Page 96 of The Courting of Bristol Keats
He wanted her.He wanted her deeply.He’d been warned he needed to shake the idea from his head, but he had already tried too many times—on the ride to retrieve the Lumessa, and on the ride back.
Maybe it was seeing the tip of Braegor’s sword pressed to her throat, and the sheer terror that had gripped him. Maybe it was their almost kiss in the barn and the scent of her skin so close to his it made him dizzy. Maybe it was the ache in his chest when he laid her unconscious on her bed and knew he wouldn’t be there when she woke up. There was something about the desperation of that day, almost losing her, the near finality, that turned hazy thoughts into sharp and bright ones.
He didn’t just want her, helovedher. And he had for a long time.
Even now, all he could think about was how she was feeling. Maybe he should take her some food? But Kasta already told him attendants were delivering trays to her five times a day, and they mostly went untouched.Just give her space, Tygh. It seemed to be a new phrase they were all using. Especially in regard to him.
But he didn’t want space between them. He was tired of everyone’s warnings. Tired of the council. Tired of paying for his brother’s sins. He wasn’t Kierus, and he wasn’t his brother.
Kasta tossed a stray cherry at Tyghan to get his attention. It landed in his glass, splashing whiskey onto the table. “Look at you. All dressed up like a king.”
Tyghan glanced down at his formal black jacket. “Even kings must sometimes appease counselors and High Witches.”
“But no crown?”
Tyghan leveled a glare at Kasta. He could only be pushed so far.
“All right,” she answered. “But have you at least been out on the grounds talking to anyone yet? Making your presence known? I think that was the point. It’s your first night back. Your subjects might find it reassuring to see their king walking among them.”
Tyghan fished the cherry out of his drink and ate it, then spat the pit off to the side. “You’re my subject. And you see me. Are you reassured?”
Kasta grunted.
“Let him be,” Dalagorn said. “Four days with those Sisters looking over our shoulders is enough to make anyone hide in a corner. Even an ogre. Even a king.”
Quin hissed. “And those damn wolves of theirs. I still feel their hot slimy mouths on my skin. Every time I made a quick move, I had a bracelet of teeth around my wrist.” He chugged back his drink, but mid-swig he stopped and set down his glass. “Well, would you look who Hollis is talking to? Someone’s not hiding in her room anymore.”
Tyghan’s eyes shot up and followed the line of Quin’s gaze. Bristol came in and out of view as partygoers passed between them. She was seated at an overlook about twenty yards away. Julia and Sashka sat on either side of her, the other recruits standing around her.
“That’s a good sign,” Dalagorn mused. “She’s adjusting.”
“You mean getting used to the overgrown tick inside her?” Quin said. “Who could ever get used to that?”
Glennis frowned. “None of them are dancing. Usually they—”
“They’re not dancing because she’s not dancing,” Tyghan said. It was obvious to him. “They’re creating a protective buffer around her. Look at the gentry.”
The lords and ladies near them were staring, shaking their heads. Wings flapped with contempt. Lips turned hard, holding back curses. Did they think her oversized tick and potential magic were a threat? But a few, council members like Lord Csorba and Lady Barrington, stood a bit farther back, smugly eyeing her, with another secret warming their hearts. They saw something else.Hostage.
Tyghan’s focus returned to Bristol. In just a few days, she had become thinner, her eyes darker. Her neck was stiff, like she was using every bit of strength she had to keep her chin held high in the middle of the surrounding scrutiny.
“It’s her first night back since the tick was discovered,” Kasta said. “They’ll move on to some other juicy news to entertain them, especially now that she’s not hiding in her room.”
Tyghan wasn’t so sure, and then he spotted Reuben descending the grand staircase in a rush, his long hair streaming behind him. His black eyes gleamed and were hotly focused in Bristol’s direction.
“I don’t like what I’m seeing,” Tyghan said, heat already burning his temples.
The others spotted Reuben too. “Neither do I,” Quin and Kasta said almost simultaneously. “We’ll go—”
Tyghan was already standing. “I’ll take care of this,” he said, and left to intercept the sorcerer. He stepped into Reuben’s path long before he reached Bristol, making him come to a startled stop. “Something on your mind, Reuben?” he asked.
“Nothing to trouble you, Your Majesty. I only need to talk to one of the novices,” he answered, and tried to sidestep Tyghan.
Tyghan blocked his path again. “Talk to me instead.”
Reuben’s brows pulled down with discernment. Anger trembled across his upper lip. “She has to go!” he snapped. “Look what she did!” He grabbed the bottom of his charred robe and shook it in his fist, black flecks of burned cloth flying loose. “I know it was her! If not for my amulets, I might have been burned to a crisp!”
“She hasn’t been able to perform the simplest of magics, and now you’re claiming she set you afire? Did you see her do it?”
