16. CHAPTER 16 #2
The streets were filled with Vireth in this section of town, indulging in one vice or another.
They were dancing in the streets, playing the fiddle or drumming beneath the warm lamplight.
Despite the hour, merchants were still hawking their wares for passersby.
There were even groups of younger Vireth children huddled in groups playing games with dice against the cobblestone when they should have been sleeping.
I stepped up beside Aveline, and Enora wordlessly drew back to speak with my brothers. We walked like that, in silence, for what I perceived as an incredibly awkward amount of time.
I broke the silence first.
“What on earth made you want to go into that tavern, of all places?” I asked, curious.
Aveline bit her rose-stained lip for a moment, drawing it between her teeth as she chose her words carefully.
“We were searching for some…entertainment. We are new to the kingdom. It is customary in Myros to attend parties or gather with friends after our duties for the day are finished. If we have the permission to do so.”
I nodded, folding my hands behind my back. “That is customary in Gothryn as well…for Vireth. Veytari and humans need to exert more caution.”
“Are the Veytari and humans not free to come and go as they please?” she asked.
“They are.” I cleared my throat. “But this isn’t Myros. The fae that reside here…they require blood. That isn’t to say the citizens lack self-control, only that there are wrongdoers around every corner and one must be careful.”
She nodded, avoiding my gaze.
I watched her profile as we walked, her features both delicate and feminine. The reflection of the lanterns we passed on the street illuminated the golden flecks in her brown eye before we meandered out of their glow, thrusting us into darkness once more. It left me yearning for another look.
“That isn’t the whole truth of your night out though, is it?”
She swallowed hard before turning her gaze toward me.
Those bi-colored eyes sent a thrill through me as I held them with my own.
I had never, in over a century of existence, seen eyes like hers.
The brown eye was muted in the light of day; those honey-colored flecks only visible beneath direct light.
The blue was the color of the ocean shallows of the Whispering Isles.
Utterly haunting.
Her expression filled with guilt as her full lips parted. We passed another cluster of torches, and the warm glow that illuminated her pale skin was incendiary. Her cheeks flushed with an intoxicating blush, not for the first time.
I cleared my throat. “That is to say, I know that isn’t what you came to Ravenwood for.”
“You do?” she asked, her voice quiet among the flood of chatter on the street.
She answered a question with a question—something I hated when others did to me.
But not her.
She only gave me enough of a nudge to continue. She wasn’t about to spill any information that might incriminate herself.
Clever girl.
I held her mesmerizing gaze without wavering. “You came for poisons.”
She stopped abruptly, Enora almost toppling over her. “What?” Her eyes were wide, that flush painting her cheeks heavily. My mouth watered, but I continued walking. She gathered her skirts, scurrying to catch up with me. We were out of earshot from the others once more. “I’m sorry?”
My gaze blazed into her as she carefully composed herself, an innocent expression masking her features.
“There is no point in denying it. I found them in your room.”
“You—you what?” She blinked rapidly. “How dare you! That is an invasion of privacy!”
Her outrage was that of an angry kitten.
It was utterly adorable. I couldn’t help but smile, a laugh slipping through my barely parted lips.
“You are a guest in my kingdom,” I reminded her.
“And as such, you are subject to random searches by the crown. Especially by those who have recently come into your employ and have purchased your indenture.”
She still appeared outraged, her cheeks puffing in and out with each breath, her eyes narrowed. I didn’t mind being on the other end of that ire.
“And you conduct all of these searches yourself, do you? Nothing better to do with your time, Prince?”
Another laugh bubbled to my lips as she straightened, attempting to make herself appear taller at my side. She was comically small beside me.
“Not usually. But I take these things very seriously.”
“If you don’t typically conduct them yourself, then why did you search my rooms?” she asked, her tone still agitated.
I inclined my head toward her. “Well, pardon me if I am a little skeptical of my rival’s mistress appearing in my kingdom on a boat full of indentures.”
A moment of silence fell between us once more. She had to have known I would hear the rumors about her relation to Kallias.
She swallowed hard. “You don’t trust me.”
Her response wasn’t a question, more of an accusation.
I didn’t reply, letting the moment draw on to see if she might offer an explanation.
Her eyes danced back and forth across my face.
What I wouldn’t give to know what she was thinking right now.
I could practically see her mind spinning like a top.
“As you know…I owned an apothecary with my mother in Myros. I am…I am a master at herbcraft and alchemy, if you must know.”
I hummed in assent but did not miss that she referred to the apothecary in the past tense.
“What kind of herbologist would I be if I didn’t research the effects of every plant I could get my hands on? This kingdom has unique flora and fauna I have yet had the opportunity to study.”
She ran her hands down her skirts. If I didn’t know better, I might simply think she was nervous in the presence of a prince. But her palms were sweating, and she was no foreigner to the company of royalty.
I could still smell the briny salt on her skin from her travels across the sea, but beneath it was something else. Nervous energy—palpable on the back of my tongue.
“What kind of herbologist, indeed,” I replied, amused.
She huffed. “You haven’t dedicated your life to this work. You simply wouldn’t understand.”
I smiled placatingly. “Surely.”
“Are you mocking me?”
She almost stopped walking again, but I kept my gaze on the dirt path ahead of us and plodded on. We were almost back at the castle now.
She crossed her arms over her chest, which did nothing but draw my gaze to the spill of her breasts over the bodice of her dress. I cursed myself and glanced away.
“I would do no such thing, Little Dove,” I crooned.
I stopped outside the large obsidian gates that would lead to the courtyard within, allowing my brothers to catch up to us.
“What happened back there?” she asked, her arms still crossed over her chest defensively.
A lock of raven hair fell over her shoulder and into her face. My hand itched toward it, eager to brush it aside. I bit the inside of my cheek. My hand remained at my side, but the ache remained.
“Changing the subject, are we?” I asked, gaze hardening.