Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Jack
The door burst open before I could react.
Ravin stormed through like a wind from the ice plains, eyes bloodshot, curls tangled and frizzy, his jacket half-unbuttoned and creased beyond recognition.
He looked like he hadn’t slept since the moon last rose.
And from the rank aura of disarray clinging to him, I doubted he’d even paused to bathe.
The polished, fastidious Ravin was gone.
What stood before us was something raw, rumpled, and barely stitched together.
Beyond him, raised voices echoed down the hall like distant thunder, tumbling through the palace’s stone corridors.
It had begun.
His gaze swept the room, over the ravaged breakfast tray, across Sylvi’s disheveled just-woke-up hair, and finally landing on my bare chest. His eyes lingered longer than necessary.
Too long. His jaw worked, clenching as though holding back words that wanted to sear through flesh.
But then, like a blade sheathed too quickly, he forced a smile and turned to Sylvi.
“Good to see you alive, Captain,” he said, his voice tight and hard-edged.
“Your brother will be pleased. Which means I get to keep my balls.”
Sylvi straightened on the bed, her voice rushing out in exasperation. “You’ve spoken to Aldric? How is he? What about my family? Do they know I’m alright?”
Ravin nodded, rubbing the space between his brows. “They’re fine. I visited them this morning. Your mother nearly collapsed when I told her what happened, but I promised her you were safe. They’re relieved, though that word feels paltry compared to what I saw in their eyes.”
Sylvi released a long breath, her fingers curling into the blankets.
“But…” Ravin’s gaze flicked toward me, then back to her. “I had to ask Varik to station two guards outside your home.”
Before I could intervene, Sylvi threw off the covers and lurched toward him, clutching her side as she tried to mask a grunt of pain. “What? Why?”
He swallowed thickly, his voice grim. “The townsfolk showed up at your doorstep. Word’s spread like frostfire.
People are scared, Sylvi. They’re looking for someone to blame, and some of them are accusing your family of harboring dangerous sympathies toward the crown…
that they support the killing of innocent people. ”
Color bled from her face, her lips parting with a soundless breath. “I’m the captain of the guard… My family has nothing to do with this. And those males were anything but innocent.”
I moved toward her instinctively, but stopped short. She didn’t need me hovering over her in front of Ravin, especially not after everything I’d already done to undermine her strength.
Ravin continued, his voice softer, “Your brother came with me to the palace. He demanded to see you, but I told him I needed to check in first. Make sure you were well enough.”
“Aldric’s here?” she whispered.
Ravin nodded. “Waiting in the east parlor.”
Silence settled like a starless night between us until Ravin’s golden eyes cut back to me, narrowing.
“I rushed through the castle thinking I’d find you in the War Room, taking heat from the queen and her minions.
Instead, you’re here, eating breakfast like the halls outside aren’t brimming with chaos. ”
I met his bite with ice. “Sylvi lost a lot of blood. She needed to eat before she could stand. My mother can wait.”
He arched a brow. “Well, your mother has already been briefed. The entire High Council is assembled, and they are not pleased with your absence. That’s why I came.”
Sylvi looked around the room frantically. “Gods above. I need to change. Jack, have someone bring up a uniform.”
I caught her gently by the shoulders and turned her to face me. “You’re not ready.”
Her eyes widened. “Unless you plan to strip me of my title permanently, I suggest you send for my damn uniform.”
I rubbed a hand over my jaw, feeling the bristle of stubble—just another sign of how unprepared I was for the coming firestorm.
Ravin folded his arms. “I don’t think it wise to keep the queen and the High Council waiting long.”
“What exactly has she been told?” I asked, ringing the bell for a chambermaid.
His throat worked. “That three males were killed. And a fourth, a young bystander, who froze to death.”
Sylvi’s hand pressed to her chest. “A bystander?”
I closed my eyes briefly. “I didn’t see anyone else there. But if someone died from the frost, that’s entirely on me.”
Ravin adjusted the hilt of the dagger strapped to his belt. “The queen doesn’t care about your guilt, Jack. She cares that her subjects are outside the castle gates, demanding answers. Half the council believes you lost control; the other half thinks you acted with necessary force.”
Sylvi turned to him. “And the queen? What does she think?”
His gaze softened for the briefest moment before it shifted back to me, and that softness faded.
Sylvi’s lips pursed, concern creasing around the corners of her mouth. “She thinks this is all my fault, doesn’t she? That Jack is in this mess because of me?”
Ravin tried to keep his face neutral, but despite his best efforts to be the sly courtier he’d been trained to be, his eyes gave everything away.
Instead of answering her question, though, he did the next best thing he was deftly good at.
“I think…you’re lucky he got there when he did, and that’s what matters.
But perhaps you should listen to the prince.
It’s probably best if you stay out of the public eye for a bit.
Last night, everyone thought you might die from the attack.
But seeing you like this… I mean, you barely look like you almost bled to death mere hours ago.
His killings won’t look justified if you walk into the War Room like nothing happened… ”
Sylvi shook her head. “I’m not hiding. Just because I’m not prostrated to a bed doesn’t mean those scumbags didn’t try to kill me.
I knew the risks of going into the Warrens at that hour by myself.
But that didn’t give them the right to attack me.
They knew who I was, yet they didn’t care.
Instead, they salivated, planning not only to rape me, but to viciously murder me so they could send a message to the queen. ”
“Is that what they said? That they wanted to send a message to the queen?” Ravin asked, pacing.
“They said something about an Iron Crow? I can’t remember clearly.
But whoever that is, they’re the one leading the dissenters.
And the males who attacked me said that whoever this individual was wouldn’t be happy about their plan, but that they were tired of all the talks.
They wanted to send the queen a real message. ”
Ravin stopped pacing. “We can use that. In yesterday’s battle debrief, Jack said she tasked you with finding the mole. You need to pitch it as a crown-sanctioned investigation.” He pinned her with a look. “That is why you were there, right? Following a lead?”
Sylvi went still. Too still. “I…”
A knock at the door saved her. Skadi must’ve been really pulling at the threads of fate today. Sylvi crossed the room, clearly eager to escape the weight of Ravin’s questions. A chambermaid entered, head bowed, and Sylvi asked her for a uniform and undergarments.
“Syl,” I said. “If we’re going to present this to the council, then they’ll need to know why you went into the Warrens.”
“I told you already, I was following someone. Don’t ask me who or what. Not yet. I need time to sort through everything.” Her gaze locked onto Ravin. “And you, of all people, should understand the need for discretion.”
He tilted his head, eyes narrowing, the implication not lost on him.
“Oh, come on, Ravin. He’s my best friend. You really thought he wouldn’t tell me about you…what it is you do for him?”
Ravin’s eyes sliced toward me. I held his stare.
His smile was bitter, hollow. “Apologies, Captain. I forgot my place in the royal confidant circle.”
I stepped toward him, guilt wrapping around my heart for betraying his trust, but he raised a hand, already retreating. “I’ve spent all night trying to clean up this disaster. I think I’ve done my duty, Your Highness. Try not to fuck up what’s left.”
“Ravin, wait,” I called after him.
He ignored my attempt to apologize, but his hand paused on the doorknob.
Without turning around, he said, “Sylvi, about your brother… There’s something off about him.
He was furious when I told him what happened, but there’s more behind his rage that I couldn’t quite puzzle out of him.
He’s on edge. Paranoid. Something’s got him deeply troubled, and if my instincts prove true, it goes deeper than this attack on you.
I suggest you don’t keep him waiting too long in that parlor. ”
And with that, he was gone, leaving the door swinging shut behind him.
The silence in his wake was suffocating. Sylvi’s lips parted, but no words came. After a long pause that felt like a revolution around the sun, she whispered, “I need to speak to Aldric.”
“Not yet. If you’re set on facing the council, we need to move. My mother will send guards if we’re not there soon.”
She tried to argue, but I met her gaze and held it. “Please, Syl. Just trust me.”
Chewing on her lower lip, she finally said, “Fine.”
The chambermaid returned with a folded uniform and placed it on the foot of the bed.
“I’ll get ready in your washroom,” Sylvi said, scooping up the garments.
I watched her vanish into the adjoining room, the door clicking shut behind her, and exhaled a breath that silvered the air.
Frost spiraled from my lungs, whispering across the walls, settling like ash along the stone floor.
A thin sheet of ice crept along the frame of the door she’d just passed through, like my magic longed to follow her, like it knew what my mouth refused to admit.
Sylvi had not noticed the restraint I’d been wielding against my own skin since the moment I woke.
Since the moment I touched her mouth.
Gods, her lips.