Bri pursed her lips. Money was something so few fae ever thought about. Most of the high-class fae she grew up with had endless coffers. Their children never had to go away to work so they could send money home.

“I’m sorry,” Bri murmured. “I hope you get to visit often.”

“Rose has long since passed,” Cole replied as if it were nothing, practice making the words seem casual. “My eldest sister disappeared when I was a teen, and my younger siblings scattered through the courts after the Siege of Yexshire. I’m fairly confident I’m the only one still alive.”

Bri ambled into the plot and squatted down to examine the mint creeping out of the garden bed. “So few families are intact anymore.”

“How many have you lost?” Cole asked, dusting the dirt off his hands and rising to stand. He shook out his cloak and Bri noted the movement, reminding herself to shake her cloak out before putting it on too.

“Family? None,” she gritted out. “I am very fortunate.”

Cole laughed as he lifted his basket. “But you’ve lost someone important.”

It wasn’t a question. His ocean-blue eyes pierced into her at the statement as if his magic could sense her pain in the same way it could spot a wound that needed healing.

Bri’s hand drifted to the hilt of her amber dagger as she looked up to the fading indigo sky. The birds had quieted in the trees and a blanket of silence began to fill the air. “We should head inside before all manner of creatures start coming out.”

Cole’s cheeks dimpled. “You’re learning.”

Chapter Ten

Where are you off to tonight?” Carys asked as Bri stood. “A tavern? A gaming hall? Found a new guard to woo?”

“Not tonight.” Her coin purse jangled from her belt as she stretched her arms over her head. “I’m going to guard the Princess’s chamber.”

Carys waggled her eyebrows. “Are you, now?”

“Don’t give me that look,” Bri grumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose. “There are probably traitors in this castle. Don’t you think it’s wise to have one of us guarding her? That’s why we’re here.”

“I thought we were here to find out who killed the Queen and see Lina on the throne?”

“And how is Lina meant to reach the throne with a bunch of assassins in her midst?” Bri asked, folding her arms and leaning against the wall.

Carys rounded on her, looking her hard in the eye. “You can’t play this game with her, Bri.”

“What game?”

“You’re like a moth to the flame,” Carys said, raising her hand to silence Bri’s words of protest. “She is the future Queen of a kingdom you are prophesied to usurp. Don’t get caught up in this.”

“Car—”

“Pick someone else to heal,” Carys warned.

They stared at each other in a silent standoff.

“Is that all?” Bri finally asked.

Carys narrowed her eyes, scanning Bri from head to toe. “Seeing as I can’t convince you otherwise, yes.”