Chapter 22
Corinne couldn’t find it in herself to be disappointed that she was also headed for a night shift—being able to go to the Mykotas’s for dinner had placed another bandage over her battered heart, and it was easier to breathe now.
She thought of the Lightguard who had been childhood friends with Selana, and hoped that, wherever she was now, she had found that peace she’d lost.
A thread tugged in her heart again, threatening some untangling she wasn’t ready to face.
Corinne pushed through the doors that led out to the breezeway. Halfway across, muffled shouting reached her ears, and her heart stopped at the same moment her feet picked up speed. The guard standing outside Aryel’s door was unperturbed, meeting Corinne’s alarmed gaze without so much as a blink.
“…A disgrace to us and the nation!” The shout came from within Aryel’s rooms, and the voice was horribly familiar.
The king. Corinne released the grip on her sword hilt and straightened.
“You can go,” she said to the guard, jerking her chin toward the breezeway.
He nodded once and walked off. Corinne braced herself as she took up her post and the shouting continued.
“…I mean, really, Aryel, have you taken your position seriously for even a moment?” This time it was Queen Erina’s voice.
Corinne swallowed hard as she stared at the wall.
“Even when you aren’t engaging in constant debauchery, you manage to be an utter disappointment!”
“Well, perhaps if you were better at your job, Father, we wouldn’t be in this predicament in the first place!”
The answering crack and cry struck Corinne’s chest like a bolt of lightning.
Stay put. Don’t move. Whatever else was said in the following moments was too low for her to distinguish.
Footsteps rapidly approached the door, and Corinne stood as still as she possibly could as King Theo and Queen Erina emerged, the king wiping the back of his right hand on his cloak.
“Oh, good,” the king grunted, catching sight of Corinne. “You can fix his face.”
The shock wore off in an instant, replaced with broiling rage.
The queen took King Theo’s arm as they headed for the breezeway. It seemed to take them an eternity to walk across it and disappear through the doors. Corinne held her breath as she waited a few more seconds, just to be certain they were gone.
She turned to face Aryel’s door. Another moment, a forced inhale, and she knocked softly and waited. No sound. No answer. She knocked again with a little more conviction.
“Ari, it’s me,” she said, her voice cracking beneath the combined weight of ire and concern.
The door opened, and Corinne gazed in horror at the nasty cut across Aryel’s cheek for only a moment before he threw his arms around her, his face tucked into the crook of her neck. Corinne returned his embrace, letting him collapse into her for a few seconds of silent comfort.
The mysterious bruises he’d hidden. His changes in demeanor after being around his parents. The fact that he’d noticed when she’d started wearing long sleeves to hide an injury.
Anger gripped Corinne by the throat with frightening intensity, and she tamped it down hard. Aryel didn’t need her fire right now, but he did need her light. She leaned back and peered at his downcast face.
“Let me look at that,” she said quietly, her fingers brushing his jaw.
She took his hand and led him back over the threshold, allowing his door to shut behind them. Aryel didn’t say a word as she had him sit on the couch in his antechamber. She removed her sword belt and placed it on the little table before sitting beside him.
That fire blazed inside her again when she gently reached for his face, turning his head so she could clearly see the injury.
Blood trickled down his left cheek into his facial hair, leaking from a jagged cut surrounded by an angry red welt that was on its way to becoming a dark bruise.
Corinne’s fingers alighted with her magic, and Aryel closed his eyes as she placed her glowing hand on his cheek.
He breathed slowly as Corinne’s magic mended the cut, the broken blood vessels beneath.
“This has happened before,” she said, her voice trembling.
“Yes,” Aryel said, his eyes opening slowly. The twinkle within them she’d grown so accustomed to had vanished. “For a few years now. This is the first time he’s cut me, though. Forgot to take his rings off.”
Corinne’s rage flared so high her light pulsed, her eyes flashing.
“Easy, Sunshine,” he muttered, resting a hand on her glowing forearm. “It just happens sometimes. I should know better than to fire back at him.”
Corinne shook her head, angry tears threatening her eyes.
“You do not deserve this,” she said, her voice a hoarse whisper as she finished his healing. She didn’t immediately remove her hand from his face, even after her light receded.
“I know,” he said, smiling sadly, his fingers sliding up her arm to take her hand. She let him, unable to break his gaze. “That’s how I knew you didn’t, either.”
Corinne couldn’t ponder that right now, and she needed to calm down. What was she going to do, go hunt down the king and break his hand for daring to strike his son?
The thought was appealing.
“I don’t understand,” she said. “You have been working so hard, I’ve seen it, with Councilor Toro and your studies and training—”
“None of that makes a difference when I’ve spent years disappointing them in one way or another,” Aryel said, leaning back on the couch and staring at his ceiling.
He still hadn’t let go of her hand. “But I…I still try. If not for them, for the nation.” His gaze shifted to Corinne again.
“For…people like you. You make me want to try. You make me want to be a better person, Corinne.”
Her? The mediocre Lightguard whose oldest friend had abandoned her out of shame and disgust?
No one had ever said such things to her. It meant more to her than he would ever know, even if she hadn’t earned such regard.
Aryel sighed and finally released her hand. “I suppose I should sleep.”
“I’ll make sure no one disturbs you.”
A little smirk graced his face. “Are you going to deny the king himself entry if he were to return?”
Corinne narrowed her eyes. “Perhaps.”
Aryel huffed a humorless laugh and stood. “Don’t do anything that stupid on my behalf.”
“He’ll strike you again over my dead body,” Corinne said, standing as well, her face inches from Aryel’s as that fire broiled in her again. “I’ve sworn to protect you, and that is what I will do under any and all circumstances.”
Something serious and earnest settled in Aryel’s eyes, and the flames within her winked out, replaced by glowing embers. It was a slow wave of smoldering heat that rolled through her at that look from him, at the realization that they were so close her breath could mingle with his.
He blinked and stepped back, rubbing the side of his neck with one hand. “Thank you, Corinne,” he said, gesturing vaguely to his face. “For…just, thank you.”
Corinne nodded, quickly retrieving her sword and fastening her belt again. Why did her name always sound particularly lovely when he said it? Stop it, Corinne.
“I’ll be outside if you need anything,” she said.
Seemingly unable to form words, Aryel nodded once, and Corinne took up her post outside, her mind reeling and her heart torn.
Another thread loosened within her.