Chapter 74 #2
A sudden thought surges through me. Could he wish to propose again, even though he knows of my feelings for Kyor?
That single thought leads to another more insidious one.
Did he know about Thea? Did he know Kyor professed to love her too?
He certainly tried to warn me away from the prince often enough.
With a forced smile, I place my hands on Jonas’s shoulders. ‘Not now. Just have a drink, please. Celebrate with me before anything else.’
‘Of course.’ His smile looks almost as forced as mine. ‘Congratulations, Lady Rose,’ he says as he sweeps into a courtly bow as deep as the knights offered.
‘My Lady Rose, the gifted.’
His voice sounds from behind me. Warm, almost triumphant. The same voice that only hours ago made me want to shut the world out so that only two of us remained. My heart ricochets off my ribs as I turn to face him.
Kyor. He looks every inch as perfect as he did when he left me earlier. But is he?
I hate Thea in this moment, for what she has ruined for me.
I try to smile, but I know it doesn’t reach my eyes.
‘Thorn, are you okay?’
No. The answer rattles around my head, but I can’t speak openly with him here. This is not the right time or place.
‘I need to see Kay,’ I say instead. ‘Have you seen Kay?’
It is as though the Goddess gifted me the power to summon my sister, for I have barely finished my question when I hear her voice.
‘Rose? Rose!’
Her white-blonde hair flashes through the crowd and in this moment, nothing else matters. Not Kyor, not even the magic that fills me. Kay is safe. Kay has a place here in the High Hold. That is what I did all of this for. It’s been Kay and me always, and it can go back to that if it has to.
The instant she reaches me, I throw my arms around her tightly, trying to absorb her happiness to share in it.
‘You did it! This is incredible. Our lives, Rose!’ She’s beaming like I should be. ‘This is amazing! Unbelievable. Oh, I have so much to tell you, so much to tell you.’
I can feel Kyor’s gaze hovering on me.
Every dance, that’s what he promised me. Now I’m not sure how long I can even stand to be in the same ballroom as him. I need to talk to him about Thea, but I can’t face it here, surrounded by hundreds of fluttering court butterflies, each as deadly as a viper.
‘Tell me, tell me your news,’ I say instead to her.
She frowns slightly. ‘Do you not need to be, I don’t know, mingling, dancing? People look as if they want to speak to you.’
As I glance around, I can see that she is right, and almost every pair of eyes is trained on me. But this is the celebration of my triumph, my gifting, and I have earned the right to spend it as I wish.
‘I wish to hear your news,’ I respond, continuing to drag her away, and this time she doesn’t protest. Behind us, I can hear Benny loudly talking about how beautiful our reunion is, trying to make it acceptable that I’m slipping out of the ball held in my very honour. He is truly a God among men.
We slip into one of the first antechambers, and it’s with a new bout of nausea that I realise it’s the one Kyor and I were in the night Llinos was murdered. I want to move, find another place, but then Kay will only ask what’s wrong, and that’s not a conversation I’m ready to have.
‘So tell me your news,’ I say impatiently, needing a distraction from the thoughts raging in my head. ‘What is it?’
‘Rose,’ she starts, her voice tempered in the way I know well. It means she’s about to tell me something she thinks I won’t like. ‘I couldn’t be happier,’ she continues firmly. ‘The court, it’s where I’m meant to be.’
‘I know. That’s why I entered the Retterheld. I always knew you would be happy here.’ I frown. ‘Is it your magic? Has it not come back?’
She shakes her head. ‘No, not that I’ve noticed yet, but I’ve not tried to do anything. And it’s not like magic can matter that much. You won the Retterheld without it.’
I press my lips together. Did I? I wouldn’t have survived without the powers I got on that frozen lake. But Kay doesn’t need to know about that right now.
‘Rose.’ Kay places her hands on my shoulders. ‘I don’t need to worry about whether I have magic or not anymore … not now I’m getting married.’
The shock is enough to force the air from my lungs, but I try to disguise it as best I can. ‘Hew? Do you want to marry Hew?’
My throat thickens. Hew and Kyor are close. This marriage would bind us, however loosely, for the rest of our lives ahead.
Kay’s usually soft face is inscrutable. ‘No,’ she says finally. ‘No, not … Hew.’
My mind goes blank. ‘Then who? Kay, I understand that you were worried about having to leave the court after the competition ended, but that’s not going to happen. You’re a lady again now. A proper member of the court. You don’t need to be hasty. You don’t need to get married to stay here.’
She chews on her bottom lip. ‘I know I’m a member of the court, but there’s something else you must know.’ She repeats the chewing motion as she draws in a breath. ‘I … I’m pregnant.’
My jaw drops. I stagger back a little, falling into the chair behind me. ‘You’re what?’ I whisper, making no attempt to hide my shock.
She brushes my concern away with a wave of her hand. ‘You do not need to worry, I promise.’
‘You are pregnant, out of wedlock, without a …’ I stop as another thought careens in. ‘Whose baby is it?’
She grimaces. ‘It is Hew’s. I thought he loved me.’ She scoffs, a bitter look crossing her face before she pastes on a smile, as if what is coming next is positive. ‘When I told him of our baby, he admitted to already being betrothed to a duchess in Dorain.’
‘What?’ I can barely speak, barely think.
Hew got my sister pregnant, with no intention of doing the honourable thing?
‘The men of the Wrohelm court are snakes,’ I snarl.
‘Every single one of them.’ I press my thumbs against my temples as I rub my forehead.
Kay is pregnant out of wedlock. She will be kicked out of the court again.
As the thought enters my head, my brain catches up to the rest of her words.
Dropping my hands I look her in the eye.
‘But if the baby is Hew’s, and he’s marrying someone else, then who are you marrying? ’
Wordlessly, she entwines her fingers with mine. From the nervous soft smile that graces her lips, I already know I am going to hate what follows. ‘Honestly, I promise you, it is fine. I have sorted it.’
Sorted it? Relief storms in. She’s taken a potion, ended the burgeoning life before it can end hers. ‘Have you taken a tonic?’ I ask her, but when she looks blank, I continue, ‘If not, I can make one. I have not made one for a while, but I’m sure I—’
‘No!’ She snatches her hand from mine. I see the horror in her eyes, the same as the night I killed Holden. Horror and judgement for my actions. ‘Death did not used to be your first instinct, Rose, and it certainly isn’t mine.’
‘I killed for you!’ I snap back.
‘I didn’t ask you to!’ Her own voice rises.
‘I would never have asked you to.’ Her breath seethes through gritted teeth as she clenches and unclenches her hands.
‘Rose …’ She says my name with forced composure.
‘This life growing inside me is my child. I’m not going to just dispose of it because the timing is inconvenient. I’m not so heartless as you.’
‘Pardon?’ I could not have been more shocked if she had punched me.
Heartless? Is that how she sees me? After all I have done for her, hearing that word tripping from Kay’s tongue is crippling.
‘You have no idea what my heart has gone through,’ I snarl.
Any ounce of patience I have is gone. ‘I’m done with this, Acacia,’ I snap.
‘If you are not taking the tonic nor are you marrying the father, then who exactly are you planning to marry to remedy this Godsawful mess?’
She presses her lips together. For the first time, I feel the slightest hint of nervousness radiating from her. ‘I am going to marry Artur.’
‘Artur?’ I frown, confused. There is only one person I know by that name, and I am certain she cannot mean him. Not ageing, portly Artur Lorathin. ‘Who?’ I ask again. Maybe there is another Artur at court I have not yet met.
Then she speaks, and in a single moment confirms all of my worst fears. She tips her chin up. ‘I am marrying Lord Artur Lorathin. Jonas’s father.’