Page 79 of A Dance of Shadows

I think he’s dislocated the joint.

Tears I can’t restrain well in my eyes. It’s all I can do not to outright sob.

Linus marches away from me to the door. He barges outside.

“Leave her be,” he commands the guards. “You don’t touch her or talk to her, and you don’t let anyone in to see her—no medics. She has a lesson to learn.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Aurelia

The pain in my shoulder blares on and on. I sink to the floor, focusing on my breathing in an attempt to steady myself.

The throbbing doesn’t completely subside, but as I stay still and calm, it fades from absolute agony to merely vicious discomfort.

Slowly, bracing my limp arm against my chest so my shoulder jostles as little as possible, I scoot across the floorboards to the door. With my jaw clamped tight, I tip my head against the wooden surface.

The floor in the hall creaks as if with a brief pacing. I can’t make out the words in the murmuring of voices.

I don’t think my guards are entirely comfortable with the orders Linus gave them. Kassun was on duty tonight. If he saw what state I’m in, if I asked him with these tears in my eyes… I think he might revolt and summon a medic after all.

And then what? I don’t think Linus would stop at dislocating a guard’s shoulder. He’d likely lose his entire head.

This problem isn’t his to solve—or be punished for.

I prop myself against the door and close my eyes. The pain gradually dulls more. A pulsing burn radiates down my arm and through my chest, but it’s tempered enough that it’s easier for me to think.

How long does Linus plan to leave me here, enduring my injury? We’re already well past the eleventh bell. Will he return with a medic in the morning after he decides I’ve learned my lesson?

Will it evenbeLinus who emerges from the emperor’s apartment in the morning? He’s taken on the role for the past two days without breaks. The twins normally switch off more often than that. I have to think Marc will insist that he gets his turn.

He knows the sorts of trouble his twin instigated during our last two capital visits. He’ll want the chance to smooth over any disaster Linus created.

It’s possible Linus will argue, but he’s already gotten the spectacle and the celebration he wanted. I don’t think he’d push his brother farther than he has to, especially without a godlen-blessed armband to give him extra courage.

Will he admit to Marc what he did to me? Or hope that his twin will simply notice my absence and consider it a failing of mine?

As much as I’m trying to set the brothers against each other, it’s possible Linus is also trying to turn Marc against me.

My head tilts with my fatigue, and the ache of Linus’s blows radiates through my skull. I close my eyes, fighting to steady my mind.

I need to solidify Marc’s faith in me now more than ever. The more I can win him over, the safer I’ll be—and the sooner I’ll be truly secure.

I can use this setback as I have others before, can’t I? Playing the sweet, weak lamb has worked to my advantage plenty of times in the past.

Why wait for him to discover me when I can reach out to him for help? Act like I trust him to look after me?

I have to remind him of just how much I need his protection—and want it.

I let my eyes stay closed and tuck my legs closer to my body. The hall outside has gone quiet. Lanternlight wavers through the windows where I didn’t have the chance to shut the curtains, but otherwise I’m draped in shadows.

Despite my exhaustion after the long day, the constant throb of my shoulder makes true sleep impossible. I manage to doze, my mind drifting away for vague stretches and snapping back to alertness when my posture sags and sends a sharper pang through my arm. My thoughts muddle into a nonsensical haze.

Through the fog, an image I’ve seen before rises up: the hawk battering me with its wings and claws, the dove that sheds those vicious feathers in my embrace.

Ridiculous, I think at my godlen.Marc is nothing like a dove.

But he’s still a tamer hawk than his twin. I’ll take what I can get.

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