Page 4 of Court of Bone and Amethyst

She killed my entire family. Caused me to be raised as an orphan in a far-off land. And now she’s stolen my throne and killed Zyren’s brother, causing a rift I doubt I can ever repair between me and my husband. Anger is an emotion that I was never allowed to express in the Amethyst Palace growing up, an emotion I suppressed for so long. But now, coming to Valaron and learning the truth of my family, not to mention everything that happened the last two days, it’s as if the desire for revenge is a beast that will consume me from the inside out.

Zyren blinks as he looks at me, clearly taken aback, too. After a moment, he says, “Yes, Sarielle is quite right. We need allies, people we can trust completely and absolutely. How many escaped Selaye yesterday?”

Naryo shakes his head, lips drawn back in a grim expression. “A dozen maybe, that I am aware of. I am told that not many made it out. The warriors of the Court of Nightmares were put to death. The citizens of the city have been spared, for now.”

I suck in a sharp breath, and Zyren wears a look of rage that matches mine from a moment ago.

“Most of Valaron despises the Septarus,” Naryo says. “But most also fear them, and that will make those allies hard to come by, now that Selaye has been taken. After the fall of House Otreyas, House Lyonian was the only thing standing in their way this whole time.”

“I know.” Zyren hangs his head a moment. “There is a small force remaining back home at the Court of Lions, and some members of my house scattered across Valaron on their own estates, but most of our might was in Selaye, to protect the throne. There are not enough left elsewhere to defeat Avonia’s forces.”

“Will Avonia attack the Court of Lions next?” I ask.

Zyren nods. “I imagine she will. To ensure any loyal to us are defeated.”

“We must warn them, then.” My hands are clasped together so tightly in my lap, it’s almost enough to break my bones.

“I already did, last night on the ship. The captain had a spare messenger wyvern.”

I nod numbly. I would have known, of course, if Zyren had been speaking to me. It makes me shiver, the idea of House Lyonian being annihilated like my own house, House Otreyas, was wiped out by Avonia twenty years ago.

Zyren is silent for several moments before speaking. “With the Court of Nightmares and the Court of Lions all but wiped out, there is only one court left who may have the strength to rival the Septarus.”

Naryo’s eyes widen. “The Court of Memory? They have long forsaken the politics of the south. You think you can convince them?”

“I don’t know whether I will succeed or fail,” Zyren says. “But I don’t see any other options, and I can’t just do nothing.”

“What if we could somehow make a pathway to Aureon?” I ask. “Find allies there?”

Zyren doesn’t even pause a breath before responding gruffly. “That’s not an option. No one can create a rift between the realms.”

“It’s possible.” I lift my chin stubbornly. “It’s been done before.”

His eyes flash. “Possible, but only barely so. Almost no one has managed such a feat.”

“My mother did it.”

“That doesn’t mean thatyoucan.”

I recoil at the harshness of his words. “Do you forget that you told me you’d help me find a way? To save my best friend and the others at the Amethyst Palace?”

“That was before,” he snaps. “Before everything changed. Our priorities are different now. Surely, I don’t need to explain that to you.”

Silence falls between us, thick and heavy. I refuse to let the tears that prick at the corners of my eyes spill over. Zyren is right. Everythinghaschanged. Including his feelings for me.

Naryo clears his throat, and my cheeks flame. “Perhaps food and rest are needed before further plans are made. You have both been through an intensely harrowing experience.”

Zyren blinks and nods. “Your hospitality is most welcome.”

Naryo summons a servant to prepare refreshments. A short while later we are escorted into a dining room that also overlooks the central courtyard. Plates of fresh fruit and little cakes with icing and flowers sit along the table, along with potsof hot herbal tea. I say nothing as Zyren and his friend discuss everything else that’s transpired since they last saw each other, the ice around my heart thickening once again.

The day passes in a daze of numbness. I take a nap around midday and don’t awaken until close to dinner time. I’m shown a bathing chamber where I take a long and luxurious bath with scented soaps, the scent of which is something floral and exotic I’m not familiar with. So many things are new here. Zyren was the only thing familiar when I came to this realm. I’d known him from all those years he visited my dreams. He’d been my anchor, despite our rocky start.

But now he’s like a stranger, and I have nothing.

Naryo’s servants supply me with clean clothes after my bath. Where they came from, I don’t know, but I’m too wrapped up in my own thoughts to ask. They offer to launder the pewter gray dress I’d worn the day before—my wedding dress—but I thank them and decline. After they leave the room and I’ve changed into a clean pale blue dress, I throw the old one into the fire that burns in the corner of my room. I sit and watch the flames take it, curling into black petals of ash.

I don’t speak at dinner, except to answer a few questions Naryo asks me about my youth in an attempt to foster conversation. Zyren doesn’t so much as look at me, and the urge to scream builds slowly within my core until I feel certain I’m going to explode, right here at the dinner table in front of this kind man who has taken us in. After eating a few bites of the roasted fish and vegetables prepared for us, I excuse myself and go back to my room.

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