With a final squeeze to my palm, Emi retreated into the darkness of the corridor, leaving me alone with my tormented thoughts.

Lyra already feared her craft. To tell her the fate awaiting her, without a means to free her from it, would be cruel. I wasn’t certain that was the only truth Emi meant, but it was the one that mattered most.

The more Lyra used her magic for the greedy purposes of kings, the more they devoured the goodness of her own soul.

36

Lyra

There was a great deal wrong with me. Remorse and heaps of guilt should’ve plagued my thoughts, but my mind could not keep focused on Tomas Grisen. Instead, whenever the panic rose, I drifted to warm hands on my skin, lips against mine, the hardness of his body.

One finger absently twirled a lock of my hair while I sipped a bit of rose tea. Across the morning meal, Edvin taunted Kael over his drunken, reckless desire last night to confront Baldur’s disrespect of his half sister during the revel.

Astra was young and likely hoped to find a warrior lover during her visit to Stonegate.

I chuckled through the exaggerated tale and took another drink. Baldur the Fox likely didn’t even understand how to kiss a woman. No mistake, he would not understand the delicate balance of softness and passion, how to torment a body with only his hands, no words spoken.

I was not convinced Astra would ever find such qualities in a man, for they were owned by Roark Ashwood.

The hint of a grin played over my lips. I slipped back into the clean scent of his skin, the scrape of the stubble on his chin.

Until the peace was shattered by a missive delivered by a palace steward when he took away our plates.

“What’s that, Ly?” Kael tossed the belt holding his seax over one shoulder.

I read the missive under the table. It was a summons from the king to join him in his wing once all the other guests took their noon meals amid the games and entertainment in the courtyards.

My heart fell to my feet. I blew out a long breath and forced a smile. “Nothing. I merely need to perform for the Myrdans while you lot get to enjoy besting the Stav in ax throwing. Kael, if you do not win, I’ll never speak to you again.”

He scoffed. “I was practically born with an ax in hand.”

Edvin chuckled and clapped a hand on Kael’s shoulder, challenging him to a friendly competition before the actual games began. I feigned a grin, tickled one of Edvin’s daughters beneath the chin, and slipped his middle girl an extra sweet bun beneath the table.

I was well practiced in burying my disquiet behind false grins and laughter.