43. Chapter 43
Owain
After bathing and getting into new clothes, I finally allowed myself to breathe.
And I was shamelessly taking advantage of the situation to be close to Lunette.
I lay beside her, breathing in lungfuls of the steadiness only she could offer.
She was still curled up under the furs, her gentle breaths and the crackle of the fire the only sounds in the room.
I hadn’t slept. Wasn’t sure I could while the world outside this room was preparing to move against us. But here, with her heartbeat a steady rhythm I could feel to the depth of my soul, something in me had gone quiet for the first time in years.
Beyond the castle walls, the creeping winter threatened, and within, magic and steel were our enemies. Yet here, her warmth soaked into my skin. This quiet was the eye of a storm that would tear my world apart the moment I stepped back into it.
First, I had to deal with any restless courtiers. Then, Reina. All the while trying desperately not to kill every single member of the Assembly conclave.
I pressed my lips to her temple, memorizing everything I could about this moment because something in me worried I wouldn’t get this peace back for a long time.
Finally, with a silent groan that seemed to echo in the stillness, I willed my body to rise and left Luna a note explaining my absence, just in case she woke before my return.
As I stepped out into the corridor, the cold hit me like the flat of a blade against bare skin.
My guards instantly stood taller. Reina’s women were waiting there too, observing every detail while hidden behind their unassuming servant’s attire.
Between them, they formed a barrier that would be nearly impossible to breach without raising half the castle.
They’d help Lunette if she woke. They would keep her safe.
“Positions remain as ordered,” I said quietly to my captain. “No one enters.” I hated caging Lunette like this, but I couldn’t see any other way. Hated more that I would do far worse before this was over. The worst would be that she might see me differently afterward.
A chorus of assent followed me as I strode away.
Tension saturated the air of the castle like the oppressive humidity before a summer squall, poised for the thunder’s first rumble. Everywhere I looked, there were weapons. And beneath all the steel was something far more dangerous: fear.
The guards had doubled in every corridor, posted at intersections, outside doors, along the balconies overlooking the inner courtyards. At every junction, men huddled in knots that broke apart too quickly when they saw me coming. That meant rumors were flying.
It wasn’t only my men either. We’d allowed the visiting nobility to increase their guard within the keep, so tabards of every color lined the hallways.
I kept my pace unhurried. I had no intention of letting anyone see me sweat. Let them think I had everything well in hand, even as my mind split between wrath that my enemy was sheltered within my home and the possessive, protective rage over Lunette that bordered on insanity.
But they didn’t need to know that. They didn’t need to know that I was aware of their scheme. And they certainly didn’t need to know that she was my mate.
The dowager’s wing was guarded by a score of Reina’s men all wearing the black and silver of my mother’s house. With a nod, they parted without a word.
I knocked, received consent, and stepped inside—then stopped short.
Reina stood near the hearth, one hand braced against the mantel, the other holding a glass of something dark. The fire was high, the room dim and amber-warm. Her hair was unbound, falling over her shoulders in a way that would’ve scandalized the court if they’d been allowed to see it.
My feet paused because there was a second shape beneath the blankets in her bed. Richart was asleep on his side facing the wall, his breathing slow and even.
I looked at my aunt.
She stared back.
Was this who she wanted to retire to her estate with? He was at least a decade younger than she was and a mage-soldier of decent rank, but of no particular pedigree.
There was a long silence in which we conducted an entire conversation without opening our mouths.
Really? Richart? said my raised eyebrow.
She looked back at me over the rim of her cup. The slight lift of her chin answered: Are you really surprised?
I exhaled slowly through my nose. Right. Fair. It was just that she was Reina. She had more than enough male attention turned her way to have her pick of men. But she’d chosen Richart.
My gaze flicked once more to him. Then back to her. You could’ve told me.
A slight pinch at the corners of her eyes: I’m telling you now.
Then she did speak. “He’s steady, Owain.”
Coming from Reina that was the highest praise. So, that was all I needed to hear. I inclined my head and decided to welcome him into the family. I pulled a chair from the wall, turned it around, and straddled it.
Only someone who knew her as well as I did would’ve caught the subtle easing of her shoulders at my clear acceptance.
“What have your spies told you about Berian? I haven’t been to see him yet,” I said quietly.
“He was awake briefly, perhaps an hour ago.” She took a slow sip from her goblet.
“Spoke a little, which is better than I’d expected.
I didn’t get details. I had other matters requiring my attention.
” Her gaze moved unapologetically to the bed.
“My personal healer is with your brother. He’s presumably alive, or someone would’ve come running.
” She took a long sip of her wine. “Lunette is still resting?”
I nodded, mind already threatening to force me to rush back and rest beside her.
“We’re lucky to have her… If it wasn’t already clear, I wholeheartedly approve of her,” she said, smiling in the way that told me she was about to strike. Voice held low, she hissed, “So don’t fuck it up again!”
I couldn’t help but smile at that. “I’ll do my best.” By the gods, I would try every day. “What do you have from the servants we have on the Assembly?”
“Nothing new,” she said. “They’re being careful. Too careful.”
I exhaled slowly. Them being careful hopefully meant we had a bit of time to move around them. She had the device secreted somewhere in this room too. Those things combined allowed the vise around my ribs to loosen a single notch.
Silence settled for a moment before I asked, “Did I do the right thing with the assassin?”
“You lost control,” she said bluntly. “But you found your way back.” There was nothing soft in her voice, but there was something that in another woman might’ve been called tenderness.
“Most men never manage the second part. They comfort themselves by believing they were righteous or by accepting that they’re monsters.
Either way, it’s the excuse they need to stop feeling guilty.
” She picked up her goblet again. “You’ve never done either.
You’ve always reflected on your choices and faced the consequences. ”
“That doesn’t make what I did—”
“It makes it controlled,” she said, cutting across me cleanly.
“Your magic has never been the danger, Owain. That’s what they always wanted you to believe—that who you are is the problem, that you’re always on the edge of becoming something foul.
But you had every reason to murder that man, and you chose the harder route instead.
” She gave me a look that could’ve stripped bark from a tree.
“A monster is ruled by its nature,” she said.
“A weapon is ruled by its wielder.” Her gaze locked onto mine.
“You chose when to stop. That is a leader’s restraint. ”
Camrick’s voice echoed faintly in my memory. Come back.
“I didn’t stop quickly enough,” I argued.
“No,” she agreed. “You didn’t. But you did stop.”
No comfort. No softening. Just truth.
“Go see your brother,” she said, already shooing me out. “Take a guard who has the balls to speak up if you act like a fool. You look like you want to start a fight.”
I almost smiled. She wasn’t wrong.
I took the long way back to the family wing, hoping to get a better feeling of how the keep outside the inner sanctum of the castle was faring with the news. That turned out to be a mistake—twice over.
Eyes tracked me. The visiting courtiers socialized in clusters, their conversations dropping to whispers as I passed. I’d barely made it halfway back when Lord Coryanthus called out for me.
Of all the people in this cursed castle. I stopped and turned, hands itching to summon a blade, all because he’d sent Lunette flowers. Rein it in, Owain.
“Prince Regent,” he said smoothly, falling into step beside me as if he’d been invited.
His handsomeness was of the straightforward, effortless kind, with a square jaw, a broad smile, and dark-gold hair.
He was an illusionist of considerable skill but an irritant of even more considerable persistence.
I was aware that the attention he’d given Lunette wasn’t a crime.
I was aware that eligible men of means sought the company of beautiful women at court.
I was also aware that the rational part of my mind was currently drowned out by every instinct I possessed.
The mate bond was still driving me mad; it was just more subtle now that Lunette was nearby.
“Terrible business.” He shook his head, performing concern at the correct volume. “I wondered if I might reinforce my guard further…considering.”
Considering. As if he were the target. As if his current escort wasn't already crowding my halls.
In the crushing weight of the day’s chaos, his frantic worry felt like a fly to be swatted rather than a potential threat to be managed. I wanted him out of my sight as quickly as possible. “Given recent events, we’ll allow it.”
His suppressed smile was the first genuine one I’d seen since he’d entered the keep. “And how is Lady Lunette? I’ll confess the rumor mills have been rather active, saying that she may have saved His Majesty’s life.”