Page 109 of The Sorrow of Shadows

“Of course you deserve better!” Aurelius bellows.

A tear forms at the corner of her eye, and I watch as it runs down the porcelain skin of her cheek. “The decisions I’ve had to make...” she says, her voice trailing off. She catches herself, clears her throat, and sits up straighter. “Regardless, I will accept Lord Seamus' proposal. I don’t have to love him; he will be a king in name only. I’ll be damned if he thinks he can take control of my kingdom.”

There she is, my fierce mother.

“Mom, there’s something else I need to ask you about.” My voice is hesitant, not wanting to talk about this.

“What is it, dear?”

“I need to know how Father was behaving before his death.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

OPHELIA

It’s nearly empty when we enter Luella’s tavern late into the evening. Breyla wanted to discuss the next steps, but no longer felt safe to do so in the castle. I’m not sure how a public tavern is any more secure, but here we are.

We take the furthest booth in the back corner, Aurelius, Elijah, Breyla, Jade, and I piling around the table. Luella drops off each of our preferred drinks, and Breyla slips her a few gold Remis to keep the other patrons seated far away from our dark corner. Breyla throws up a silencing shield, but it wouldn’t be impossible to read our lips if someone were close enough. Thus, the bribe to Luella.

Breyla relays the information from our conversation earlier today with Queen Genevieve to catch me and Jade up to speed.

“I don’t like this,” Jade comments. “I feel like we have more questions now than before.”

“I agree,” I say. Elijah is seated next to me, his thigh pressed against mine. His rich cinnamon and chocolate scent fills mynose, overwhelming my senses. Under the table, he rests his hand on my leg, lightly caressing my knee.

A slight flush creeps up my cheeks, and I see Elijah smirk next to me. My mind wanders to all the ways he has and could make me blush.

“—do we feel about Ayden?” Jade questions and I realize I’ve lost track of the conversation in my daydreaming.

Luckily, Breyla saves me and pipes in with, “As much as I hate to admit it, I don’t think Ayden is behind the attacks. Not that I trust him, necessarily.”

“What did I miss? Why are you suddenly doubting Ayden when you were yelling at me for doing just that days ago?” Aurelius asks.

Breyla sighs. “I forgot to mention that. I still don’t trust that he isn’t up tosomething,but Ayden doesn’t seem that malicious. There was something he did later that same night that showed another side to him.”

Aurelius drums his fingers along the tabletop and takes a generous drink of his ale. “What did he do that made you suddenly so fond of him?” he asks, tone even, but I can sense the underlying anger in his words.

“I couldn’t sleep, so I went to the kitchens for tea. When I arrived, he was there as well. There was a blood-curdling scream coming from Jade’s room.”

Jade stiffens, looking confused. “I don’t remember?—”

“You were having a night terror. I heard it, too,” Elijah answers before she can ask the question.

“Right. When we got to her room, he didn’t hesitate to make it...stop. You were thrashing and crying and couldn’t be woken, Jade.” Breyla’s eyes look apologetic, and Jade says nothing.

“When I asked him why I should trust him not to make it worse, he told me he would never intentionally make someone hurt worse than Jade already was. That there wasn’t much worse he could do than what she was already seeing in the nightmare.”

“So, what? One good deed done, and you suddenly trust him?” Aurelius says, his tone accusatory.

Breyla bristles beside me and growls, “I just said I don’t trust him. I simply think there’s more to him than meets the eye. He’s up to something, I just don’t think that something is assassination attempts and murder.”

Jade takes that opportunity to point out, “You were literally the one who argued that Ayden wasn’t behind it when we talked two days ago, Aurelius.”

“He still believes that; he’s just being insecure about me possibly trusting the prince,” Breyla clarifies.

“Why would Prince Ayden make him feel insecure?” I ask mischievously.

“I’m not insecu—” Aurelius starts while Breyla says, “Because we’re fucking, and he’s possessive.”

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