Page 68 of A Petal in the Crown

Gray was meeting with Vincent, but for how long, Lea had no idea. He’d let her sleep for several hours, many more than she’d planned on when she’d curled up on the soft bed and allowed her eyes to close. She wanted to be angry Gray hadn’t woken her, but gods, she’d needed the rest. Those hours asleep had helped more than she could have ever expected, and for the first time in who knows how long, she felt energized. Hopeful.

At least,almosthopeful.

There hadn’t been any tugs on her magic yet to let her know Alaric had been spotted, but she had to believe it was coming. The pieces of their plan were falling into place. Now, if she could only find Janelle while Gray was preoccupied so she could practice taking her magic. If Gray wasn’t going to let her practice on him, she needed to do it during one of the rare times he wasn’t by her side.

Lea was about to go search the courtyard when Janelle and Erik wandered through the door hand-in-hand, their faces flushed and eyes bright.

Lea’s heart skipped with excitement. Maybe, for once, the gods were on her side. "There you are! I’ve been looking for you," Lea said.

"I was just coming to find you, too, actually," Janelle answered, stretching up to whisper something in Erik’s ear. He smiled down at herso warmly, it gave Lea the sudden urge to cry. Somehow, even with all the terrible things going on in their lives, there were still moments full of genuine love and joy, and witnessing them was a privilege she'd never again take for granted.

"Fine. I’ll see you both later, then," Erik said, leaning down to kiss Janelle. Deeply and slowly, with so much passion Lea felt the need to turn away until they broke apart. Janelle hurried over to her, looping their arms together and leading them toward her and Erik’s room.

"Actually," Lea said. "Can we go outside? I wanted to talk to you about something… you know, in private."

Janelle shrugged, narrowing her eyes slightly and allowing Lea to lead her toward the courtyard. "I mean, it’s hot as balls out there, but sure."

She didn’t say much as they walked, hurrying around the side of the castle to the old guard shack, but as Lea examined her friend’s face, she couldn’t remember a time she’d seen Janelle look so happy. Her eyes sparkled and her cheeks were pink and tilted up with a smile.

"What’s going on with you?" Lea asked, raising an eyebrow. "Did you just get laid or something?"

"Obviously," Janelle rolled her eyes, pulling her arm from Lea’s as she settled down in the shade of a tree behind the hut. "Oh. And Erik and I are getting married. Tonight."

The floor fell from beneath Lea’s feet. "You are?" she squealed, jumping up and down like a teenager. It wasn’t queenly, and it certainly wasn’t poised, but it was genuine. Janelle and Lea had talked as children about their weddings—granted, Lea had talked far more about it than Janelle ever had—but it’d always been something they’d known about their futures. They would stand by each other as they pledged themselves to the one who made their hearts soar.

Lea plopped to the ground and embraced her friend, almost forgetting about the sense of dread looming over their heads every minute of everyday. "I’m so happy for you," she said, squeezing Janelle so tight she squirmed. "There’s no one better for you than Erik. And I just want you to know—"

Janelle pulled back, wiggling out of the embrace. "Gods. All right, enough hugging," she said. "You know how I feel about that."

"I do, and I don’t care." Lea sniffled, pulling her close again. "You’re getting married. Let me hug you!"

Janelle sighed, stiffly and begrudgingly wrapping her arms around Lea and allowing one more very brief hug. "Anyway, that’s my news. What were you wanting to find me for?"

Lea waved her off. "It doesn’t matter. We can talk about it later."

"No. Please tell me. I can’t handle secrets."

Lea cracked a smile. Janelle had always been like that. She simply couldn’t stand knowing there was information out there that she wasn’t aware of. "I wanted to talk about practicing…" she paused, narrowing her eyes and preparing to gauge Janelle’s reaction, "taking your magic."

Janelle waved a hand at her dismissively, as if Lea had just told her the lamest secret of all time. "Oh. Gray’s occupied, then?" she laughed, seeing right through her.

"He is. But it can wait."

"Why?" Janelle twisted to face her. "I’ve got about eight hours to kill until my wedding. Let’s do it."

Lea tilted her head, her heart picking up in rhythm. "Really? Don’t you want to, I don’t know, get ready? I'm sure we can find you a pretty dress somewhere in the castle."

"All I want is to get married, and then to have years of happiness with my husband. I want us to live. I want to survive." Janelle turned away, hugging a pillow to her chest. Always hiding her emotions—her fear. "So," she clapped her hands together, "steal my magic, bitch."

"I mean, if you insist," Lea said.

"Insist we live?" Janelle raised her eyebrows. "Absolutely, I do. "How do you want to do this? We don’t have to hold hands, do we?" She pretended to gag, clearly having had enough physical affection for the day.

"It might help, but I think it’s better if we don’t. It’s not likely I’ll be able to touch Alaric as I'm taking his magic. I need to figure out how to do it without contact."

"Thank the gods," Janelle said, scooting back a few inches. "Okay then. Ready when you are."

Lea wasted no time, closing her eyes and isolating her magic in her chest.

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