32. CHAPTER 32
Aveline
In a mere matter of weeks, Sorin had managed to get under my skin so thoroughly he eclipsed all thought and sense of reason. Was this what it meant to have a mating bond? You lost all common sense?
I shook my head, trying in earnest to dispel all thoughts of Sorin Blackwater from my mind.
I failed miserably.
I returned to my room to find Quinnick was gone, I hadn't seen him all morning. That fox was all too good at opening doors and disappearing when I needed him most. It felt as if I hadn’t seen him in days. But I couldn’t be worried about keeping tabs on him right now.
I should find Enora.
She had been the one to plant this idea in Sorin’s mind. Maybe this was all some mistake—some cosmic joke.
I bit my lip, shaking my head at that.
If that were the case, that kiss wouldn’t have felt as if I had seen the stars for the very first time. Like I had been asleep my entire life, only to awaken now. Everything was sharper in focus.
Heightened.
Maybe that was merely the adrenaline pumping through my blood.
I tore the door of my bedroom open and started toward the library. Enora would likely have reported to work.
As I made my way down the corridor, I felt as if someone were watching me. As I cast my gaze over my shoulder, there was no one there.
I could sense my magic swirling inside of me now, the experience utterly foreign. My poisons and tinctures had suppressed my power for the last twenty-eight years, and I wasn’t sure what to expect now that it had been set free.
I descended the first curved staircase down to the second floor. That sensation prickled up the back of my neck once more. I turned, my skirts flowing around me now that they had begun to dry.
The corridor and the stairwell alike were both empty.
I turned back, shuffling quickly toward the next stairwell that would lead me down to the main hall.
At the bottom of the steps, I turned left toward the library.
The main hall was filled with Vireth milling about the castle.
A great many nobles had come to the palace for the ball in Sorin’s honor last night.
The thought of his betrothal to the Princess of Ravenscar left a bitter taste in my mouth. How could he claim me as his fated, when he belonged to another?
I bit the inside of my cheek until pain seared fresh and hot, causing my eyes to water.
How foolish.
I, too, belonged to another. What right did I have to feel that way?
None. I was being irrational.
An aggravated groan escaped me as I brushed my onyx hair back from my face, the library door finally in my sights.
As I passed one of the giant stone columns reaching up toward the vaulted ceiling, something moved in the corner of my eye.
An arm shot forth and grasped me by the forearm, tugging me behind the massive pillar.
I wrenched my mouth open to scream, but a hand covered my lips before an utterance could escape. Eyes wide, I couldn’t tear my gaze from the fae before me.
It didn’t make any sense.
“Quiet, Aveline. It’s me,” the familiar voice spoke, grasping his black face covering with his free hand and wrenching the fabric down.
Familiar green eyes, the color of the emerald waves beyond the Starwoven Sea. Sharp cheekbones covered in blond stubble that was far longer than I had ever seen it. His hair was disheveled, as if he had spent days at sea and hadn’t bothered to comb it through.
I supposed he had.
“If I remove my hand, do you promise not to scream?” he asked.
Why would I scream?
I should be happy to see him here. Elated, even.
But a sense of dread pooled low in my stomach, and no matter how hard I tried to ignore it; bile threatened to surge up the back of my throat.
Because before me stood Kallias Ashbourne, crown prince of Myros.
He was here in Gothryn.
Kallias Ashbourne had come to save me.
But the churning uncertainty in my gut told me I wasn’t sure I needed saving anymore.