She chuckled for the first time in a long time.

She leant back on the bed, and her head hit the feathered pillow. He soon followed suit. The bed sank when Kellan’s head hit the pillow. She curled underneath the blankets and rolled on her side to face him.

‘I need something happy,’ she said. ‘Talk to me about Zakros.’

He raised a confused brow and laughed.

‘There’s nothing very happy about Zakros.’

Bethan groaned. ‘How about a trade?’

Poe jumped on the bed. The small feline climbed over Kellan’s stomach and curled himself up between them. Kellan ruffled his ears before scratching the back of her familiar’s neck.

‘What are we trading, exactly?’

‘I gave you basically a rundown of everything I’ve been feeling since this investigation. I think it’s only fair you bare your heart and soul to me.’

He laughed.

‘I thought you wanted something happy.’ A smirk crawled on his face. ‘Not exactly the pillow talk I was expecting.’

‘Please.’ She hated that her voice squeaked but she soldiered on. ‘I just need to take my mind off everything, even if what you’re about to tell me is bad, at least it won’t make me think of Lenovik.’

‘Okay,’ he said with ease, as if consoling her.

‘The reason I slept with that dagger under my pillow. The real reason—’

Bethan braced herself—she guessed because it was out of survival—but she never dared to ask him if there was a singular event that made him want it underneath his pillow and with him at all times.

‘I think I was fourteen at the time. Sabien and I used to be thick as thieves back then. I wasn’t yet exposed to the pressure of the royal court yet. But he was. His father died when he was young, so my mother hired advisers to raise him. They were always whispering in his ears. He explained to me later, that one adviser said I need to be tested.’

Bethan tilted her head in confusion.

‘For what?’

‘To see if I was going to be a threat when I was older. I was already receiving some combat training because it was a good way to learn control. And at the time, my powers were all over the place. Anyway, I was sleeping, and I left my window open stupidly. Low and behold, someone slipped in. They were cloaked in armour and a black hood. I knew immediately when I woke up, they were an assassin. But the knife was already on my throat.’

She gripped his hand.