Page 41 of Burning Crowns

CHAPTER 15

While Rose spent the day with Rowena in the underbelly of Anadawn Palace, Wren had an early dinner with Tor and Alarik in the dining room. Cam had prepared a cut of beef so tender it melted in Wren’s mouth. To accompany it, the cook served buttered greens and glazed carrots, crispy potatoes drizzled in gravy and enough plummy wine to fill a barrel. But Wren was too tired to eat very much of it. She fed half of her beef to Elske under the table, which roused a conspiratorial smile from Tor, who appeared to be doing the very same thing.

Chapman arrived after dinner, spiriting the Gevrans away to a suite of guest bedrooms that had been prepared in the east wing of the palace. Wren wondered if the steward had purposely stationed them as far away from her as possible but thought better than to ask. She didn’t want anyone at Anadawn to get the wrong idea about her and the king of Gevra.

By the time she returned to her bedroom after dinner, she was already half asleep. She collapsed on to her bed with her shoes still on, passing the rest of the night, for once, in dreamless slumber. Wren awoke at dawn the following morning and dressed as the sun rose over the distant hills and brushed her hair in the mirror.Her hands trembled with anticipation, her throat so dry she went at once to the kitchens for a cup of peppermint tea. Something to settle her nerves, and steel her for the journey ahead.

She tried not to think too much about the long and winding road north, or the fact that she would be wedged between two Gevran men who had both, at some point in the last few months, kissed her to the point of breathlessness.

When she emerged from the kitchens, the palace was still sleeping. The tea had not settled Wren’s nerves. Rather, it had chased the panic into her limbs and now she found herself restless, pacing. She decided to take an early morning ride on her new horse, a magnificent desert-born mare that Shen Lo had gifted her for Yulemas. In return, Wren had commissioned a flaming wishing fountain for the Palace of Eternal Sunlight. An impressive stone sculpture that paid tribute to Shen’s desert kingdom, and burned with enchanted everlights, all day and all night.

When she arrived at the stables, she stopped at the sight of a familiar figure wandering along the stalls.

‘What are you doing here?’

Tor turned at the sound of her voice. He was not dressed in his official uniform. Instead, he wore a loose white shirt, black trousers and riding boots. His copper-streaked hair was still tousled from sleep, and though he looked strained, there was no hint of that worry in his voice. ‘Did you forget I stayed here last night? We had dinner together, remember?’

‘I meanthere,’ said Wren, coming inside. ‘In the stables.’

‘Ah,’ he said, quietly. ‘I suppose I’m reminiscing.’

Her cheeks erupted at the memory of their almost kiss in this very stable, how she had wrapped her legs around him, desperate with desire. It felt like another lifetime now.So much had happened since then. And yet he was still looking at her the same way – with lightning crackling in his eyes, as if he might take her into an abandoned stall right then and there and finish what they’d started all those months ago.

She swallowed, grasping for composure. ‘And here I thought you were trying to steal a horse.’

He shook his head. ‘Just inspecting the ones we’ll be riding.’

Wren looked at him a moment longer, thinking of everything she wished to say to him. About their time in Gevra, how scared and confused she had been in those snow-swept weeks, how many reckless mistakes she had made, how angry she was at herself for them … how she had missed him fiercely in the months since. It all crowded together on her tongue, until she could manage only, ‘It’s good to see you again, Tor. After everything. It’s been …’

‘Difficult.’ His smile was edged with sadness. ‘I know.’

‘I’ve missed you.’

‘I’ve missed you, too, Wren.’

She swallowed, trying to navigate the sudden tornado of her emotions. She reached for something to say, anything to ease the tension simmering between them. ‘We won’t be riding all the way to the mountains,’ she said, turning back to the horses. ‘We’ll take a carriage as far north as we can. And anyway, the carriage horses are out in the grazing fields behind the palace. It’s a bit of a walk but if you’re really curious—’

‘I’m not curious about carriage horses, Wren.’

‘Oh. I thought—’

‘I was just hoping I’d run into you,’ he said, surrendering all sense of pretence. ‘Alone, preferably.’

Wren blinked. ‘Here?’

‘It wouldn’t be the first time.’

She bit her lip. ‘Well, no …’

‘Forgive me,’ he said, though he didn’t sound sorry. He didn’t look it either. He looked … hungry. ‘I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable.’

Wren smiled. ‘Yes, you do.’

He smiled back, full and radiant.Stars.It was like staring into the sun. She blew out a breath. ‘So, you don’t want to meet my magnificent new horse, then.’

‘I’ve already met her,’ he said. ‘She’s beautiful.’

Wren frowned. There were twenty-five horses in the royal stables alone, each one as impressive as the next. ‘How do you know which one I’m talking about?’