It was all he had to say. The meaning was clear. Ru could fend for herself; she could take anything he threw at her. Because she had to. But Archie and Gwyneth…
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Ru tried to wrap her mind around the thought, her friends in danger. Cowering at the tip of a blade that Hugon D’Luc wielded. He was a monster in the trappings of an angel.
In, then out.
Would Hugon D’Luc go so far as to harm students of the Cornelian Tower? She had to believe he wouldn’t, not yet anyway. Surely there was a limit to how far he’d push her before he broke himself instead. Her heartbeat slowed, and her mind began to clear. The threat was a ploy. Just words. A desperate man, grasping at straws.
She had to believe it.
Ru held the lord’s gaze defiantly, refusing to show her fear. “And what about you?” she said, conscious of every one of his movements, the set of his jaw, his hands. He was a viper lying inwait in the grass, likely to strike at any moment. “Have you been in love?”
He smiled bitterly and stood, elegant as ever. He held out a bejeweled hand to Ru, and she took it. She had no other choice.
“I thought you said I lacked the selflessness,” he replied, and they stood facing one another, close enough that Ru could see flecks of grey in his blue eyes. She studied his face, looking for a threat. But all she saw in those fine features, just for a moment, was a young man in pain.
Ru said, “I can’t take you seriously when you talk about love.”
He offered her his elbow, leading them back to the Tower. “Immaterial. I have never needed you to take me seriously. I only need you to acquiesce.”
The Tower messhall was off-limits to Ru. Not by any decree, but because she couldn’t bear to face the other academics en masse. Their gazes followed her and stuck to her like burrs, screaming silent judgment. In their minds, she was the reason things had gone wrong. She was the reason the professors lay sick; she was the reason Children and King's Guards roamed the halls of the Tower as if it were Hugon D’Luc’s personal estate.
Ru Delara: first, a laughingstock, and now, a harbinger of some unknown doom.
Skirting past the mess hall on her way up to her room, Ru avoided the unfriendly glances from her peers. She kept her head high and her eyes straight ahead, but their unseen gazes, the jarring cold of their disdain, felt heavy on her heart. Some even hated her, she could tell. Grey Adler, her long-time academic nemesis, was chief among those who wanted her removed from the Tower. The academics might even have doneit if it weren’t for Lord D’Luc’s official takeover, signed and sealed in a letter by Regent Sigrun herself.
Lyr, a tall and large-featured King's Guard, met Ru just inside the Tower. He was her bodyguard now, whether to keep her safe or to watch her movements, Ru couldn’t guess. Likely both, but at least his intimidating presence kept the academics at bay.
“Want me to grab you breakfast?” he asked, when it became clear Ru wasn’t going into the mess hall.
She paused. The smell of toast and sausage, eggs and jam, filled her nose. Her stomach, at long last, began to grumble.
“Don’t you want a cinnamon roll?” suggested Lyr, raising his eyebrows. “Warm, sugary, nasty—”
“Fine,” Ru said, unable to resist. “A cinnamon roll, then.”
“It’ll give you a stomach cramp.”
“My stomach is used to it.”
Lyr shrugged. “Not very good for the brain, all that sugar.”
“Lyr,” Ru said, almost laughing, “Don’t suggest cinnamon rolls if you don’t intend to deliver on them.”
He grinned. “I’ll bring some up to you.”
Once back in her room, a plate of gooey cinnamon rolls in hand, Ru settled herself on the bed. She ate methodically, fingers sticky with icing, and tried to forget about the artifact, Lord D’Luc, and Fen… no,Taryel. The unspoken name filled her lungs like black smoke.
If she could forget him, she might feel peace. At least for a little while.
CHAPTER 2
Summer was waning in the kingdom of Navenie. Warm nights had given way to chill evenings, and flocks of waterfowl cut southern-facing Vs across dusky skies. Clouds of fireflies in the Cornelian Tower’s courtyards diminished by the day until there were only a few left, dancing sparsely under the night. The trees caught fire slowly, some yellow, others hinting at a bright flaming red soon to come.
Inside the Tower, fires burned longer, and hot drinks became the new favorite. Mulled wine, toddies, and cocoa reigned supreme where once fruit cordials held sway. The loss of daylight wasn’t a reason for sadness in Navenie; it was a time to gather blankets, candles, and lamps; to pull loved ones closer, and enjoy the warmth of a long evening by the fire.
But such homey comforts were lost on Ru. They couldn’t push back the cold dark that threatened her heart, storm clouds boiling up from a horizon, inching across her sky.
