Page 100 of Kingdom of the Two Moons

She looks down to her feet. After a while she asks, “What does he want with me? Why am I here?”

Riven draws in another long breath. “That you also have to ask him yourself.”

Her head flies up. “He tells me nothing. And you… you said… you wouldprotectme. That you don’t know about his motivations. Was that also some nicely served semi-lie?”

Again, he lifts his hand to touch her, but she retreats another step, hissing, her eyes burning with betrayal. It slices like a knife to his side.

“It wasn’t. He…”Riven starts but catches himself. Hells, this shouldn’t be as hard as it feels. He shouldn’t have so much trouble choosing between her and Caryan. But for some dark reason, it is almost painful. Not telling her the truth, to see her hurt like that…

“Is this why hetradedme?” Her voice breaks, and he sees hereyes glittering like water.Tears.Such a mortal trait. Such a startlingly beautiful one, too. It briefly robs his breath.

“Caryan brought you here because of your heritage, yes,” Riven admits after a moment. Abyss, how much more should he tell her.

“But why make me scrub the floors?”she spits, her jaw a hard line.

“Someone broke through his wards.”

“Wards?” Her eyes are wide.

“Magical walls that surround his kingdom,” Riven explains with a wave of his hand.

“And why can someone break through them?”

“Every wall has holes, no matter how strong the magic is woven, how immaculate. Although it takes years to find one.”

“Years?” Melody asks, her incredulous tone matching Riven’s dark thoughts. “So those… Nefarians have been—”

“Studying Caryan’s wall for years and probing for a weakness, a way in, yes. Caryan felt it, that someone was prying but every time we went and searched we found nothing.”

“Because they have wings,” Melody says. “And you didn’t expect someone with wings who’d just fly off.”

Riven slowly shakes his head. “No. We didn’t.Ididn’t,” he adds bitterly, licking his teeth. He should have known. Should have at least suspected it, but he thought them loyal to Caryan, and if not to him, then at least to their leader. When he glances up, he finds her studying him closely. He looks away, out of the window as his throat works. He’s glad he’s kept the veil around his aura dense, pulled it up as soon as he set foot in the room, or she would read him like an open book. He’s not sure he could stand it—being confronted with his past. A past he keeps locked away from even himself.

Not now.

Maybe never.

He runs a hand through his hair and finally meets her eyes again. “Caryan’s waiting. He knows that someone invaded his kingdom. And has now infiltrated his court. He first wants to find out who and eliminate the threat.”

“And all those household chores are to keep me busy?”

“It seems so,” Riven offers.

Now Melody is the one to look away, swallowing hard. “And then?”

Her head snaps back to him when he doesn’t answer immediately. Oh, he was wrong—her fury hasn’t seized a bit. “Ah, right. You can’t,” she seethes.

“Melody,—” He gets up.

“Don’t you dare touch me! Stay the fuck where you are!” She withdraws further as he approaches nonetheless, bumping against the skeletal remains of what used to be a desk. She glances over her shoulder. With a snip of Riven’s fingers, it’s as immaculate as ever. Even the glass of water that stood there is back, refilled.

“It was a long night, for all of us. Let’s just—”Melody stares a moment at the restored desk before her head flies back to him, her whole body is trembling with rage.

“Let’s just what? Put me back together like a piece of furniture? Tuck me back into bed and forget about it? Pretend nothing happened? Are you going to read me a good-night story as well?”

“Melody, be reasonable, please. You’re tired and exhausted. You—”

“Reasonable? Don’t be so fucking slick for once! So untouchable! You have no idea what it was like with Lyrian! You have no idea what it’s like to be owned like a fucking thing!” With that, she lunges out and sweeps the water glass to the ground.

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