Page 91 of Destroyer

Ru sighed. He was going to pretend it had never happened, just like before. Was she truly that repulsive to him?

“You need to eat,” said Fen, pulling on his boots and running a hand through his hair, which was even messier than usual. “Shall we get breakfast before heading down?”

“Heading down where?” asked Ru, sitting up in bed, pulling at her dress bodice, wishing for something more comfortable. “I meant what I said at dinner last night. I’m not doing anything with or for the Children.”

Fen paused in his attempts to tame his hair, expression surprised and mildly impressed. “You know the regent will revoke funding if we don’t show Lord D’Luc something world-changing. Or at leastsomething,which is the opposite of what we have now.”

“I know,” said Ru, sliding gently out of bed. “He’ll certainly want to take the artifact back to the palace with him.”

Fen frowned. “What you said last night, about the artifact. Will you be… okay with that?”

Ru chewed her lip. Since finding the artifact, it had never truly occurred to her to be apart from it — what such a thing would feel like, whether the connection would stretch, or break altogether. At that moment, she acknowledged for the first time that she had simply, from the very moment she had touched it,knownthat the artifact was part of her in some arcane, soul-deep, unknowable way. And she suspected that while being separated from the artifact wouldn’t kill her, it would take a toll on her.

“No,” she answered finally. “I won’t. Which is why I won’t allow him to take it.”

“I hope this isn’t the artifact talking again,” Fen said, and she knew he was only half-joking.

“I’m serious,” she protested, smoothing her skirts and wriggling her feet into her boots. “It’s safer here than at the palace. My brother sent me a letter that was more than a bit worrying, despite his insistence that he’s safe. There’s something going on in Mirith, or at court, that we haven’t heard about. The regent said she’d taken care of the traitors who attacked us, but… maybe they weren’t the only ones. Or maybe she was lying. Can we truly trust Sigrun? And what about Lord D’Luc? I want to trust him, but the Children…” she trailed off, shivering slightly at the thought of them, the memory of their glittering eyes.

Fen sighed. “I’m finding I don’t trust anyone these days, with the exception of you.”

A sudden knocking at the door made Ru jump, reaching for Fen’s arm by instinct.

“Ru, wake up, please be awake,” came the frantic sound of Gwyneth’s voice.

Fen crossed the room and flung open the door.

Gwyneth froze at the sight of him, her wide-eyed stare traveling from his disheveled hair to the unmade bed to Ru, who was tying her boots and probably looked just as unintentionally debauched as Fen did.

“Gwyn,” said Ru, staving off the inevitable flood of questions with a pointed look, “what’s wrong?”

Gwyneth blinked, shaking her head a bit as if clearing a slew of sudden new thoughts from her head. “Right, I’m glad to see that you’re both… here. Archie and I were having breakfast, and on our way to the dungeon, we heard raised voices from the vestibule. We went to investigate, and Ru, it’s terrible. The worst possible thing.”

All manner of possibilities rushed through Ru’s mind: someone had died, someone had come to kill or kidnap her, more Children had arrived; there was no end to the jumble of anxieties that flew through her. She reached thoughtlessly for Fen again.

“Spit it out,” Fen said.

“It’s Lord D’Luc,” Gwyneth exclaimed, her face a mask of anguish. “He’s already here.”

Ru and Fen shared a brief yet intense look. Ru saw in his eyes that he would act with her no matter the cost. The artifact would stay at the Cornelian Tower.

“I guess we’d better prepare for the party,” Ru said.

Gwyneth stared. “Are you joking?”

“I was perfectly clear last night at dinner,” said Ru. “We’ll continue our researchwithoutthe Children, until Lord D’Luc arrives. It seems he’s here. Research is concluded for now.”

“But Ru,” Gwyneth protested, her large dark eyes shining, “we don’t have anything to show him! He’ll get the regent to stop funding us, he’ll take the artifact, it will all have been for nothing. You’ll never know why you…” she caught herself, swallowing hard.

“I may never know,” Ru said, putting on a face of determination even though she felt a myriad clambering emotions beneath the surface. She knew what Gwyneth had been about to say.Why you killed them. “You’re right, Gwyn. But I have to accept that. In the meantime, what I really need right now is a party to cheer me up.”

Gwyneth did not look at all convinced, but allowed the other two to herd her from the room obediently. She offered to accompany Ru and Fen to breakfast but they declined, and Gwyneth’s intuition doubtless made clear that Ru wanted to be alone with Fen.

* * *

They spentthe morning and afternoon together, a perfect ease between them. And even with the early arrival of Lord D’Luc; even with the artifact’s constant inexplicable pull on her; even with the ever-present memories of the Shattered City dig site, memories that clung to her subconscious like flies, never to be eradicated, Ru felt settled. Almost happy.

For the moment, at least, she had let go.

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