Leaning her arm into her friend, Bri said, “I know you do.” She wiped her sleeve under her eyes, glancing at each of them with a nod of silent thanks.

Rua pulled a deck of cards out of her pocket. “Two kings?”

Snickering, Remy watched as her sister shuffled the deck. “Renwick is rubbing off on you.”

“Ha. You should have seen her on the ice lakes.” Bri chuckled, the sound feeling suddenly foreign to her ears. “She bested him in every single hand. No wonder they were Fated.”

“You think the Gods gifted us both with a love of cards?” Rua jeered, dealing out the cards as Remy shifted across from her to make a circle.

Bri released a slow breath, looking at the pile of cards Rua dealt and back to her bloodied knuckles that trailed rivulets of crimson down to her fingertips. “I think I might ruin this deck.”

“Please.” Rua waved her hand. “I have a dozen more.”

“Something of a collector now?” Remy teased.

“Well, now I know what to get you for a wedding present.” Carys grinned. “I know this painter back east who does royal portraits. . . . He’d be perfect.”

“Oh Gods, you’re going to put my face on a deck of cards, aren’t you?” Rua shot her a look.

Carys’s smile turned devious. “You, and Remy, and Neelo, and . . .” She covered her trailing thoughts with a cough.

“And Lina,” Bri whispered, the Princess’s name burning up her throat.

“Shit, sorry,” Carys muttered.

Bri shook her head, focusing on the cards in her hand. Her trembling fingers struggled to hold them. Pain flared up within her in unexpected waves. One moment she thought she’d regained composure, and the next her eyes were welling again.

She struggled through the first round, letting the others’ banter carry on without her glum input. Bri knew they were doing it for her, making idle conversation to pull her from the depths of her despair, but she was grateful for it. She’d probably have ruined her hand beyond repair if they weren’t there, bearing witness to her pain. The blood had stopped flowing, her fae healing already working its magic to scab over her wounds.

She knew her friends understood. Even in her suffering, she wasn’t alone, and a festering question nagged at the back of her mind: Who was there to comfort Lina right now?

Chapter 40

Chapter Forty

Everything had turned gray inside Bri. Every time she jolted awake, tears would spring to her eyes, that burning physical reaction beyond her control. Never had her body acted of its own accord like that, each new bout of loss pulling at her strings.

Remy’s arm wrapped around her as she tucked in tighter, Carys and Rua on her other side. The three of them had slept the night in Bri’s bed, gowns and all, as if keeping guard from the inevitable nightmares.