Page 61 of Fragile Oath

Though I knew it was unconscionably rude, I turned without another word and climbed into bed, ready to be done with everything about today.

* * *

If I had thoughtthe world would look better on a full night’s sleep, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Though perhaps that was because the next morning brought with it a summons from the Assembly.

“Posturing old bastards,” Avani muttered when she saw the scroll Gallagher had delivered.

“There was, indeed, a posturing old bastard involved, but in this case, it wasn’t one of ours,” Gwyn said darkly.

She hadn’t looked at me beyond an initial cursory once-over, but neither did she seem inclined to leave.

“My uncle must have pushed for me to give my statement sooner, so…” I trailed off, and Gwyn let out a bitter huff of air.

“So you can leave again,” she finished my sentence, her tone caustic.

“Gwyn,” Gal cautioned.

“No, no,” she fired back. “The sooner she can be off, the better. At least then she can stop toying with him.”

“I had no choice,” I reminded her sharply.

Finally, she met my eyes long enough for me to see the fury burning golden in her own. Fury, and something closer to betrayal.

“You had plenty of choices leading up to that one. You just never could seem to make any of them with Davin in mind.” She shook her head, blowing out another breath. “Stars, you don’t even see what you do to him.”

I wanted to argue, but I thought of Davin’s silence, of his strained question in the night, of all the lies between us. I swallowed thickly.

“That’s enough, Gwynnie.” Avani was firm. “We don’t have all of the facts.”

“And we never will, where she’s concerned,” Gwyn bit back in the exasperated tone of someone who has made an argument so often that it’s become rote.

Gallagher’s voice was quiet when he spoke, casting an apologetic glance in my direction. “She doesn’t owe us an explanation.”

His twin raised a challenging eyebrow. “Maybe not us,” she countered, her implication clear.

It was Davin who was owed an explanation.

There was a tense beat while Avani and Gallagher exchanged a look that said they agreed with Gwyn but wanted to forestall this conversation all the same. Whatever wordless communication they were having must have reached some sort of consensus, because Gal cleared his throat.

“Regardless,” he said in a slightly louder voice, “now is hardly the time for this conversation. We came to get our story straight for the Assembly. They’ve already been questioning Davin all morning,” he added to Avani and me.

Gwyn nodded, once again refusing to look at me. At least that explained her clearly reluctant presence here.

“Speaking of,” Avani trailed off, standing up and walking into my closet.

It was painfully reminiscent of when Davin had gone to find me a scarf, and even when Gwyn had come to help me pick a dress for the festival, when I was hesitating for reasons that felt so stupid in comparison to these. At this point, Gallagher might be the only member of this family who hadn’t helped himself to my closet.

“Rumors have already started that your relationship with Davin was fake to begin with.” Gwyn’s tone was all begrudging business now. “So be ready to defend that first.”

Avani emerged holding a red dress, but Gwyn shook her head before I could respond.

“Too bold. She needs to look subtle, and…honest.” She said it like the word itself was a lie, and I bit back a sigh.

I didn’t bother telling them I could dress myself, not when they knew their people and Assembly better than I did and…not when Davin’s future was on the line.

Gallagher eyed the exchange but didn’t comment, instead picking up where Gwyn had left off. “Davin’s told them the rebels coerced you into leaving, which is close enough to the truth. As long as you stick with that, don’t mention Alexei, obviously, and just say that Davin caught up with you to take care of things as quickly as he could.”

“And when they ask where things stand now?” I finally forced myself to address the one question I had been avoiding, one I realized I should have discussed with Davin while I still had the chance. I had thought there would be time, after we were back at the castle for a while, after we had space to think.

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