Chapter 18 #3
We were led into a small room with a single window that looked out onto the overgrown garden outside. The woman seated herself at a rickety wooden table, where a candle burned weakly, casting eerie shadows on the dusty, cluttered surroundings.
Dacre released a deep sigh and followed suit, but I remained standing by the window. I pressed my hand against the small of my back, feeling the dagger there, and the deep grooves of the handle brought me the tiniest bit of comfort that I needed.
The woman was watching Dacre carefully, almost reverently, and I glanced away as I felt like I was intruding.
There were so many things to look at throughout the room.
The small bookshelves were chock full of trinkets, books, and photos.
But there was one frame at the very top of the shelf that drew my attention.
It was a photo of a young girl, black hair blowing around her face as she laughed, but it was her eyes that caught my attention. She had the exact same eyes as Dacre .
“You look familiar to me, girl,” the crone said from across the table, and when I turned back to look at her, she was assessing me with narrowed eyes.
I swallowed, searching for a response, but none came.
“She’s one of the new recruits,” Dacre answered as he leaned back in his chair, a loud creak echoing throughout the room.
The woman’s eyes scanned my entire body, her gaze seeing right through my disguise that I wore so carefully. I felt exposed and vulnerable as she watched me.
“What’s your name?” she asked, and there was no smile on her face as she studied me.
Dacre shifted in his chair, but he didn’t turn to face me.
“Nyra,” I answered her and crossed my arms over my chest.
“Like the former queen?” she asked, and her eyes only seemed to narrow further.
No one ever called my mother by her name.
“Exactly. I was named after her. My mother was quite fond of the former queen.”
Lies. Lies piled on top of more lies.
She nodded her head slowly, but his gaze lingered on me.
“Nyra used to work in the palace.” Dacre pulled another piece of parchment from his pocket, and for a moment, I wondered how he was able to keep them all straight.
“And how did you get out?” She cocked her head, studying me even more carefully than before.
“I ran.” I shifted on my feet. “I ran during the chaos of the raid.” I was honest, and that honesty cost me as memories of that day flooded me .
Dacre’s shoulders stiffened as I spoke.
“Were you hurt that day?” she asked, and even though the woman didn’t trust me, there was concern clouding her eyes.
Was I hurt? Gods, I couldn’t think of that day without pain slicing through my chest.
“It doesn’t matter.” I shook my head and let my gaze flick back to the photo of the woman. “All I cared about was getting out of that palace.”
“Well, Nyra.” She said my name as if it didn’t belong to me. “I’m glad that you made it out alive. Many don’t.”
I nodded, and more memories flooded me. Memories that I couldn’t allow.
“I’m glad you made it to this one.” She nodded her head toward Dacre. “My grandson will rule this entire kingdom one day.”
She said the statement with such confidence, and when I turned back to face her, I didn’t see a shred of doubt in her gaze.
Dacre’s face twisted into something between pain and honor at her words, and his hand clenched around the parchment, crumpling it slightly.
“Were you able to get the information we need?” Dacre’s tone was serious and cut to the point of why he was here.
A point that I had been left out of completely.
“I got what I could.” His grandmother turned around, her chair creaking under her small frame, and she opened a drawer from the wooden hutch behind her.
“Remember, my boy,” she said with a sternness in her voice that made my eyes widen. “Davian isn’t to see.”
My attention snapped to her at her words, but Dacre simply nodded as he tucked the papers into his pocket.
He was doing something behind his father’s back?
“What happened to your neck?” She pointed a finger at me, but I was still thinking about what she had just said.
“I’m not very good in a fight.”
She studied me far too intensely before she replied, “I don’t think that’s true.”
I shifted uncomfortably under her penetrating gaze.
Dacre cleared his throat, breaking the intensity of the moment. “We should get going,” he said, his voice strained. “We don’t have much time.”
“You remind me of her.” She nodded to the woman in the picture frame. “My Camilla.”
Dacre went rigid at the mention of her name. His eyes flickered with a mix of pain and longing as he turned and stared at the photograph.
“She made many sacrifices for the people she loved. Like you.”
“I’ve not made any sacrifices.”
“Haven’t you?”
She stood and groaned as she held on to the table for support. She moved next to me and looked out her back window.
“The boy you used to stay with.” She nodded to the back of her house. “I haven’t seen him in days.”
“What?” I whipped my head around so quickly to face her.
“He was still staying there after you’d gone, but it’s been days since his return.”
“What do you mean he hasn’t returned?” I demanded, my voice trembling with worry.
The woman’s gaze remained fixed on the garden outside. “Did he know?”
“Know what?” I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry.
She turned to look at me, her dark eyes staring into mine for a long moment. She didn’t say anything. She just stared, and I felt completely bare before her.
Did she know who I was?
My fingers felt numb as I clenched them at my sides. I didn’t dare look at Dacre, but I could feel him watching us.
I gave my head the tiniest shake, and I didn’t know why I did it. I didn’t know this woman; I didn’t owe her anything.
But by the way she was staring at me, I felt like she knew me.
The real me.
The lost princess of Marmoris.
Micah told me that was what they had called the princess for years as no one in the kingdom had seen her since she was little—seen me.
And I guessed I had been lost.
I slid my gaze over to Dacre and sucked in a ragged breath. He was watching me carefully, too carefully, and I was suffocating under their scrutiny.
“We need to go. We’ve risked too much time here already.”
I nodded, my heart pounding in my chest. Dacre was right. We couldn’t afford to stay any longer.
I forced myself to tear my gaze away from Dacre and focus on the woman once more. Her eyes were still fixed on me, eyes narrowed as she cocked her head.
“If he returns, will you tell him that I’m alright?” I didn’t want to think about him not returning. Was he arrested for thieving? Was he killed?
Dread washed over me, threatening to consume me whole.
“I will tell him that I saw you, but I don’t know that you’re alright.” Her gaze trailed down to my neck, and I swallowed.
“Then lie,” I demanded of her, and a small smile formed on her lips.
“As you wish.” She suddenly dipped her head into a bow, her hair falling in her face, and I couldn’t help but be taken aback by the unexpected motion.
I jerked backward, my back hitting the bookshelf behind me, and I looked to Dacre.
“We should go.”
He nodded, moving forward and placing a brief kiss to his grandmother’s head before he led me from the room.
I glanced back at the woman who was still watching me carefully.
“Be careful, Dacre. More now than ever.” He huffed out a response, but the woman’s gaze was still glued to me. “And, Nyra, stay with my grandson.”