Lessia pushed the sheets off, shivering as she stepped onto the cold stone floor.
After lacing up her boots and pulling her cloak around her, she tiptoed down the stairs.
Only one of the fireplaces still burned from last night, and before it, Loche sat with his head in his hands. Beside him, one of his guards from the castle snored softly in a plush chair, a black mask resting beneath him on the floor.
Loche didn’t look up as she approached, and her frown deepened when she made sure her steps could be heard and there was still no reaction from him.
Coming to a stop right before him, she reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder.
Finally, his head lifted, and her stomach flipped at the hardness of his face, his cold and distant glare.
“What’s happened?” she whispered.
His eyes trailed over her face, and his jaw clenched as uncertainty flashed in the gray. “They caught the spy. Found him conspiring with one of his accomplices.”
Loche eyed her as she nodded, and apprehension made her shoulders rise when his gaze filled with the same scrutiny it had during their first times together.
“Who is it?” she asked cautiously.
“Did you know?” he blurted out, his dark brows narrowing.
“Know what?”
She couldn’t read him.
Didn’t understand what was causing the turmoil within him.
It was good they’d caught the spy, right?
Loche’s jaw flexed, his eyes boring into hers, but when she only eyed him back, he released a deep breath.
“Venko is one of them.”
Lessia’s eyes widened.
But it made sense.
“I should have known. He…” She swallowed as her heart skipped a beat.
She’d nearly told him she’d used her magic to figure out what he was hiding.
But Venko had known so little…
How could he be the one behind this?
And she’d asked him to tell her if he found out more.
Loche watched her quietly, and she tried to gain control over her features.
“I just mean… he said some strange things to me. I should have figured out he was up to something.” Her voice shook a little, and she glanced down when Loche flexed his hands.
She was not convincing him.
But then Loche threw his head back and sighed. “I’m sorry.”
Lessia remained quiet even though all she wanted was to tell him he had nothing to be sorry for.
His intuition was right.
