyes, on the other hand, are bloodshot, and he’s slumped like the weight on his shoulders is already overwhelming.

Darian tosses Cole a hunk of the dried boar and then one to me. Our breakfast. “I don’t know if it’s truly a farce,” he says. “You did the ritual. There’s no doubt about that. Maeve stinks almost as bad as you do.” The grin on his face tells me he’s only partly serious about the way I smell. I know that it’s not an actual scent as much as a magical one.

“Why can’t I smell it?” I ask.

Darian’s eyebrow arches as his lip curls up. “Because no one can smell themselves. Just like you didn’t know that you smelled like a goat when you showed up at Aerwyn. At least you smelled better than Cole.”

Cole rolls his eyes and stands up. “I have to go water a bush,” he says, a look of annoyance that rivals his most intense from the past, and I wonder if he had as much trouble sleeping as I did.

Last night was confusing and intense. Between the way I’d felt for Cole in those few moments during the ritual and the mix of terror and lust I’d felt for the Shade almost immediately afterward, my mind was racing late into the night.

Lee jumps out of the tree, a set of eagle wings sprouting from her back mid-way through the fall, and she pulls up right before she hits the ground. What would have been a nosedive into rocks leaves her landing lightly on her feet with a grin on her face. “How do you feel?” she asks.

I shrug. How do you explain the complicated emotions inside me? There’s no trust between Cole and me. I can’t even talk to Darian and Lee about the way I’m feeling about the Shade. “I’ll be glad to sleep in a bed tonight.”

Lee’s grin is wide, but not as wide as Darian’s. “I’m ready for some proper food. I can’t wait to ask Katja for a bowl of fish stew. Steaming hot over dumplings.”

Lee just rolls her eyes. “You’ll have to excuse my brother. His love affair with food is as legendary as the Shade. Katja is our family’s cook, and I think Darian’s had a crush on her since he could walk. Or at least on her food.”

“I like good food, and Katja makes the best,” he says as he picks up his pack.

Cole walks back into the camp then and rubs his cheek. “We need to pretend like the betrothal is real now. There’s no telling who’ll be watching as we get closer to Draenyth, and I’m sure that my father will know long before we reach the city gate that I’m betrothed.”

The seriousness of the statement ends any silliness. “You said that it was going to annoy your father that you’re betrothed…?”

He gives me a grim look, nothing like the carefree smile he’d given me before. “He’s going to be furious. There will be… consequences, but you don’t have to worry about them. He wouldn’t dare hurt my betrothed.”

The rest of the thought isn’t said. Hewouldhurt his son. The question eats at me, and I can’t just brush it off as I have before. Then I remember the burn scars on his back. “Cole, why are you doing this? You seemed almost excited to frustrate your father before, but now…”

He smiles, showing his teeth, and I can’t help but compare the look to a wild animal. “If you think I’m afraid of my father, you’d be wrong. I’m not a child anymore, and unless he’s going to challenge me to a formal combat, the most he can do is cause me pain. He won’t fight me to the death. I’m his only legacy, and I’m the only protection that he has from the House of Steel when they wear the Painted Crown.”

Darian and Lee glance at each other, not needing words to communicate. Then Darian says, “We could have covered up her scent in other ways. It’s not too late to break the betrothal.”

Cole shakes his head. He had made his decision back in Aerwyn. “No, this is the right answer, Darian. Whatever the consequences.” He says it to Darian, but he’s really talking to me.

Then he changes the subject. “I’ll need to deal with my father as soon as we get to the gates, and I’ll need you and Lee to take care of Maeve until I meet up with you at our normal spot.”

He glances at Lee, who nods to him, and Darian hesitates for a moment before nodding his head as well.

“Good,” he says, and then he reaches for me. “Maeve, we’re going to need to be…closewhen we’re together. We need to make this seem very real. Assume that we’re being watched from now on unless you’re in my quarters.” He’s deathly serious as he continues, “Everything you do in Draenyth is going to be watched.”

There goes any chance of practicing my magic. I rub my mother’s ring and feel very nervous about my ability to keep from letting any shadows crop up. Especially if Cole wants me to pretend to be his loving fiancée.

I nod to him. “I’ll do my best.”

Cole tries to smile at us all, but it’s more cracked than ever before. “I guess there’s no putting it off. Let’s pack up camp and we’ll start walking to Draenyth.”

He raises his hand, and the coals of last night’s fire are extinguished in an instant. I take a deep breath and let it out. Yes, I guess it’s time for us to get going. Calyr is somewhere in the city, and there’s no reason to sit in the woods when we’re this close.

Except that Draenyth is a city of nightmares, and it terrifies me. I just hope I survive long enough to save Hazel.

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