Chapter 21
Alarm shot through me at the sight of her—but she looked normal today. Clear. Her eyes were focused, though she politely kept them averted from my state of undress, rubbing absently at one of the marks in the table with a gloved thumb.
There was no trace of madness in her.
My gaze flicked nervously toward Segolayne’s door, but it remained tightly shut. Had she slipped away while I was bathing? Did she know Levinica was here unattended?
I tightened my grip on the towel. “My apologies, Lady,” I said, attempting a small curtsy and immediately feeling ridiculous for it. Water dripped steadily from my hair onto the floor, gathering in a small puddle at my heels. “I was looking for something to wear…”
Her eyes widened in horror. “Oh!”
She stood so abruptly that I nearly stumbled backward, my heart leaping painfully as I braced for another attack.
But instead, she hurried past me and disappeared into the bedroom.
I hesitated only a moment before following, hovering near the doorway, ready to bolt if she so much as reached toward me.
Near one wall sat a large trunk I hadn't noticed before. Levinica flipped the lid open and gestured toward its contents.
“I’m—I’m sorry,” she said, wringing her gloved hands together. “He sent these up for you earlier.”
She stepped back immediately, giving me space, though for one fleeting moment I nearly snapped that I didn't want them. I knew who he was. And I didn’t particularly like the thought of him deciding what I would wear.
But I swallowed the protest before it could leave my mouth. At the end of the day, none of this was Levinica’s fault. Perhaps there would at least be something suitable in the trunk until I could corner Segolayne and beg her to retrieve my actual belongings.
I forced something resembling gratitude onto my face and crouched beside it, clutching the towel to myself as I rummaged through the contents one-handed.
Pants. Blouses. Soft shirts. Finely tailored, but plain.
Not a single dress.
“Thank you.”
“I’ll have his things moved so you can settle in properly.” She glanced toward the wardrobe. “He had his old room emptied for when Dannis…” Her voice caught. She swallowed hard, then gave a small nod. “I’ll wait outside.”
She slipped from the room and quietly shut the door behind her.
Thoroughly unsettled by her presence—and even more unsettled by the fact that she seemed lucid—I dressed as quickly as I could.
I pulled on a pair of loose navy trousers and a crisp white shirt, then twisted my damp hair atop my head so it wouldn’t soak through the fabric at my back.
Only then did I return to the dining room.
Levinica looked up immediately, her gaze catching on the trousers.
“That color suits you,” she said kindly. “It brings out your eyes.”
I tried to smile politely at the compliment, then scrambled for something to say in return. “You look well today,” I offered.
The moment the words left my mouth, I knew I had somehow said the wrong thing. Her expression dimmed almost imperceptibly before she covered it with a small, strained smile.
“Rìan has insisted on… relieving me of my search for the time being.” Her hands twisted together again in her lap. “He says rest will do me good. That he’ll handle it in my stead.”
I didn’t need to ask what search she meant. Dannis.
Her face filled with concern. “I heard what happened.”
“Yes.” My fingers drifted unconsciously toward the place the knife had sunk into me. “I shouldn’t have visited the tavern—”
“Oh, not that.” She waved a hand. “I meant in the library. When Rìan mocked you for being illiterate.”
Color flooded my cheeks all over again. Even clear-headed, Levinica possessed a startling lack of delicacy. I wondered whether she’d always been this forthright, or if it was some remnant of the madness that took her so often.
“He didn’t mock me so much as dismiss me outright.”
“It was insensitive.” Disapproval creased her brow. “I'm sure he regrets it.”
“I’m sure he doesn’t,” I muttered under my breath.
She met my gaze, her lips pressed into a tight line as though she were holding something back. Abruptly, she pulled the stack of books closer. Only now did I properly notice them. The covers were bright, the lettering oversized and simple.
Levinica cleared her throat as though gathering courage.
“Would you…” She hesitated. “Would you like to learn to read?”
My jaw nearly fell open.
“Read?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“I taught Dannis to read.” Her fingertips traced the edge of a cheerful cherry-red cover. “With these very books.”
My mind went completely blank. I had no idea what to say.
“That’s…” I struggled for words. “That’s unnecessary, my Lady. I’m certain there are far better ways for you to spend your time than teaching someone like me to read.”
“On the contrary.” She offered me a trembling smile. “Perhaps it would help take my mind off my troubles. At least for a little while.”
I shifted awkwardly where I stood, staring at the books. The small stack suddenly towered before me, as unconquerable as a mountain.
“I don’t even know the alphabet,” I winced. “I would be a lost cause.”
“Nonsense,” she sniffed. The certainty in her tone startled me. “I’m quite sure you’ll take to it quickly.”
“I don’t know if I will.” My doubt escaped before I could swallow it.
“Not knowing how to read doesn’t mean your mind is incapable of learning.
” The wrinkles at the corners of her eyes deepened as she smiled, though the sadness beneath it never fully left her.
“Reading is simply recognizing patterns and assigning meaning to them. It’s not nearly as impossible as you believe. It only requires patience.”
I didn’t understand any of this. The very idea of learning to read made my chest tighten with longing. But Levinica wanted to teach me? Of all people? She was Rìan’s sister. Loyal to him in a way I couldn’t begin to comprehend.
And I was mated to the Fae Lord responsible for taking her son.
“Why?” I whispered.
She pressed her lips together again, deep lines appearing around her mouth. But she didn’t answer my question.
“So?” she asked instead, almost timidly now. “Will you allow me to teach you?”
The heaviness in the room eased the moment I answered.
“Yes,” I breathed.
Then, softer: “Yes, please.”
Levinica spent most of the day with me.
Books lay scattered across the table between us, though she focused primarily on one—a thin, worn volume devoted entirely to the alphabet.
Patiently, she guided me through the first five letters, first their larger forms, then the smaller, having me copy them again and again across fresh parchment until my hand cramped and ink stained my fingers black.
We barely paused except to eat. At breakfast and then again at lunch, servants arrived pushing rolling carts laden with steaming food and silver tea services.
Each time they entered the apartments, I noticed the same thing: the quick, wide-eyed glances they tried and failed to hide as they looked around the rooms. Curiosity.
Awe. Nervousness. It was obvious that few of them had stepped foot in these chambers since the Dark Prince had left them.
But Levinica greeted every one of them with a gentle, disarming smile, and they answered with shy smiles of their own as they set out dishes and poured tea. It was there, unmistakable, in every glance they stole toward her: loyalty. Hope. Affection so deep it bordered on reverence.
It wasn't until midway through the afternoon that Levinica finally leaned back in her chair with a quiet sigh, massaging her forehead through the thin silk of her gloves.
“Are you alright?”
A wan smile touched her mouth. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been…” Myself. The word hung there anyway, unspoken but understood.
Her smile brightened. “You did well today,” she said, flipping a book shut.
A small pang of disappointment caught me off guard at the realization that the lesson was over. I ran my fingertips over the awkward scrawl of letters I’d copied across the page, wishing we could continue a little longer.
“Thank you,” I bowed my head. “You’re a good teacher.”
She stretched her legs beneath the table, the movement so casual it caught me off guard. I'd never seen her this calm. Even her tremulous smiles had begun to steady.
“Perhaps my brother was right,” she said, affection warming her voice. “This does help.”
The fondness unsettled me. It was difficult to reconcile this gentle, soft-spoken female with the fact that she stood at the Dark Prince's side.
There was nothing cruel about her. If anything, she reminded me painfully of Brialla—the timid glances, the quiet compassion.
Teaching me to read was a great kindness, though I couldn't fathom why she'd offered it to me.
Even so, we stood on opposite sides of something inevitable: she with the villain, and me with Elantis.
“May I admit something to you?” she asked abruptly.
I nodded.
A nervous smile touched her lips. “I’m dreading leaving you.” Her fingers knotted in her lap. “I… cannot bear to be alone.” Her eyes began to glaze.
Alarm peeled through my chest at the sudden distant look on her face.
“I hear him crying in the dark.” Her expression slackened as she stared somewhere far beyond the room.
Before I knew what I was doing, I reached across the table and seized her hand, squeezing hard enough that she winced. Her fingers felt terribly fragile beneath the gloves, bird-boned and brittle.
The pressure jolted her back. The haze in her eyes cleared as she focused on me again.
“Stay,” I said. I didn't know whether I meant in this room or in her own mind, but it was the only thing I could think to say. Some foolish instinct urged me to anchor her here, to let her know that if I could help her, I would.
She sniffled softly and nodded. Instead of pulling away, her fingers tightened around mine.
“Do you think he’s alright?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Yes,” I answered immediately. I hesitated only a moment before continuing, unsure whether I should tell her.
“Aedric wouldn't say much, but he swore Dannis was unharmed.” I swallowed against the lump in my throat.
“He knows where your son is. The bargain I made with Rìan will allow him to find him.” My voice caught.
“I know that doesn't undo what was done. But I need you to know... I was horrified.”
Her eyes were clear now, alight with hope. A live ember refusing to go out. The sight made my chest ache.
“Perhaps,” I continued carefully, “when your son is returned to you, you may find it in your heart to show Aedric mercy.”
Her face hardened.
“Aedric is not a good male.” She squeezed my fingers with heartbreaking gentleness, as though she pitied me. The sympathy in her eyes startled me more than the words themselves.
Her madness had twisted her perception of things. I withdrew my hand first.
“He’s done things he’s not proud of,” I said slowly, weighing each word. “But he did them for the good of Elantis.”
“So he says.”
I'd almost forgotten the line between us, taut and unmistakable. One neither of us would ever cross.
Levinica leaned back in her chair and smoothed a wrinkle from her skirt.
“You have a good heart,” she said finally. “There is hope for you.”
“So do you,” I replied quietly.
She exhaled softly through her nose. “A good heart is one thing. But a ruler needs a strong heart.” Her hand drifted to the shape of the pendant beneath the collar of her dress. “And mine is broken.”
“Noctharis—”
“Was great once,” she finished for me, almost wistfully, turning her head toward the windows overlooking Half Moon Bay. Dark boats drifted across the water. “And perhaps it shall be again, now that he’s returned.”
My mouth went dry. “And the rest of Elantis?” I dared to ask.
“I believe he’ll finish what he started.”
A chill slid down my spine. For one terrible instant, all I could see was Solmire burning—blue fire, screams rising through the smoke-choked streets, bodies turned to ash.
Was that what awaited the rest of Elantis?
Was the grief of a wronged mother enough to set the world ablaze?
She sighed and rose from her chair, and I stood as well.
“I believe in you too, Elowen,” she said gently. “I think you will do good in this world.” Her gaze held mine. “And I think, when the time comes, you will do what is necessary. Which is perhaps more important.”
The door opened behind her. Two ladies-in-waiting immediately straightened in the corridor beyond, clearly having waited there the entire afternoon for their mistress.
“I shall tell him you made progress today,” Levinica said cheerfully. “He will be pleased.”
As though pleasing the lord of hell was something I desired.
Still, I lowered myself into a curtsy, the sore muscles in my thighs protesting as I bent my knees.
“Shall I return tomorrow?” There was something almost hopeful in her expression.
“Yes, please,” I said. “I would like that very much.”
She inclined her head gracefully, the corners of her eyes crinkling with warmth.