Chapter 13 Rowan
Rowan
“In the Spire, naturally,” Kai answers. “Where else would one meet an Eryndor enchanter cadet?”
"Naturally," Theron parrots back. "I meant to inquire about the romance of it all. When did you realize this particular human was the one who you couldn't bear to live without?"
“Good question, your highness.” I turn to Kai. “I just realized that I never did ask you that! When did you know?”
“Deep inside, I knew I needed Rowan Ainsley before I ever laid eyes on her,” Kai says, unfazed. “Then it was just a matter of looking until I found her. And once I did, well, I knew she was the one I sought.”
Sought to kidnap and force into doing your bidding, that is. Bastard.
“Poetic.” Theron turns to me. “And you? Did you also feel this magnetic pull before ever meeting the prince of Slait?”
"Me? Oh. No, absolutely not. I found him insufferable when we met."
Kyrian chokes on his wine.
"Is that so?" Theron asks.
"Absolutely." I smile, taking a page from Kai’s manual and leaning into the truth for all it’s worth.
"He was arrogant, demanding, and had this habit of looking at everyone as if they were beneath him.
" I glance at Kai, finding him inspecting the edge of his steak knife, and return my attention to Theron. "Which, I suppose, they were.”
"And yet here you are now," Theron observes.
"Here I am."
"Utterly besotted."
I flash a smile. "It turns out there's something... compelling about a male who knows exactly what he wants and isn't afraid to pursue it. By any means permitted. And by ones not permitted at all.”
Kai sets his knife aside and presses his thumb to the inside of my wrist, tracing slow, deliberate circles. Each pass sends a shiver up my arm.
"What Rowan neglects to mention, is how she challenged me at every turn. And how she refused to be intimidated when other humans cowered. And, most importantly, how her mind still leaves me struggling to keep pace."
He is so bloody convincing that he has half the room nodding along. Even me. My breath stutters before I can catch myself, then halts completely when Kai pulls away, the ghost of his touch still burning against my skin.
A game, I remind myself. This is all a game.
Just one I wish Kai didn’t play so well.
Celeste returns my dinner plate to me, the meat now at least giving the appearance of having been cooked. I force myself to eat though, with everything racing through my mind, I can hardly taste anything.
The conversation turns to matters of Flurry court, which I try my best to follow.
New betrothals. Recent promotions. A pointed invitation for Kai and Kyrian to fly patrol with the riot that’s accompanying the detachment.
Just them. Not Logan. I don’t know what to make of this anti-Logan sentiment, but I file my questions away for later interrogation.
For the most part though, I learn little by way of useful intelligence.
Theron and his officers might have invited me to the table, but no one is sharing anything of strategic value with Commandant Ainsley’s daughter.
By the time dinner finally ends, I feel like I’ve been wrung out, beaten, and left to roast in the sun.
Or maybe to an ice storm. I can’t tell whether I’m hot or cold actually.
Just that being alive hurts. I mentally count the steps back to my tent, estimating how much longer I need to keep up the pretense of being a sentient being before I can collapse into my bedroll and coddle my pulsing migraine.
"Rowan." Kai's voice cuts through my mental calculations.
I blink, realizing I've been gripping the edge of the table with white knuckles. The tent spins lazily around me, faces blurring at the edges. "Hmm?”
“You are swaying.”
“I'm fine."
"And I’m a pretty human princess." He stands, his chair scraping against the ground, and extends his hand to Theron. "We should retire."
"Of course," Theron says, rising as well. His smile holds too many teeth. "Young love is so... energetic. Do try not to keep the entire camp awake with your celebrations."
Heat floods my cheeks, but before I can formulate a cutting response, Kai's arm slides around my waist, supporting more of my weight than I'd like to admit. The world tilts precariously as he guides me to my feet.
"Thank you for your hospitality," Kai says with cool politeness that somehow manages to sound like a dismissal. "We'll see you in the morning."
I manage to keep upright through sheer stubbornness as we make our way out of the tent, Kyrian falling into step beside us before the captain—whose name I realize I still don’t know—calls him away to talk about the draken patrol.
The cool night air hits my overheated skin like a blessing, and I gulp it down greedily.
"Rowan!"
I turn to see Celeste, the pale-eyed attendant from dinner, hurrying toward us with a small bundle clutched to her chest. My vision doubles for a moment, seeing two of her approaching, before snapping back into focus.
"I thought you might have need of these," she says, slightly breathless as she catches up. Her eyes flick between Kai and me, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. "For your... discomfort…? In case Prince Kyrian didn’t think of gathering some linen strips…?”
It takes my foggy brain a moment to process what she's implying. Then I realize—she thinks my unsteadiness is due to female cycles, not the dangerous cocktail of physical exhaustion, lack of tonic, and whatever else is happening to my body on this side of the wards.
I open my mouth to correct her, then snap it shut. This is actually perfect.
"Thank you," I murmur, accepting the small bundle of herbs. I recognize chamomile and valerian among them—mild sedatives and pain relievers. Nothing that would help with my actual condition, but useful nonetheless.
Kai's arm tightens around my waist. "Monthly?" His brows narrow. “Rowan isn’t bleeding. I’d know.”
Celeste freezes in immediate fear that makes me hate Theron. It seems that crossing a royal doesn’t end well around here for a servant, no matter the intention.
"I’m not yet, but I’m about to be," I tell Kai, leaning into the lie. "I can feel it. The stress, I suppose."
Kai gives me a look that could freeze flames, but doesn't contradict me.
Celeste shifts from foot to foot, clutching the bundle a bit tighter.
"Actually, your highness," she says, her voice dropping to just above a whisper, "Prince Theron asked me to inform you that he wishes to speak with you privately. About a draken patrol flight?” Her eyes dart around nervously before returning to Kai. "He's waiting in the command tent."
Kai's shadows curl around my waist, his jaw tightening. "Now?"
"Yes, your highness. There is concern about Commandant Ainsley launching an offensive in light of…" She trails off very much not looking at me now.
“He’s worried my mother is going to bring her wrath down on your head for infiltrating the Spire and kidnapping her alchemist," I clarify sweetly. “And that she is close enough to do it just now. I presume Theron would like your brave ass in the sky, since you know what to look for.”
Celeste offers a tentative smile in my direction.
"I can escort Lady Rowan back to your quarters,” she adds quickly. “Prince Theron has already ordered sentries to be stationed outside your tent to ensure her safety.”
Kai takes the bundle from Celeste. “Your services aren’t needed.”
She retreats a step. “But-”
“Leave. Now.”
She flees.
“What the ever loving fuck, Kai?” I demand when the girl is out of earshot. “She was following orders and trying to help.”
Kai's voice drops to a dangerous whisper. "You're not bleeding. You are not about to bleed. I know the scent."
“You know the scent of my cycles? Seriously?”
“Of course.”
“I don’t even know where to start with that. But if you don’t forget that scent right this moment I will cut off your balls.”
He rubs the bridge of his nose. “Maybe I’ve made an error and you are about to bleed after all.”
I try to kick his shin and nearly fall on my ass. He grabs my elbow to steady me. The world tilts alarmingly, and I dig my nails into his arm to stay upright.
"Look, I really don't know when I’m bleeding next—not that it's any business of yours—but I am about to pass out, and I'd rather not have to explain why to Theron or his minions.
" My legs feel like they're made of water. "So I’m going to go back to the tent and sleep, and you go appease Theron, alright?”
Kai mutters something under his breath that sounds like a curse, then sweeps me into his arms without warning.
“I can walk,” I protest, even as my body betrays me by melting against his hard chest.
“Slower than I have the patience to tolerate.” Despite the bite, Kai's arms are warm and steady as he carries me through the camp. I should protest more—for my dignity if nothing else—but my energy will be better used in other ways.
"You need to go to Theron," I say quietly as we approach the tent, strategically placed at the camp’s edge to make it easier to defend against any unhappy Flurry fae who may want to slit an alchemist's throat first and ask questions later. As we approach, I spot the promised sentries standing at attention on either side of the entrance. "Theron will be furious if you don’t show.”
“And I care why?”
“Because he’ll take it out on Kyrian, and your insane plan requires the three of you alive and functioning.”
"Prince Theron awaits you in the command tent," one of them says, echoing Celeste's message. It’s Reece, the young wolf shifter with the colored hair whose jugular Logan nearly ripped out. He raises his chin. “I’m also to tell you that Prince Theron is personally vouching for your wife’s safety in your absence, and that I have orders to place my life before hers.”
“An assignment with which I’m certain you are thrilled.” I slide down from Kai’s arms.
“I volunteered.” Reece says curtly. “I repay my debts."
I don’t know what to make of that and, at the moment, don’t have the strength to deliberate on it. “Go,” I tell Kai as I take Celeste’s bundle from his hand and make my way into the tent. “Or don’t. I don’t care any more. I’m going to bed.”
I settle onto the lavish bedroll without bothering to remove the silk gown. Ellie is already asleep, snoring softly into her pillow. She opens one eye as I bed down, but I wave her back to sleep, grateful for the temporary solitude.
As the night deepens, so does the pain, easing only slightly with the aid of the herbs Celeste brought.
The pain creeps from the base of my skull upward, tendrils of discomfort wrapping around my temples, squeezing like a vise until I see colors and auras.
I press my palms against my eyes, willing the pressure to subside.
It doesn’t. But I do earn myself a wave of dizziness, the kind that makes you not care about anything else.
It’s not normal. If normal has any meaning on this side of the wards.
I curl onto my side, drawing my knees to my chest, making myself small against my body’s assault on itself.
Somewhere in the depth of my mind I hear a wolf howling.
Sleep, when it finally comes, is fitful and shallow, more an escape than true rest.
I wake sometime deep in the night. Neither Kai nor Kyrian are back, and I’ve given up on seeing Logan, but Ellie is still asleep as she was, her breaths deep and rhythmic. The pain—which is what I suspect woke me to begin with—has shifted. Less like a headache and more like a… pulse.
A rhythm that doesn’t belong to me, thumping insistently behind my eyes. And underneath it, a pull.
Come.
The summons aren't spoken. It isn’t a word. Not really. Just a sensation that translates itself in my mind, urgent and impossible to ignore. I sit up.
The pressure eases.
I lie back down.
Fresh spikes pierce into my skull, not easing until I’m on my feet.
Come now.