Chapter Sixteen Riela
Chapter Sixteen
Riela
I spent several hours exploring the courtyard. It was definitely bigger than it appeared, and I couldn’t decide if it was
because of careful landscaping or actual magic. Either way, the space was beautiful, and the jagged pieces of anxiety I’d
been cutting myself against were smoothed into something safer.
At least until I caught a glimpse of the dais in the clearing.
Garrick’s reaction told me that the circle of stone was important, perhaps vitally so. Curiosity gnawed at me, but I had sworn
I wouldn’t touch it.
And just to be safe, I was planning to avoid it altogether.
But I hadn’t promised not to research it. Surely one of the books in Garrick’s vast library would mention exactly what it was for. I just had to find it. And since
Garrick hadn’t forbidden me from exploring the rest of the castle, I would also do a little snooping while on my way.
It took me ten minutes to find my way back to the enormous glass door I’d used to enter. In all of my exploring, I hadn’t
seen any other doors. Was this really the only entrance?
I briefly wondered if I could ask the castle to make me another door. Just how far did its power extend? If I asked really
nicely, could I get a door that opened from my bedroom into the greenery of the inner courtyard?
I pondered the question while I slowly made my way toward the library. Most of the rooms I tried were either boring and covered
in dust or locked, so it didn’t take long for me to find myself back in the long hallway that housed the library.
The first three doors I tried were locked, but the fourth latch turned under my fingers. I swung the heavy door open and stopped in surprise. This had to be Garrick’s study, though the Etheri in question was nowhere to be seen.
“Garrick? Are you in here?” I called as I eased into the surprisingly cozy room. The walls were lined with books and a glowing
silver fire glimmered in the fireplace with two comfortable chairs in front of it. Two smaller chairs sat in front of a massive
desk made of the same dark material as the castle’s front doors. The desk was the focus of the room.
Or it would’ve been, if not for the painting above it.
I left the door ajar so Garrick would know I was inside, then I crept across the room. I wasn’t exactly sneaking but I wanted
a chance to examine the painting before Garrick caught me and tossed me out.
I passed his desk with barely a glance, my eyes glued to the painting. The artist had painted a ball, one held in the room
with the enormous glass doors. In the painting, the doors were thrown open to a snowy courtyard, but that wasn’t what captured
my attention.
No, it was the couples whirling across the canvas in a perfect, endless loop. Their extravagant clothes swirled around them
as they danced with inhuman grace.
Etheri.
So many of them, perfectly captured with paint on canvas, plus some magic or enchantment that made it seem as if I were there.
I touched the frame and magic hummed under my fingers.
I don’t know how long I stared at the painting before I finally noticed the still figure on the throne, watching the whirling
dancers with something like regal boredom. Even with the silver crown on his head, Garrick was unmistakable.
My breath caught. This was the Silver Court, in all of their ethereal glory. This was why the castle was so large and designed
for so many people.
So where were they now?
I turned to look at his desk, as if the answer would just be laid out for me to find. There was a book open on his desk. I glanced around to ensure I was still alone, then sidled closer. The text was in a language I couldn’t read, and raising my magic didn’t help.
But it did show that the entire study was just as steeped in silver magic as the rest of the castle and courtyard.
I straightened and bit my lip. It wouldn’t hurt to peek in his desk drawers, right? I didn’t want to take anything, I just wanted to see what he deemed important enough to keep close.
After another only moderately guilty glance around, I reached for the topmost drawer on the right. My fingers had barely closed
around the handle before a whisper of warning slid down my spine. Something was behind me. I spun, arms up defensively, and
Garrick’s hands closed around my wrists.
“What are you doing in my study?” he asked, his voice dangerously mild.
I swallowed my guilt and glanced at the wall behind him, but there was nowhere he could’ve hidden. “Where were you?”
“We’re talking about you, Riela,” he murmured. It was the first time he’d used my name, and I felt it like a caress all the
way to my toes. I shivered and tried to put some distance between us, but he still held my wrists.
“I was looking for you,” I tried.
“Yet when I wasn’t in here, you came in anyway. Why?”
I frowned. “How do you know that?”
His smile was not particularly reassuring. “I know many things. Answer the question.”
“This room was locked yesterday. Today it wasn’t. I was curious.” That, at least, was true.
While we’d been talking, he’d slowly herded me back until my butt was pressed against the edge of his desk. With the desk
behind me and him in front of me, I had no escape, but rather than fear, something hot and dangerous simmered through my veins.
By the time I’d entered my late teens, I’d been the tallest person in the village, and I’d nearly always been the taller partner in my relationships.
My last—and longest—relationship had been with a tiny woman who’d loved my height.
Unfortunately, that relationship had ended with the emergence of my magic.
The split had been as amicable as possible, given the circumstances, but the ache had lingered.
With Garrick looming over me, I finally understood how it felt to be small and overpowered by someone I wanted.
It was delicious.
Sparks danced up my spine, and it didn’t help that I knew exactly what it would feel like for him to pin me to a bed, his
face fierce with hunger. I squeezed my legs together and tried to shift sideways, but Garrick didn’t budge. If anything, he
pressed against me more firmly. His body was warm and unyielding and my desire burned brighter. I clenched my jaw to keep
the reaction off my face.
“Was curiosity all it was?” Garrick demanded softly. “Or was it something else?”
His magic glimmered around him in moonlight waves, and his expression was tightly leashed, but something dark and feral lurked
in his eyes. What would happen if I broke that mask? I desperately wanted to find out, for good or ill.
“Something else,” I breathed, my eyes on his lips and barely following the conversation.
His mouth quirked as he leaned closer. “Tell me,” he invited in a silky whisper.
I was moving before he’d finished speaking. I pressed my lips to his with a quiet sigh. His hands tightened around my wrists,
and his lips softened for the briefest moment before he turned as still as the stone he was named for. A heartbeat later,
he let me go and stepped back, so that no part of us remained touching. The movement was fluid and controlled, but the rejection
could not have been clearer.
My desire morphed into humiliation.
I scrambled away, putting the desk and chairs between us. The mage hadn’t moved, and he watched me with an unreadable expression.
The banked fire I’d seen in his eyes—or thought I’d seen—had been extinguished.
One thing was clear: he wasn’t feeling the same desire that had burned bright enough to override all of my good sense. “Oh saints, I’m so sorry,” I murmured. “I thought . . .” I shook my head. It didn’t matter. I didn’t need to make it any worse.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated, then I fled the room.
Mortification dogged my steps, and while I was tempted to hide in my room like a child, there wasn’t anything to do in my room besides sit and relive the embarrassment over and over.
So I hid in the library like an adult.
I grabbed a stack of books that looked like they could contain the secret of the dais in the courtyard, then I pushed the
chair I’d used before as far back in the alcove as it would go. I opened the first book and hoped it would swallow me whole.
The book was written in a language I didn’t read, and it had far too few illustrations, so no matter how much I tried to lose
myself in the pages, I couldn’t. Garrick’s reaction was seared into my brain, and I cringed anew each time I remembered it.
I’d pushed Hector into a pig trough for trying to kiss me without permission, and now I’d gone and done the same thing, except
to an Etheri king. I was lucky all he’d done was step away.
It could’ve been so much worse.
A traitorous part of me whispered that it could’ve been so much better, too, but I refused to acknowledge it.
When I found myself staring at the same page for several long seconds without seeing it, I closed the book and asked the castle,
“Could I get some paper and a pencil?”
Pages rustled softly from my left, and when I looked over, I found paper and a pencil on the side table. “Thank you.”
King Stoneguard, I wrote, then stalled. After dithering for too long, I decided simple was best. I apologize for entering your study without permission and for letting my curiosity get the better of me.
Then I gravely misread the situation, and I apologize for that, too.
It will not happen again. Rest assured that I will be taking my meals in my room until further notice. Yours, R.
I folded the letter in thirds, then wrote his formal title on the outside and set it on the side table. “Can you ensure Garrick
gets that, please?” I asked.
Pages rustled again, and the letter disappeared from the corner of my eye.
I turned back to my book, but I’d barely opened it and found my place again when a folded piece of paper fell onto the pages.
Moonlight magic hummed under my fingers. Garrick hadn’t asked the castle to deliver the letter—he’d done it himself.
The letter was sealed with wax that was still soft. I broke the seal, and trepidation closed my throat. What if he asked me
to leave?
I unfolded the thick paper with trembling fingers. Inside, inked in a strong, angular hand, was a single word: Coward.
Indignation overrode embarrassment. Without thinking, I struck out the word and wrote Considerate in its place. I refolded the letter, then hesitated as the humiliation crept back in. But before I could reconsider, the
letter vanished.
Had Garrick called it back, or had the castle anticipated my request?
I hid my face in a book that appeared to be on farming techniques, but I couldn’t concentrate long enough to even flip through
the remaining pages. My nerves wound tighter with each passing moment. Would he reply again? What would he say?
What would I say?
A thousand conversations played out in my imagination, each one more excruciating than the last. So when a letter fell into
my lap with a soft pulse of magic, I very nearly shoved it onto the floor.
But curiosity stopped my hand. It was the same paper I’d returned to him, the broken wax seal still in place. He’d seen my
hasty reply.
I unfolded the paper in a fit of pique. I was no coward.
He’d written his response under my previous reply. You are hardly the first person to steal a kiss, though you are the first to run away afterward. Once you are done hiding in the library, I will see you at dinner. We leave for the forest’s edge tomorrow morning.
P.S. Use my name, Riela.
My breath caught. Despite everything, he was still going to take me to the edge of the forest. I touched the paper, afraid
the words would disappear like so much smoke, but they remained bold and real under my fingers.
I read the note again, and I didn’t know if it was magic or wishful thinking but I could almost feel the gentle teasing in
his words. I pictured his sly smile as he’d put pen to paper. At least he wasn’t going to separate my head from my body for
sheer impudence. Amusement was better than anger, even if I still burned with embarrassment.
There was only one response. Thank you, Garrick, I wrote, underlining it twice. I hesitated, then added, And that was hardly a kiss. More like a lapse in judgment.
If he could joke about it, then I could, too. I folded the letter and set it aside before my nerve failed. It vanished in
a shimmer of magic. I bit my lip and hoped I hadn’t made a mistake.
The response returned so quickly I was worried I’d offended him. But when I unfolded the letter, a single bold line had been
added to the bottom: Then I look forward to future lapses.
My cheeks heated. He couldn’t mean that the way it sounded, could he? I shook my head. There wouldn’t be any future lapses—I’d learned my lesson.
Still, I carefully tucked the letter into the pocket of my dress. I kept expecting it to disappear, but it remained, softly
weighted with moonlit magic and enigmatic words.