Chapter 28
Idrifted back to the apartments in a daze, my body still tingling in all the places where he’d touched me.
I needed to disappear into a bath with a book and enough hot water to scrub the feel of him from my bones.
A thin, dark-haired figure looked up at me from the dining table. I stopped short, suddenly winded for an entirely different reason.
“Levinica,” I breathed.
She gave me a shaky smile from her too-pale face. She looked just as gaunt and colorless as the last time I’d seen her, and I wondered if they struggled to make her eat whenever the madness took hold, or if the sheer depth of her magic simply consumed her from the inside out.
But her eyes were clear. Tired, yes. Shadowed. But there was still a spark in them I recognized.
My friend.
Those same eyes swept over me now, widening with concern. “Oh my goodness.”
I looked down at my rumpled clothes, patting self-consciously at my disheveled hair. I hadn't realized what a state his lesson had left me in.
“Don't worry.” I tugged at my shirt. “I went easy on him.”
Her face lit with a real smile then, laughter spilling out of her so suddenly and brightly that I found myself laughing too, the tightness in my chest loosening all at once.
My amusement died quickly when Segolayne sneered from the opposite wall. “Doesn’t look like you’re improving much.” She’d been standing so still I hadn’t even noticed her. The pink scar cutting across her face stood out starkly against her skin.
“Segolayne is here for me,” Levinica said quickly, lowering her gaze almost apologetically. “She’ll be present for all our lessons from now on.”
Violet light sparked across Segolayne’s fingertips in thin glowing strings as she bared her teeth in open aggression. “I’ve been instructed to deal with any threat to Lady Levinica… however I see fit.”
Anger flared hot in my core, and my magic, already awake, rose instantly to answer her threat. My hands lifted of their own accord. To my surprise, violet strands danced across my fingers as effortlessly as breathing. Segolayne's eyes widened at the sight of her own power mirrored back at her.
“If you want a matching scar, Segolayne,” I said sweetly, “all you have to do is ask.”
She growled and shoved away from the wall.
Shadows twisted suddenly in the corner beside her, and Veylan stepped through them, white hair catching the sunlight, skin almost translucent in its pallor.
“Don’t tempt her, Layne. She has a terrible habit of marring beautiful faces.” He tapped the slack, paralyzed side of his jaw.
“What do you want?” Segolayne snapped.
Veylan ignored the hostility completely, crossing the room to sink gracefully into a chair tucked into one of the darker corners the sunlight didn't quite reach. He crossed one leg languidly over the other.
“Making sure you ladies don't kill each other.” He inspected his nails, bored as always. “Prince's orders.” He hissed as a blur of black shot across the floor, claws raking over his boots.
The kitten bolted straight for Levinica, launching itself neatly into her lap. Immediately, she peeled off one glove and laid her bare hand against its back. The tiny creature looked up at me with bright eyes full of mischief.
Grinning, I reached over to scratch between its ears, careful to avoid Levinica's hand. She pulled it back anyway, as though with the same thought.
“Has he been good?”
“An absolute sweetheart,” she said fondly, looking down at the fuzzy creature kneading enthusiastically at her knees. His tiny dagger-sharp claws hooked mercilessly into the fine fabric of her gown again and again, and I winced.
She caught the look on my face and laughed softly. “Well. I suppose there are still some things Titter Mouse could improve upon.”
I blinked. “Titter Mouse?”
Color rose in her cheeks as she smoothed a hand over its fur. “It seemed fitting.”
“It’s perfect.” I meant it.
She beamed. “I brought some books.” She laid a delicate hand atop the pile beside her. These were thicker, filled with real pages instead of the sturdy board books I’d been struggling through before. “They’re a bit more advanced than what we’ve worked on so far… if you feel up to it?”
My heart gave an excited thud. “Absolutely.” I stepped closer, peering at the titles stamped along the spines. “I’ve been practicing. Every day it gets easier.”
“Anything we should focus on?”
I glanced toward Segolayne, who watched me with an expression of open satisfaction, as though she was eagerly awaiting my inevitable humiliation. My face warmed.
“Long words,” I mumbled quietly, low enough that only Levinica would hear. “When they have more than three syllables, I… struggle.”
Her gloved hand squeezed mine gently. “I know exactly which book will help with that.” She nodded toward my room. “Go wash up. I’ll get us settled out here. Breakfast should be arriving soon.”
I rushed through my bath, scrubbing quickly and thoroughly, the morning’s lesson with Rìan all but forgotten in my excitement. I was just so relieved Levinica was back. The kitten had done it. I felt almost giddy with relief.
I emerged less than twenty minutes later, my skin pink and my damp hair braided back into a long plait.
The servants had already arrived with breakfast, and my stomach growled at the smell drifting through the room.
Levinica sat exactly where I'd left her, bent over an open book, one hand curled around the pendant she always wore.
As I approached, she tucked it neatly beneath her high collar before reaching for the teapot.
She poured me a cup before I'd even sat down, adding cream and an absurd amount of honey, exactly the way I liked it.
After a quick stir, she slid it toward me.
“Thank you.” I settled into my chair, lifting it and taking a careful sip. I reached immediately for one of the flaky pastries, splitting it open and piling on whipped butter and fresh raspberry jam.
“Keep eating like that,” Segolayne said, watching me with open disapproval. “And you'll never put muscle on those scrawny bones.”
I ignored her completely and made a point of slathering on even more jam than necessary before taking an enormous bite. Levinica hid a smile behind her gloved hand. Veylan snorted from the shadows.
Levinica pushed the book toward me, and I carefully set my pastry down, wiping my fingers thoroughly before pulling it closer.
“It’s still for children,” she said, reclining slightly in her chair as she lifted her own tea. Titter Mouse slept curled in her lap, one tiny paw thrown dramatically over his face to block the sunlight. “But it’s considerably more advanced than the others.”
I flipped open the cover and sounded out the title carefully.
“The Book… of Old Tales.”
“Excellent,” Levinica grinned. “That was much faster than before.”
I laid the thick book carefully in front of me.
The cover was simple but beautiful, deep green beneath elegant gold lettering, impossibly refined compared to the clumsy children's books I'd been practicing with.
It was oddly supple beneath my fingertips, unlike any binding I'd felt before.
When I opened it, the pages were soft and worn with age, the lower corners smudged as though countless hands had turned them over and over through the years.
The text itself was immediately more intimidating. The letters were smaller, written in curling script instead of the larger print I’d grown used to. The sentences stretched longer too, broken apart by commas and strange punctuation marks I didn’t recognize.
But the illustrations… They were works of art.
I gawked openly as I flipped through the pages, pausing again and again to stare at them. Colorful landscapes. Towering castles. Beautiful Fae draped in elaborate robes and crowns rendered in such exquisite detail they looked almost lifelike.
“It’s a collection of old stories,” Levinica explained. “Classic tales of Elantis.”
She stopped me gently as I passed a particular page. Bright sunlight spilled across the illustration there—a vast grassy plain bathed in gold, and beyond it, a shining castle rose into the clouds themselves, its spiral towers shining against the sky.
“Here,” she said brightly, tapping the page with a gloved finger. “Let’s start with this one.”
We spent the afternoon reading from The Book of Old Tales.
Despite my halting pace, I soon lost myself in its stories—tales of brave warriors, cursed forests, monstrous creatures slain by clever Fae heroes.
There were romances too, full of enchanted lakes and moonlit dances, where lovers found one another across centuries.
Levinica listened patiently to every halting sentence, never once rushing me when I stumbled over a word or lost my place.
Hours slipped by almost without my noticing.
At some point Veylan dissolved back into his shadows. Segolayne, however, never strayed far from Levinica, watching over her with the taut vigilance of a mother hen guarding a wounded chick.
Even Titter Mouse grew bored. The kitten leapt down from the arm of Levinica's chair with an indignant sound that was almost a huff before stalking toward the courtyard doors.
By then the sunlight pouring through the towering windows had begun to soften into amber.
Long shadows stretched across the floor and crept slowly up the legs of the furniture.
Levinica had gone quiet beside me, one cheek resting against her hand, her eyes half-lidded, though she still smiled faintly whenever I managed a difficult passage without stopping.
Eventually even that faded. I glanced over to find her dozing lightly in her chair, dark hair spilling in waves across her shoulders, her breathing soft and even.
Carefully, quieter now, I turned another page. The tale I found there was different from the others.
There were no painted flowers curling around the borders of the parchment. No bright colors. The writing here was thick and black, scrawled with almost frantic urgency.
“And when kingdoms grew too vast and power swelled beyond its rightful bounds, the Keeper of Return walked once more.”