The whole table seemed to be in shock with her obvious disgust toward the king.

  “Be careful,” I hissed, glancing around for Aiyana.

  Renna nodded and closed her eyes a moment.

  We worked on the puzzle for the required two hours we were supposed to be in the common rooms. I alternated between looking out the window at the forest, searching for any sign of that gray wolf, and working on the puzzle.

  Renna was one of the first to leave once the time was up. Molly was not far behind, swapping out a book on the bookshelf before she left.

  “See you in a bit!” Gwen whispered with a smile before also leaving.

  Nara and I walked toward the door together, deciding that if everyone else was leaving, so should we.

  Owen and I had just fallen into step together when I heard Aiyana’s voice from behind me. She was talking loudly to Taleah, who appeared to be her best friend here. Thankfully for Taleah, she was in Prince Krewan’s consort and thus not in any way competition standing between Aiyana and the crown.

  “Did you see how quickly they all left today? Evidently, if they cannot gamble, they are more likely to spend more time properly preparing for the evening dinner,” Aiyana giggled. “How ladylike.”

  Owen whispered next to me, “You taught them how to play bingle, did you not?”

  “Yes.” There was no betting in bingle, but Aiyana obviously didn’t know how to play, or she would have known that.

  He rolled his eyes.

  “She does seem quite close to her guard though,” Aiyana added even louder, her voice full of contempt.

  Owen tensed.

  I didn’t want any rumors of that sort to start up and get either Owen or I in trouble.

  Owen must have thought the same thing as he spun in the hallway, clearly glaring at her as he began walking backward. “Prince Keiran requested me specifically to stay close to Jorah and protect her. Because apparently he cannot trust the lot of you to not attack her.”

  She looked pouty at his scolding.

  “So I will continue to be close to her, Aiyana, because you cannot be trusted. If you have a problem with it, you can take it up with Prince Keiran himself.”

  Over my shoulder, I saw she was looking down at her feet, red-faced, when we turned to make our leave.

  It took all my restraint, but I waited until we turned the next two corners before saying anything. “Why did you do that?!”

  “What?” Owen asked.

  “You scolded her like a child. You know she will do something because of it. To pay me back.”

  Owen shook his head. “The last thing we need is for her to go to the king thinking that you and I are chummy.”

  “And that really prevented her from going to the king?” I asked, frustration clear on my tone.

  “No,” Owen admitted. “But the four other guards present in the hallway, two of which I know are the king’s spies, both heard my response, and both know now that I am only following Prince Keiran’s orders.”

  That had me shutting up. “Oh.”

  We rounded the final set of stairs to my room, and I stumbled. There were people outside of my door. Quite a few.

  “Is something the matter?” I asked Renna. “Did someone get hurt?”

  She laughed. “No! If we can’t play in the commons, then we brought the game to you.”

  My jaw almost hit the floor. “You want to play cards right now?” I looked to Molly, Gwen, and Nara, all their guards also present. What if one was also one of the king’s spies? “Are you sure that’s wise?”

  Molly smiled. “We will say we were getting ready together, you know, braiding each other’s hair, that sort of feminine thing, if anyone asks.”

  I was shaking my head. They were nuts. They were going to get us all in trouble.

  “Are you going to let us in, or not?” Renna asked with a grin. “You created these monsters.”

  I looked to Owen as if asking if I should. The very last thing I wanted was another hallway run in with the king. He shrugged and gave me a little smirk as if saying okay.

  “Well, come on in, I guess,” I offered.

  The lot of us, women plus guards, all entered the room. Owen split the guards up, three staying outside the door, he and another inside with us.

  We all ended up sitting on my bed with the pillows around us. “Question?” I asked. “Did anyone happen to bring a deck of cards, then?”

  Molly put a finger in the air victorious before diving that same hand into her cleavage and wiggling a deck of cards out from between her breasts.

  Renna giggled and nudged me. “You should see your face right now.”

  I shook my head and looked at Gwen. “Did that really just happen?”

  Molly slapped the cards down in the middle of the bed. “Finally, a big bosom put to good use.”

  Owen made a choking noise in the corner of the room, and I sent him a glare.

  Nara handed me the cards to shuffle as we dissolved into fits of laughter.

  “Here, my dear,” Silvia said as she finished with my hair. As she had three times already, she opened up the little jar of healing ointment.

  I turned my wrist outward for her. My wrist had bruised in only two circular spots. But the fact that they were bruises from the king’s fingerprints had me more than ready for these bruises to fade. I wanted no reminder of what his grip had felt like.

  I could have put the stuff on myself, but Silvia demanded she do it. I think she was just worried.

  “Thank you,” I smiled at her as she finished.

  She gave me a half a smile. “I bet by tomorrow they are even lighter.”

  I shrugged. Just because they were fading from view didn’t mean I wasn’t always going to carry those marks with me.

  She leaned over and hugged me without prompting. “Please be careful.”

  I hugged her back.

  “I worked for the queen for years,” she whispered into my ear while still hugging me. “I was one of six or seven of us that did. That was the same place her bruises started as well.”

  My stomach recoiled with that bit of information.

  Silvia pulled back and wiped at her eyes. “Thankfully, you don’t have to marry the king though.”

  I closed my eyes and shook my head. “How either prince turned out decent is beyond me.”

  Silvia smiled and looked at the ceiling. “They are half Katarina, you know. And they lived through enough of the king’s . . . manipulations . . . to never want to become like him, I think.”

  I thought on that a moment. While Keir didn’t seem at all like his father, I knew firsthand sometimes Prince Krewan could be cruel just like his father. Or at least in the way in which he treated the lower levels of the kingdom.

  Silvia turned the music on while she got to work on my hair. Tonight, our color was red. And though this dress actually had straps, it also had a slit that showed more leg than I was used to. I almost wanted to wear gloves or one of the jackets or wraps in my closet to cover up my bruises but decided against it. If the king truly liked hurting others, he was only going to enjoy my trying to cover up those marks. And I would not allow him an ounce more of satisfaction than was required.

  After a few hours with the women and some time with Silvia, I was prepared to head to evening dinner and face the king once again. Hopefully I could avoid him the entire night this time.

  “Walk with me?” Prince Keiran asked, as was our ritual after the evening meal. He didn’t get to me until almost the end of the night. It was later than usual, but I wasn’t going to complain after the special privileges I had received the day before.

  I took his arm and he headed us toward our spot outside on the balcony. I knew I wasn’t the only one he took out there, but I tried not to think too much on it.

  “How was your day yesterday?” he asked.

  I sighed. “Lovely. Absolutely lovely. Yours?”

  “Monotonous and dull.”

  The look on his face had me trying not to laugh. “I’m sorry.”

  He smirked. “Do not be. While I was miserable, it brought me a little joy to know that you were at least somewhere you wished to be.”

  I turned to see that he looked quite tired. “Are you all right?”

  He gave me a nod. “Yes. I’ve been staying up late with Krew so I’m exhausted, and yesterday was hell, otherwise fine. Not to worry though, we only have to keep up these evening dinners for another week or two. Then the balls start up.”

  My eyes went wide. “Balls?”

  He gave a nod. “Yes. These evening dinners were supposed to help us . . .” he trailed off as if not knowing what to say.

  “Weed us out?” I offered, disgust clear on my voice.

  He shrugged. “In a manner of speaking, yes. And to help prepare you all for the balls. Somewhat of a practice round.”

  “How often will the balls be?” I asked, excited to be told something about how this all worked for once.

  “Once a week. The rest of the evenings we get to invite one or two of you to dinner at a time, more intimate settings,” he informed me.

  I sighed, loving that piece of information. But I also realized I might not see him every day at that point. “I will see you less?”

  He smirked. “Or possibly more. Depends.”

  “On what?”

  He reached for my hand. “On if you’d like to see me more or less often. Or if you are still pining for that boy in Nerede.”

  I looked into his blue eyes, eyes that were full of so much light in comparison to his brother and father. Even now, when he sounded curious and slightly jealous, he wasn’t so jealous that he was angry. His mouth was pulled into a half smirk, somewhat playful as usual.

  “There is no pining over Will, Keir. I would’ve thought Owen relayed that piece of information.” I paused. “And I should like to see you more often. There’s a lot about you I do not know. I’d like to know more.”

  He moved a step closer to me. “Likewise, sweetheart.” He added at a whisper, “I want to know it all.”

  I reached for his tailcoat lapel, needing something to hold. “I know I am not the only woman here you are getting to know. I have no false notions—”

  He grabbed my hand and spun it outward, so he could see my wrist.

  I looked in his eyes and his locked onto mine. However I was going to finish my sentence fell off into a black void.

  His jaw clenched. “What is that?”

  I took a deep breath.

  “And from what precisely?”

  I closed my eyes, and felt the tears sting them, the shame of what had been done to me.

  “Jorah.”

  I opened my eyes at his touch, as he took my cheek in his hands again. His voice was deadly calm. “Did he hurt you?”

  Apparently, he knew exactly who had caused those bruises.

  “When?” he snapped. He was angry, but not at me. “Please tell me.”

  I swallowed hard. “Two nights ago. He caught up to Owen and me in the hallway. Owen didn’t tell you?”

  He released me and spun to look at the door. He looked at me, then the door. As if sensing how upset he was, I could see his blue magic running along his veins, close to the surface, his skin starting to glow with the hum of power.

  “Keir.”

  He looked at me.

  “Owen didn’t tell you?”

  He shook his head. “No, because he probably thought I’d do something reckless. Like I’m considering doing right now.”

  He took two stomps toward the door.

  I didn’t know what he was going to do, I only knew I had to stop it. If he made a move on his father in front of everyone, I wouldn’t put it past his father to kill him, right on the spot. I caught up to him and stood in his way.

  “Jorah, he hurt you,” he bit out. “You have bruises.”

  I looked up at the stars, my eyes blurry. “I know but acting now when you are angry and tired isn’t probably the best timing.” I took a deep breath. “He just wanted to scare me, Keir. He knows we have a connection, and he doesn’t like it.”

  “I don’t care what he doesn’t like. He hurt you,” Keir fired back, vibrating with rage.

  I reached up to touch his cheek, the blue magic I could see rolling through him fading with my touch. “He did hurt me. And it was far from okay, but please calm down. If you go in there and make a scene, he will hurt you. And while what happened to me is already done with, I cannot bear to watch it happen to someone else on my behalf.”

  He leaned into my touch and took some deep breaths, closing his eyes and just breathing.

  When he opened them, they seemed glassy. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I’m sorry that happened to you.” He paused. “Krew was right. This is my fault. I should’ve been more careful with you.”

  He gently took my hand, then travelled his fingers to my wrist, looking at the two bruises and gently brushing his fingers across them. Then he bent down to kiss my skin above my bruises. “I will be more careful, Jorah.”

  I tried to smile at him, as best as I could given the range of emotions I was feeling.

  “May I hug you?” he asked quietly.

  I gave him a nod. “Yes, please.”

  He wrapped his arms around me and breathed into my hair. He was so tall that I was level with his heart, but I didn’t mind.

  “Brother,” Prince Krewan barked from the door. “Can you two stop flirting and please get in here so we can dismiss the Assemblages already?”

  Keir let out a breath I felt in my hair. “Yeah,” he snapped.

  Keir kissed me on the head, then moved to join his brother. As he reached Prince Krewan’s side, he grabbed his champagne glass out of his hand and threw back the entire contents of the glass.

  Prince Krewan looked at me as if I had a horn protruding from my forehead, as if it were my fault his brother was acting weird.

  Without another word to me or Prince Krewan, Keir walked into the room to begin dismissing us.

  I contemplated heading to rage bake after Keir dismissed me for the night, this time not feeling so ragey, mostly just wanting to see Keir again. But then I considered a run in with the king, who had excused himself right after the meal, and I decided against it.

  I sat in bed tossing and turning for a bit, before giving up to head to the window. I looked out at the forest, again looking for the wolf, but also just taking in the way the moonlight brushed against the tops of the trees.

  I heard a noise that sounded like a dull knocking, and I realized it was coming from my fireplace again.

  Someone was there. But this time I was pretty sure it wasn’t Owen.

  The question was: who was it this time?

  CHAPTER 19

  There was a creaking noise as the shelf opened.

  I had my mouth open to call for Easton, wishing like anything that Owen was here instead, when Keir’s head popped in the space between the wall and the shelf.

  “Jorah. It’s me. Are you decent?” he whispered while looking toward the door.

  I couldn’t help but smirk from where I sat at the window. I was wearing my silk pajamas, so yes, I was unacceptable and dressed scandalously by castle standards, but I was fully covered. “And if I wasn’t?”

  He turned his head to look at me. “Well at least I was a gentleman and asked?”

  I giggled.

  “Hi,” he stated as he brushed himself off. He was still wearing his trousers from dinner but had ditched his tailcoat and was wearing just his vest and his long-sleeved black muslin shirt. It was a far more casual look than I was used to seeing him in, even if he was only sans tailcoat, but I enjoyed it all the same.

  “Hi.”

  He looked confused for a moment. “Why are you sitting on the floor?”

  I shrugged. “I like the view by the window? I sit here a lot.”

  He looked around my room. “So pull a chair over there?”

  I again shrugged. “It’s not worth the effort of moving it back and forth.”

  He squinted at me.

  “I was about to yell for Easton for help,” I told him. “You are lucky I didn’t already scream.”

  He snorted. “Some help he’d be. Considering I told him I was coming.”

  “Oh.” Obviously, I’d had no idea.

  I stood to approach him. This was different. We were alone. Completely alone. No guard, though there was one outside the door, but no watchful eyes. No one, not a soul, except us.

  “May I?” he asked as he gestured toward the settee.

  I nodded. “Of course.”

  He sat, somehow eating up almost all of the settee that I could lay down on and still have enough room. “Care to join me?”

  I sat next to him, facing him. “Why are you here, Your Grace?”

  He took a deep breath. “Let me explain, okay?”

  Explain what exactly? I gave him a nod.

  Keir closed his eyes a moment. “I’m going to start to pull away from you.”

  My eyebrows slammed together. He was going to send me home?

  “Only in public!” he added, as if he could sense where my head had gone. “I am going to make it seem like I am no longer as interested in you.”

  I considered that a moment.

  “Krew was right, Jorah. You have Iron Will. Flaunting you in front of my father like that was reckless. And it ended up getting you hurt.” He turned sideways to better look at me. “I don’t wish to pull away from you. I don’t wish to play any sort of game with you. But to keep you safe, I fear I must.”

  I cocked my head. “So you are going to be less interested in me and more interested in some of the others?”

  He nodded. “Yes. Not that I have made any major decisions anyway, but let’s just say you are on a very short list of those I am seriously considering.”

  I took a deep breath. That didn’t mean I was at the top, it just meant I was in the top ten. Maybe even five?

  “So I will have to watch you flirt and schmooze the other women?” I asked.

  He gave me a wince and a nod.

  “What about once the balls start up? I suppose I won’t be invited to dinner often?”

  He moved his head back and forth. “Yes and no. I can have informal lunches on my own with whomever I want. You might not get to go to the dinners with my father, but that’s probably best anyway.”

 

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