Page 49 of The Scarlet Star

“Now would be an excellent time to kill her.”

“Then who was it?” Xerxes asked. He didn’t mean to take a step closer, to reveal desperation in his voice, but that’s what happened. He also became aware of how soaked with sweat his shirt was, how his face might have glistened. How he must have smelled.

“It was a god,” she said, seeming not to notice.

A god.

Xerxes tilted his head. Estheryn Electus had the favour of a god? A god who couldcureillnesses?

“Which one? Iris?” he guessed. “Helios? Boreas?”

The funny smile on her face vanished. “I can’t tell you that,” she said.

“Why not?” Xerxes took another step in by accident. They were nearly against each other now, and a light flutter moved through his stomach when she shifted her footing and almost brushed against him. He took the opportunity to search her face for clues. This maiden heard his voices, she made them go quiet. Whatever power was at her fingertips… He needed it.

She didn’t explain anything. “Do you trust me, King?” she asked, and Xerxes made a face.

“No, of course not.”

She cast him a look. “Fine. I don’t trust you either.”

His mouth curled into an absurd smile. He bit down on his lips and shooed it away. “I could have you interrogated,” he pointed out. “I could learn all your secrets that way.”

Estheryn’s cheeks paled. Even though he meant it as a joke, she didn’t laugh. In fact, her reaction was so strong that Xerxes realized something he hadn’t picked up on before in any of his encounters with her. He eyed her blanched cheeks, a twitch of her lashes. The Heartstealer he chose to be here. The young woman almost exactly his age who had a terrible father, yet who apparently had the favour of one of the seven Celestial Divinities.

He took a slow step back. To leave, maybe. Or to give her space?

“Don’t wander the gardens for too long,” he advised. “I’ll come hunting for you if you do.”

Neither of them laughed, but she gave him a tight smile that looked forced. Xerxes glanced up toward her chamber window, searching for her guards. He saw her guardswoman climbing over the sill, high above.

At least Estheryn wouldn’t be alone.

“Let’s dance tomorrow,” Xerxes said, bringing his attention back down. “We’ll talk then.”

Estheryn didn’t object with her mouth, but a crease of worry formed between her brows.

Worry that he was showing her favouritism, maybe. That he’d shown her favouritism since the Introduction Ceremony where he spoke to her and none of the other maidens. Worry that his favour would only make her more of a target, when she was already an obstacle in many people’s way.

Xerxes wondered if she thought he hadn’t noticed what his attention did to her. How absurd; he always saw everything that happened in the palace. In the beginning, he hadn’t cared if she was a target of the Intelligentsia—he’d hoped she would be.He’dwantedthem to become irritated by her presence. But now, Xerxes supposed he wanted other things more.

“I’ll be sharing a dance witheachof the maidens,” he clarified. He didn’t mention he’d just decided that in this moment. Or that the thought of actually participating in a Heartstealer event repulsed him more than she’d ever be able to imagine.

But she breathed a small sigh of relief, and that was worth it. At least, it was worth it at present. It wouldn’t be worth it at the dance tomorrow.

“Of course,” she nodded and smiled a little.

Xerxes stole one last glance up the wall where the guardswoman was halfway to the bottom. Another second or two and she’d be by Estheryn’s side.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” Xerxes said. He turned and headed back through the garden, a thousand questions on the tip of his tongue he dared not ask. He pushed through the bushes, catching his damp shirt on a twig.

When he reached the training field, he saw the Folke were back at it. Many of them fashioned swelling bruises or fresh, dripping cuts. But they fought, regardless. Xerxes watched them without really seeing them.

Instead, he saw Estheryn’s face when he made that joke about interrogating her for her secrets. He’d found the maiden interesting since the beginning, but he’d never looked at her long enough to realize the most interesting thing of all.

Estheryn Electus was hiding something. Something big enough to make her fear him, even though she had the power to still his voices and give sight to a beggar in the street. What did someone like that have to be afraid of?

He planned to find out what it was.

---