Page 58 of The Sorrow of Shadows

“We’ll recover his body, Breyla. He will get his proper rights, I promise.”

“How can you be so sure of that? We don’t even know who is responsible for his murder. There’s too many moving pieces and not enough information all at once. We don’t even really know why someone would have done this...” I feel my chest tighten. I blink back the tears threatening to burst from me and shove the waves of grief and pain down. I lock it in the little black box that I keep all my pain in.

My mother squeezes my arm reassuringly and strokes my cheek. “Just trust your mother on this. I don’t have all the answers, but we will bring your second home.”

I sigh and drop the conversation. “So, have you decided what you’ll be wearing tomorrow? Something old? Something new?”

It’s then that I feel the atmosphere in the room shift, and I know Aurelius has entered. He says nothing, but I feel him watching us from the ballroom doorway.

“I have my seamstress putting the final touches on a new dress. Do I need to send her to you next?” She raises her eyebrow at me. She really isn’t going to let me get away with wearing black.

“Absolutely not,” I say, trying to protest.

“Very well, I’ll send her to your chambers tomorrow morning.” She completely ignores my protest.

I groan and roll my eyes. “What about you, Lord Aurelius? What will you be wearing?”

“I wasn’t aware you cared about my attire, Princess.” His tone is unamused.

“Just trying to make polite conversation.”

He scoffs, “You, polite? Unlikely.”

At this, my mother actually lets out a low chuckle, which she then tries to cover up by clearing her throat.

“Seriously? You’re agreeing with him?” I ask incredulously.

“Well, he’s not wrong, dear. Somewhere in your schooling your tutors gave up teaching you proper court etiquette and manners.”

“Battle strategy is much more useful,” I grumble.

“Breyla, may I speak with you?” Aurelius asks.

“You’re speaking with me now.”

“In private,” he clarifies.

“Very well,” I concede, following him out of the ballroom. We walk in silence for a while, passing servants bustling aroundthe castle. It’s the busiest I’ve seen the palace staff in quite some years.

He leads me down the halls until we reach the private rooms the castle guards use to train new recruits. They aren’t fancy, but functional.

Once inside one of the rooms he shuts the door and uses magic to lock it. I look at him warily, trying to figure out what kind of conversation this will be. I cross the room and lean my back against the wall, folding my arms in front of my chest.

“What conversation was so important you had to drag me down to the empty training rooms? The twenty other empty rooms we passed weren’t good enough for you?”

Aurelius slides his hands casually into the pockets of his black slacks and leans against the wall opposite me. He levels me with a dark gaze. “I anticipate this conversation will get loud and I figured you didn’t want others overhearing what’s about to happen.”

His words would suggest a scandalous meaning, but his tone doesn’t. He’s being serious.

“That’s awfully presumptuous of you,” I snort.

He ignores my comment and continues, “When was the last time you were in this room?”

I know the answer, but I’m not playing his game, so I just shrug. “It’s been a while,” I say with all the nonchalance I can muster.

“How long, Breyla?” Aurelius pushes. “Because as long as I’ve been back you’ve trained exclusively outside.”

“Your point? I prefer training outside. It’s more realistic for battle scenarios and I like the outdoors,” I say in a bored tone.

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