Lord Odvar turned to me. “And you? You’re young Silas’s widow?”

Oh, Mother was right—how that word cut. It labeled you with loss, taking everything else away. Forget lady, forget bride. I was someone who’d been robbed.

“I am, sir.”

He came over and extended his hand. Hesitantly, I offered him mine. He raised it to his lips and kissed it. “I would suppose you were a unique lady if you were truly once on the arm of a king.”

I ducked my head. “I was, sir. Once.”

“I won’t lie. I’m far more compelled to know you as the woman who stole the heart of a man like Silas Eastoffe. Welcome to Isolte.”

Thirteen

ETAN WALKED DECISIVELY DOWN THE hallways, which were so snug it was hard for two ladies in their full gowns to walk side by side. They were also much more mazelike than what I was used to, with branches breaking off leading to goodness knows where. I started studying the limited artwork, hoping I’d be able to find my way on my own if I mastered a few landmarks.

My hand still felt warm from where my new and unexpected friend Lord Odvar had taken it. It seemed, even in his death, Silas was making things better for me.

“Just here,” Etan said, ushering us all around a corner.

The stewards were already placing trunks inside the rooms, knowing without instruction where we’d be.

“Careful with that one,” Uncle Reid instructed as they moved his trunk. It was the last one, and thank goodness, because I needed all the eyes of this castle to disappear for a minute.

The entryway was spacious enough, if dim. I could see that the apartment, instead of going on and on like my last quarters at Keresken, simply led to four bedrooms.

“You have this one,” Aunt Jovana insisted, pointing Mother to what must have been the largest room, their room.

“No, no . . . I won’t put you out any more than I already have.”

“Then this one,” Etan said, moving her to what I assumed was his room.

“Girls, you don’t mind sharing, do you?” Uncle Reid asked. Scarlet and I smiled.

“We prefer it,” Scarlet answered for us.

“Excellent.”

Etan wordlessly claimed the room on the far right of the apartment, so Scarlet led us into the one left of it, and I was pleased to find a large poster bed, several of those thin windows allowing light into the room, and an unlit fireplace against the wall that we shared with Etan.

Scarlet and I went to putting our things away: trunks at the foot of the bed, bags in the corner, dresses hung up to air out. I brought what I had, which was to say dresses more suited to the Coroan court than the Isolten one. But I knew Scarlet would share, and it was only a few days.

“Girls? Etan?” Uncle Reid called. “Come on out when you can.”