Chapter 40
MYRA
"Maybe I should swear off women," Rian announced as he tossed the bread the innkeeper had given them away.
While Myra didn’t believe the bread was poisonous, she did not voice her dissent.
Rian had gone on monotonously about how he was an excellent judge of character. Myra, however, quickly saw through his facade.
She had tried to convince him that he couldn’t have known.
Myra was honestly as shocked as he was that the innkeeper had betrayed them.
The woman had most likely been forced to confess the truth to the assailants.
When the trio had first arrived at the inn, Myra hadn’t sensed any malicious intent, only curiosity and attraction from the woman.
Although when they were leaving the inn, Myra recalled a strangeness coating the space.
The woman had been more jittery, her aura coated with paranoia as she shifted on her feet behind the bar—something Laurince had realized only after Myra was gone.
"She told us eventually," Laurince said, looking over his shoulder as they rode. "We made it in time. That’s what matters."
Rian glanced at Myra, remorse twisting his features. "I should have realized sooner. I shouldn’t have been so careless."
"I was careless, too," Myra admitted, offering him a small smile. Maybe if she hadn’t been distracted by the images of Laurince’s legs entangled with hers, she would have noticed something was off with the woman sooner. "You cannot take all the blame."
"It comes with the title, does it not?"
Myra sighed. To some extent, if their arrangement had been different, Rian and Kallie would have gotten along well as a ruling couple. They both tried to take on too much.
As thoughts of Kallie came up, Myra looked away from Rian. Had she met with King Domitius yet? Was she safe? Was she—
"Mys?"
"Hmm?" Myra snapped her attention back to Rian and found him staring at her, concerned. Both he and Laurince kept glancing at her with that look. They were constantly checking in on her, afraid that something else had happened. That they hadn’t gotten there in time.
But they had. Myra kept reminding herself that.
"Where’d you go?" Rian asked.
Ahead of them, Laurince shifted, side-eyeing them.
"Nowhere. I-I’m fine. I was just…thinking."
"About?" Rian prompted.
Myra pursed her lips, debating on telling him the truth.
Although Rian hadn’t brought up Kallie much during their time together, Myra didn’t believe he cared for her.
He had now been betrayed by not one woman, but two.
And in both instances, either his life or someone else’s had been in danger because of the woman’s betrayal.
That was something that only time would heal.
Myra did not wish to impose her concerns about her former friend’s well-being on him.
Nor did she think it would do her any good to think of the what-ifs.
Her gaze locked onto the deep auburn hair peeking through the hood of Rian’s cloak. A wicked smile crept across her face. Perhaps there was one good thing that came out of their stop at the inn.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Rian asked, guiding his horse away from her. He glanced at the captain. "Laurince, she’s being weird."
"Weird? What do you—" Laurince cut himself off when he looked back at Myra. "Haze? Why are you smiling like that?"
Her eyelashes fluttered across her cheeks. "Do we have time for a quick stop?"
"Do you really think that’s a good idea? You were nearly killed," Rian sputtered. "And I have a bounty on my head, remember? It’s probably not a good idea to go strolling through another town."
"I think that pretty little head of yours is the exact reason we should," Myra stated, looking from Rian’s hair to Laurince.
"All right. Now you’re both doing it, and it’s creeping me the fuck out."
Myra and Laurince laughed, which only made Rian groan in frustration. Myra didn’t care, though, because she had lied to herself before. Two good things had come out of stopping at the tavern.
Myra snickered as Rian scratched his head.
He dropped his hand from his hair and glared at her. "You said it didn’t look bad," he whined from atop his horse.
Once a beautiful shade of copper, Rian’s hair was now painted black, and Myra was still not used to it. When she had suggested the idea, Rian had refused. But after some coaxing and some choice words from Laurince in private, Rian relented.
Thankfully, they had found all the needed ingredients for the dye in a small village in Borgania the next morning. Laurince had accompanied Myra to the market while Rian reluctantly waited outside the village.
Growing up, Myra had watched her mother dye countless fabrics various shades in order to create her designs.
The vibrant colors were one quality that made her mother’s embroidery truly special.
Her mother would use anything and everything—berries, walnuts, vegetables, bugs.
Whatever she could find or afford. It was like magic, watching her work and seeing the beautiful colors she created.
"It doesn’t look back," Myra promised, trying to hide the ghost of amusement on her lips. She didn’t dare tell Rian that one ingredient in the black dye was crushed beetles.
Rian slowed his horse down to a trot in line with hers. "Are you sure?"
Laurince snorted ahead of them. "How many times does she need to boost your ego? It’s not even permanent."
The dye would only last for a series of washes before needing to be reapplied—a fact they had to continue to remind Rian.
"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the ground this morning," Rian mumbled.
"For the tenth time, I’m fine."
"If you say so, Cap." Rian gave a two-finger salute at Laurince’s back. Then he leaned closer to Myra and whispered quietly enough so Laurince couldn’t hear, "You think he’s cranky because he wasn’t sleeping next to you last night?"
Myra kicked out her leg, narrowly missing Rian’s foot. Her horse nickered in annoyance, and she yelped, gripping the pommel to steady herself before she fell over.
Laurince snapped his attention to her. "Are you—" He slammed his mouth shut as Rian laughed and winked at her. The captain quickly turned back around, his posture more rigid than before.
Myra silently cursed herself. She wasn’t doing a great job of proving that she had no interest in the king.
Was this how it always was with them? The two men were around the same age and had grown up together.
While Myra had a few more years on Kallie, she knew what it was like to be overlooked.
As a handmaiden, her job was never to be seen or heard.
She stood beside Kallie to ensure her corsets were tightened, her hair perfectly in place, and her tea served at the right temperature.
Was Rian’s shadow just as large as Kallie’s growing up?
Still, she couldn’t imagine Laurince struggling to garner the attention of women. He was kind, strong, funny, charming. He could even sweep a woman across the dance floor if he so chose.
Her eyes dipped over his broad shoulders, down the length of his back. He was beyond attractive too. Likely the most attractive man Myra had ever laid eyes on.
"Perhaps you should tell him the truth," Rian said, leaning over again.
Myra straightened. "There’s nothing to tell."
"Continue lying to yourself, Mys, if you must, but time is precious. Who knows how much of it we have?"
"Wow." Myra gasped dramatically and pressed one hand to her chest as she held the reins loosely in the other. "What an astute piece of wisdom."
"I’m not a king for nothing," he said with a smirk. The twitch of his lips was brief, his expression turning solemn. "Think about it, at least."
He didn’t give Myra a chance to respond before he kicked his heels against his horse’s sides. The horse trotted forward, joining Laurince. Rian asked the captain a question, but Myra didn’t hear it or Laurince’s response.
As she stared at the two men’s backs as they rode through the woods, Rian’s words settled in her stomach like a stone.
Rian had a point. Domitius had declared war, and Sebastian was sitting on Rian’s throne.
It didn’t matter how many men Laurince and Rian could gather from those they trusted.
Blood would spill soon, and lives would be lost. Did Myra want to waste the time she had by hiding what she felt—as new as it might have been?