Page 57 of Beast and Remedy
Our favorite place after dinner.
Love,
Beau
Love…
Longing swells in my chest, the never-ending ache twitching—beggingme to answer his call. Even after crumbling the paper, I want to treasure this piece of him. Me. Us.
But I tuck it behind the basin until tomorrow, when I can take it with me to join the rest of letters from Beau hidden back home.
“So, no one, not even Beau’s advisors, has said a thing to you about the banishment?” I ask my sister after dressing in a dark-green gown.
Marian rests on the wide bed, big enough for three to four people, her deep red dress draped around her. The moon shines through the sheer curtains, the pale light casting against one side of her face while the warmth of the candles on the table illuminate her other cheek.
“Nothing at all,” she sighs, her feet dangling off the edge of the bed.
She kicks against the mattress as I dry the ends of my hair, hoping to soak up any lingering water adding extra weight to my long wavy locks.
“They probably wanted to wait till you were well,” I suggest.
“That’s the thing, though.” She eases upright, her hair sticking up from rubbing it against the sheets. “I don’t remember what they did for me when we got here. What I do remember is waking completely healed, and you nowhere in sight.”
I toss the towel to the side, deep in thought as I finger-comb my waves. “Did they say where I went?”
“Yeah, they filled me in. And believe me, I wanted to play it off, but with everyone saying they saw you…” She grimaces. “It was hard to hide.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose.
It doesn’t matter that we know Queen Tove’s and Beau’s abilities.
I’m over here breaking the one rule of sharing one’s magical gifts with other kingdoms the instant I see my friends again for the first time in years.
No one was supposed to know. No one was supposed to see.
And I hate the protectiveness clinging to me now, telling me to keep the esprit a secret from Marian.
“I’m sure they’ll bombard us with questions tonight,” I sigh.
“We don’t have to tell them anything.”
“No, that would make matters worse. Maybe we can leverage something?”
Marian huffs. “You’re joking.”
I shrug.
“Vi.” She laughs again. “We havenothingto leverage. We are in their lands, in their home, and needing their help.”
I rub my eyebrows through the mental exhaustion of the ever-growing mess I have created. “I’m not sure we should even ask anymore.”
“I thought you said Beau could—”
“It doesn’t matter what I said!” I snap. “We will only stir up more trouble for ourselves if we were to ask for help.”
Being around him again will jeopardize my people. My strength and resolve are already fraying with my heartbreak the longer we are here.
I can’t have his help. I can’t ask for it. It will wreck me more when we have to part.
