Page 30 of Ties of Starlight

“Why did you do that? I need to—” Before she could even attempt to set her bag in its usual place and secure it, he was pulling the strap out of her hand and moving to do it himself.

“Don’t lose your head. I am capable of securing a bag as well; you’re not the only one with that rare set of skills,” Nyrunn said, and as he moved to do so, the flap shifted to show a peek at the books inside. Her heart was crawling up her throat, but he was focused on his work. “Although why you’re hauling around these books is beyond me. I know you practically lived in the library, but surely you can manage a few weeks without breaking your back over them? Especially for a copy of my uncle’s account of the last Cometa Couple. It’s like you want to worry yourself sick about what could happen.”

“I’m half-human,” Idonea sneered, grabbing at the reins as her heart leapt to her throat. The last thing she needed was him digging into that. “What point is there in someone like you trying to understand me?”

He looked up, leaning in, one hand on the horse’s flank and the other on her knee. He smirked. “Your husband, you mean? Ah, an incomprehensible mystery, to be sure, why I might seek to understand my own wife.”

Heat flooded her cheeks, and she had to be turning bright red. But that didn’t stop her from glaring at him.

He squeezed her knee and said, “Now, it would make much more sense to me if you were carrying around a journal. This is a momentous experience; having the first-hand account of Gytha’s chosen would be something indeed.”

Had he gone looking when she’d left the bag in the tent? She started to lean forward, forgetting her precarious position, and he quickly caught her, righting her even as she hissed, “How dare you invade my privacy and—”

“What are you talking about? Is one of those books a journal? I didn’t touch any of them.”

He hadn’t?

She was being paranoid, and her panic had loosened her tongue far more than she could afford. She sat back in her saddle, shifting to try and dislodge his hands still on her sides, but they didn’t leave. “If you must know, I have found great comfort in reading historical accounts of previous Cometa Couples. I can learn from their failures to ensure I fulfill my role perfectly. If you are interested in studying them for yourself and your own edification, all I request is that you at least ask before taking one since I went to the trouble of bringing them and am responsible for them.”

He would have no such interest, she was certain of that, but even if he did, that should give her enough warning to keep him from coming across any of her journals that could reveal the truth.

And why was he still touching her? He should bepulling his hands away and going to wash them like she was a flea-ridden mongrel.

It’d been three lifetimes since the first time she’d heard that insult and it was still rattling around her head. To be fair, Bror had used it often as well. It wasn’t even clever.

“That sounds reasonable, and thank you for the offer.” His fingers shifted, running over the fabric as he looked up at her and sending a rush through her wherever they went. “Idonea, about last night—”

“Your Majesty! We must get moving if we are to keep on schedule!” Idonea looked over her shoulder to see Lord Frode heading their way, on his steed. The lord received a fierce glare from Nyrunn, and he blanched immediately, taking in the scene before him. Idonea, however, welcomed the interruption.

But Frode was already turning around and saying, “Just say the word when you’re ready, Your Majesty!”

Nyrunn sighed, shaking his head. “He’s useful, but at what cost?”

Idonea couldn’t help her laugh. She’d known Nyrunn had wit, given she’d often been on the unfortunate end, but she hadn’t expected him to pull a laugh from her. From the way his eyes lit up and his lips quirked, he hadn’t seemed to expect it either.

It didn’t mean anything. Bror had occasionally made comments when she’d been around that had earned a snort from her, only for him to then point out just how human the noise was and belittle her for it.

“Anyway, I won’t belabor the point. All I was going to say was that I would like to set aside the past and start fresh with each other. I think it will make the rest of this trip, and our marriage as a whole, much smoother if we can be peaceable at the very least.”

Idonea preferred being ignored by him. But shesupposed he had a point, and she couldn’t exactly refuse him. She nodded. “Alright. Peaceable sounds within reach.”

Nyrunn finally pulled his hands back and went to mount his own steed. Idonea quickly took up her reins and hurried to the rest of their party to take her place at the back like usual. Peaceable didn’t mean she had to be attached to him.

Chapter 12

Nyrunn’s wife was the most mysterious woman he’d ever encountered, especially now that she was his wife and not the object of his—in hindsight rather pathetic—pining. His world had been rather turned upside down, and the woman he would have said not long ago that he adored was now a stranger to him. Every interaction he’d ever had with her was no longer obscured by his poor interpretation.

Idonea was a mystery he was determined to solve.

Distance and duty clearly weren’t getting him anywhere. He might as well learn exactly who the woman he was married to was and give up the one he’d had in his head. The one in his head certainly didn’t call him cruel or flinch away from him.

If he wanted to even have just an amicable relationship with his wife, he needed to get to the bottom of her secrets. Of one thing about Idonea, Nyrunn was certain.

She was hiding something.

There's something about her I never figured out, but I know it's wrong.

The letter stayed with Nyrunn even though at this point he had every hateful word memorized. He was loath to give any credence to anything Olaug had written, but there might be a hint of truth to that one. “Wrong” probably wasn’t the correct word, but there was something about Idonea that didn’t make sense.

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