Page 46 of A Frozen Pyre
Ophir leaned into the door frame. “There is no circumstance where I see the two of you being civil, and now you’re both just sitting here? What happened while I was in the bath?”
Dwyn cast a pointed brow toward Tyr.
He glared back before saying, “Convincing Dwyn that you were not to blame for my secrecy included the caveat that I would stop making our issuesyourproblem.”
Ophir looked skeptically at Dwyn.
Dwyn, still reclining on the bed, merely shrugged.
“You’re not going to fight because it’s not good for me? Where the hell was that mentality before?”
Dwyn lowered her eyes to her nails, pressing on her cuticles as she inspected each finger. “Ask your dog.”
Tyr blew out a loud breath. “We’re…trying. Some of us harder than others.”
Ophir tilted her head against the doorway, gentle droplets of clean water splashing from her hair to the floor below. She said, “I was thinking about you while I was in the bath.”
It was met with equal parts delight from Tyr and disdain from Dwyn.
“Not like that,” Ophir said, exhaustion heavy. “If word is spreading of your presence, then we need to stage an arrival. You’re going to have to show up at the castle’s front door. You were last spotted in Tarkhany, so you can come in throughthe forest. Zita and her retinue must have used the door. I created a boulder to block it, but I’ve learned a very important lesson on the difference between dissuasion and destruction. I think you need to make your entrance no later than tomorrow’s breakfast.”
Dwyn flopped backward onto the bed. She stared at the ceiling as she said, “Without the door, we’d just be sitting in anticipation for another month of travel before we had this war of kings and queens. At least this way we could get the meeting over with. Everything’s out in the open.”
“I guess…” Ophir said uncertainly.
Dwyn sat up. “You could end the wars before they begin, you know.”
She frowned from where she leaned. Tyr had also grown strangely still, staring at Dwyn rather than Ophir.
Dwyn leaned forward conspiratorially. “I just mean, you’re more powerful than they realize. You’re more powerful thanyourealize.”
Ophir shuffled uncomfortably from the bathing room frame to the armoire. She fished for a nightdress, a robe, and a pair of warm socks. Despite the fires and the castle’s enchantments, the early signs of winter brought chill into the very air. She ignored Dwyn entirely as she disappeared into the bathing room to change. By the time Dwyn reemerged, she had an announcement.
“So, Tyr, are you ready to make your debut?”
Sixteen
Dwyn had scarcely opened the bedroom door beforeregretting it. A wave of eucalyptus and the clang of bracelets preceded yet another assault of annoyances.
“Hi! Good morning! I just wanted to follow up on the noise, and what you were thinking? Perhaps we could strategize about the neutralizer?” Suley fidgeted against the wall just beyond the door to the room that Dwyn and Ophir shared. “I overheard something at the meeting. Something with—”
“Why are you here?” Dwyn quickly raked her fingers through her hair, smoothing out the pieces that had tangled in the night.
“I told you, I heard something…”
“No.” Dwyn clicked her tongue. “Here. Now. Why are you outside my door first thing in the morning? I just need tea and to crawl back into bed.”
“I waited until I heard you say you wanted tea. I made sure the princess was asleep so she wouldn’t overhear.”
“You spied on my mind,” Dwyn clarified. “The servants weren’t answering.”
“I know,” Suley agreed. “I intercepted them.”
Dwyn wanted to hit the fae for interrupting any semblance of morning peace. All of the bangles, beauty, and tattoos ofthe world be damned, she had no interest in breaking bread with the obnoxious.
Suley crossed her arms as she ticked through Dwyn’s thoughts. “No, we’ve already been over this. You can’t kill me. Draining won’t work, as we discussed. You’d be discovered in under three hours, Dwyn. Yes, you got away with it before because you targeted marginalized servants. You’re no fool. You know Zita would raise hell to find me. No, you can’t slap me, either. You’re the only one in the castle with such suspicion over their head; all eyes would be on you. Honestly, it’s a shock they’re not already targeting you after your murdering spree. Stop that, you know it’s not wise. Dwyn, you’re more intelligent than that. Good, that’s better, but it still won’t work. Oh, I’m not impressed, you’d never get away with that. What? Excuse me! That’s very foul language.”
Dwyn mirrored her folded arms.
