Page 71 of Bride of the Midnight Prince

“You don’t want to?”

“I do not.”

“Then don’t.”

He only smiles and then moves his piece to claim the last opening around the Fool. “I win.”

Chapter 22

Rahk

We’vehardlyputawaythe game before Edvear’s hurried footsteps come down the hallway. By now, I know the variations of his stride well. This one has my spine stiffening.

“What’s wrong?” Nat asks, just as she slides the game onto its usual place on the shelf.

I glance at her, startled that she should be able to read me so well, so quickly. A curt reply leaps to my lips, since I cannot lie, but I stop myself. I owe her better than that. “I hope nothing serious,” I reply honestly.

Edvear’s knock is insistent. I bid him enter. He doesn’t even see Nat in the corner and rushes to hand me a crisp white missive. “I just received this from Nothril! I meant to go earlier in the day like usual but with the aftermath of the assassins—”

“Do not worry yourself,” I say as I take the note. “You may leave.”

The room is quiet a moment later. Nat stands like a ghost in the corner, clearly caught between retiring to her own chambers or awaiting my bidding. I break the seal on the note, my heart already quickening its rhythm. It is in Pelarusa’s hand. Concerningly few words are written on the note. I skim it in half a second.

Pavi messed up.

Ice washes through my veins. I stuff the note in my pocket and cast around for my swords. They’re not here—they’re in my study.

“What’s wrong?” Nat asks quietly. She has already gone into motion herself and a second later, she hands me a cloak and a pair of boots.

Gratefully, I swing on the cloak and yank each boot onto my feet. “I don’t know. All I know is that it involves my sister.”

“What can I do?” she asks, her tone serious, without a hint of her usual irreverence. She moves fast with me, following me toward the study. “Your knives are in the bedroom. Should I fetch them?”

I grab my two swords from under my desk, swing them onto my back, and fasten their buckles. “No, this is all I need. I will leave at—” My fingers slip on the buckles of the second sword. The weapon nearly drops to the ground.

But Nat is there, catching the buckle and tightening it for me.

I spare one second to look down at her as she fastens the buckle. She is focused, sharp, while I am caving for a second time. Part of me hates her for it, but it is only because I hate myself for these stupid weaknesses. For caring about my sister when I should let her survive on her own merits.

The greater part of me is relieved that for this one moment, there is someone who will compensate for my shaking fingers without requiring a hefty price in return.

She looks up at me with such concern in her brown eyes. That expression is dangerous. It will make me confide my fears in her when I shouldn’t. It will make me want to trust her far more than I ought.

“I don’t know when I will be back,” I say as I stride past her, letting the glamours fall from my wings even before I shut the door behind me.

Pelarusameetsmeatthe iron gates of Nothril.

“What happened?” I demand as the guards let me through. Coolness washes over me as we step into the entrance of the deep cave that is the palace.

“Pavi and her young handmaiden decided to play aprankon one of her bodyguards. They stole his helmet and painted pink flowers across the whole thing.” Pelarusa keeps pace with my fast strides, heading toward the throne room. “She is such an idiot sometimes. But that wasn’t where things went wrong.”

“Let me guess,” I growl, frustration building up inside my gut, “Lord and Lady Nothril announced their intention to punish the servant instead of Pavi, and Pavi could not stomach that. She intervened—and then things escalated.”

“Exactly.” Pelarusa throws up her hands. “I should have just let them kill her. I don’t know why I care at this point. She is asking to be put to death. Lady Nothril is simply too fond of her to have allowed it to happen so far.”

“The punishment for the servant?”

“They took her hands. One for her fault, one for Pavi’s fault. Pavi was supposed to be the one to do it.”

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