Chapter 19
Although I was fully recovered the next day, Mordric ordered me to remain in bed.
He visited often, hovering around me stiffly as if I might shatter if he laid a finger on me.
He had an endless stream of food and nurses brought to my bedside, despite my insistence that I was fine.
Every day that I wasn’t training was another day lost as we inched toward the summer solstice, and the timeline was already tight.
Even Dr. Murrows found no cause for concern, advising Mordric that it might be best if I were allowed out to get some fresh air.
After three days of agonizing boredom, the King finally relented.
The sweet scent of violets reached my nose as I made my way across the palace grounds. The snow had finally melted, and early spring blooms had begun to wriggle their way out of the thawing earth.
I wasn’t sure what I would say to the prince when I saw him. Thank him, I supposed. Try not to think about the fact that he’d seen me nude. My palms grew clammy. When I reached the top of the courtyard stairs, I found him perched in his usual spot at the round table.
“I’m surprised that my brother allowed you to leave your bedchamber,” he said, his eyes never straying from the book in front of him. He flipped through the pages too quickly to actually be reading. Probably.
I stilled. His tone was a warning. “Dr. Murrows suggested that I get some fresh air,” I said evenly.
He smirked. “How fortunate.”
I cleared my throat, lowering myself into a chair. “You left the other day before I had a chance to thank you.”
“For what?”
Gods help me.
“For giving me your blood. For saving me.”
The pages stilled as he straightened, leaning forward to slide the book into the center of the table. He locked eyes with me. “Don’t let it happen again.”
I balked. “What?”
His eyes narrowed. “I said, don’t let it happen again.”
“I heard you,” I bit back. “I just find it hard to believe that that’s all you have to say to me.”
He shrugged. “I’m just looking out for you. Someone has to.”
“Someone is looking out for me,” I hissed.
“I suppose you drained your own blood then?” He smirked. It enraged me.
“I’m the one who should be furious at you, by the way. Genevieve basically tried to kill me.”
“I was unaware that three people could fit into that bathtub. How scandalous.”
An offended noise escaped me and my cheeks burned as I stood with a jolt, the heavy chair scraping over the stones behind me. “If this is how you’re going to act, then I see no reason to remain here today. I’ve had quite enough of you already.”
He stood to face me, a dark pall spreading across his features. “You’ve had enough when I say you have.”
“What does it even matter to you?” I asked.
“I’m just a duty, right? You don’t even care if I live or die.
” I grabbed the nearest book and heaved it at his head, not staying long enough to see if I hit my mark.
I raced down the crooked stairs, taking them two at a time in order to put as much distance between us as possible.
I hated him.
Fury welled up inside me like a storm rolling in over blue skies. Marching in the direction of the lake, I choked back angry tears, curling my fingers into fists with the effort.
Damn him, I thought violently. Damn her. Damn them both to the depths of the underworld.
Rage crawled its way up my throat. Unable to hold it in for fear it might consume me, I doubled over at the waist and loosed a feral scream.
Before me, the water churned wildly, forming a massive wave.
It spilled across the surface of the lake until making landfall on the opposite bank with an earsplitting crash that echoed through the valley.
Across the water, a flock of wild geese took flight, shrieking in panic.
Anger drained out of me as I watched them, tension unfurling from my body like a cloud of smoke.
I sighed, running my fingers through my hair.
“So melodramatic,” came a voice from behind me. “You know if you channel just an ounce of that rage into our sessions, you might be able to keep me from knocking you on your ass every evening.”
“Fucking vampires,” I mumbled under my breath.
“I’m hoping that this incident with fucking vampires taught you something, at the very least.”
I turned on my heel to find the prince leaning casually against a gnarled willow tree, a bemused expression on his face. “It taught me that you’re an asshole,” I snapped.
“You already thought that.”
“You’re really going to pretend like that was a lesson?”
“It was. For all of us.”
“And what exactly was I supposed to learn?”
“Something I had only ever read about,” he explained. “That witch’s blood is irresistible to vampires.”
My lip curled. “Shouldn’t you have been able to smell that or something?”
He cocked his head. “Without getting into the gruesome details, you smell nice, but only incrementally better than a normal human.”
My eyebrows shot up. “You think I smell nice? You’ve never paid me a compliment before.”
“Not true, and I’m making an objective observation.”
“Would you have been able to control yourself?” I pressed. “If you had been the one to bite me?”
A muscle twitched in his jaw. “I don’t see why that’s relevant.”
I shook my head, recognizing the lie on his tongue. “Yes, you do.”
A beat passed between us. “My brother isn’t perfect. None of us are.”
“I know that.”
“But you haven’t accepted it.”
I remained silent, the waters of the lake slowly lapping at my boots.
“Am I correct in assuming you saw into Genevieve’s memories on the night of Iltsar?” he asked.
I sucked in a breath. “Why would you think that?”
“Because of what you said to me back there.”
I kicked at a rock, saying nothing.
“You still haven’t been able to break down my wards,” he continued, “and Genevieve isn’t exactly practiced in psychal magic, so it must have been her.”
My jaw snapped shut. It would be too humiliating to admit that one overheard conversation had driven me to do something so stupid, even if it were true.
“I never meant to offend you,” he said.
“I doubt that,” I bit back.
He closed the distance between us, coming to a halt only a few inches away. “Things with Genevieve were complicated,” he said. “And I had to navigate the situation carefully. Just look at what she did to you over something she had completely built up in her own head.”
I narrowed my eyes. “This isn’t about Genevieve. She can hate me all she wants for the rest of her days and it wouldn’t matter to me. But at the very least I thought you respected me after all this time.”
“I have enormous respect for you,” he insisted.
“Really? Those words you said to her seemed to come a little too easily.”
I turned away from him, but he darted into my path, sinking a few inches in the mud. He blocked my view of the lake, forcing me to stare into his eyes. “I regret what I said, I do. Even if you hadn’t overheard it, it would have been a cruel thing to say. Can you forgive me?”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“What if I made it up to you?”
An idea sparked, like lightning striking a wheat field in the heat of summer. I sized him up, wondering just how far his guilt might stretch. “Do you mean that?” I asked.
He nodded. “If it will put me back in your good graces, then yes.”
“I have something in mind, actually,” I said, my pulse quickening.
The prince’s eyes narrowed at my words. “That was awfully quick. Am I going to regret this?”
“Perhaps.”
“What is it?”
I exhaled slowly. “Come into Valnar with me to investigate the disappearances.”
“Absolutely not,” he replied without missing a beat.
“But you said—”
“Clearly, I spoke too quickly.”
“Please,” I begged. “Mordric won’t hear of me venturing into the city alone, not after what happened, and the seneschal’s investigation turned up nothing. You could escort me.”
His eyes narrowed. “I like my head just fine where it is, thanks—attached to my neck.”
“I’ll forget all about that nasty business with Genevieve.”
“You really ought to think about me sometimes. Mordric will string me up like a lamb in a butcher’s shop if he gets wind that you’re even thinking about looking into it yourself.”
I raised my brows. “You? A lamb?”
“You’re missing the point.”
“Please?”
He paused, his expression amused. “Fine, but only because you said please. And if you don’t find anything by sunrise, I want you to drop it for good.”
I grinned, resisting the urge to throw my arms around him. “Thank you, Your Royal Highness.”
“You’re going to make an excellent courtier someday, witch.”