Slapping her palm over his mouth, she tried to smooth over his psychotic expression with a soft smile of her own. “Ignore him, Onas. Thank you for letting me know. Where am I to meet him?”

He fidgeted, shifting farther toward the stairs and away from Jaren, who had gone preternaturally still beneath her hand. “Your guardian knows where and agreed to escort you.”

Vera nodded, mentally preparing herself for the fight she and Jaren were certainly about to have over that tidbit.

“It really is strange,” Onas said, tucking his bundle closer to his body.

“What is?” she asked, lowering her hand before her mate decided to bite a finger off.

“How much you look like her.”

Her heart flipped, pleased, only to notice the way his eyes twitched, his lips pursed like he’d tasted something bitter, and it sank. “Why do I feel like you don’t mean that as a compliment? Was she considered really ugly or something?”

Jaren snorted.

“No! No, of course not. I didn’t—I mean, it’s just so odd to see you, given—it’s just…a lot to take in,” he stuttered out, looking more uncomfortable by the second.

He took a deep breath, trying to compose himself. “You just look like her, especially wearing her clothing. For a second, I thought you were her. That’s all I meant.”

Vera’s breath caught in her throat, and she instinctively placed a hand on Jaren’s arm. “The dresses that were put in my closet were my mother’s?”

She looked down at the flowy green dress, unsure how to feel about that piece of information. Still unsure how she felt about her mother, period.

“The entire room was hers,” Onas said distractedly, looking behind him toward the stairs as if considering whether or not he could make it to them before they caught up with him.

She shared a look with Jaren. They’d passed the royal wing during their search for the library. King Vesstan’s room definitely wasn’t in the same hall as hers.

“They didn’t share a room?”

Onas’s head snapped back to them, his eyes flaring before he quickly squeezed them shut, shaking his head. “I just meant that she used that room. If there’s nothing else, I really must be going.”

She watched him beeline for the stairs, tripping in his haste before disappearing from view. She honestly felt a little guilty about how frazzled seeing her had made him. What did he even do for the king?

“Don’t even think about it.”

She groaned, turning to look up into a pair of furious green eyes. “It’s just dinner, Jaren. And I’ll have Reniya with me,” she said, raising her hands like she was calming a wild stallion. But it was the wrong thing to say.

He growled. “Is it a game to you to see how far you can push me? Do you enjoy it? I’m already angry enough without you gallivanting off with fucking Virnorin to dine with someone who treated you like a last thought,” he spit, jaw popping with how hard he was clenching it.