I exit the shop to rejoin the others, but I can’t help glancing over my shoulder as I leave. Through a sliver of the doorway before it swings fully closed, I see Leon holding something out to the healer—a bottle of dark liquid that looks disturbingly like blood.
Chapter24
Morgana
Leon is unusually pensive as we travel back to our lodgings, and more than once I catch him looking at me as if I’m a puzzle he can’t work out. It unnerves me, almost as much as the blood I saw him handing over. Etusca once told me the dryads only practice a few types of blood magic normally—the kind of simple test that was done on me in Elmere, for example.
But Leon didn’t come to Hallowbane for something any old healer would be willing to do. So what was he doing with that blood? And who does it belong to? I suspect it might be one of those mysteries I never get an answer to.
Everyone seems glad when we’re back at our suite in Corrin’s gambling den. The soldiers sink down onto the soft poufs and chaises in the lounge with groans of satisfaction, shucking off their boots and pouring themselves more wine.
“This one’s mine and Phaia’s,” Damia says, peeking into the rooms and picking what I suspect is the nicest one. “Alastor, you can bunk in with us.”
The blond fae sighs with relief. “Thank the gods. I thought I was going to have to share with these reprobates.”
“Hey,” Stratton tosses an apple at his head that Alastor catches. “We’re a delight to room with.”
“Only if you don’t mind an unholy mess and a distinct lack of grooming,” Alastor says, his eyes sliding toward Eryx. “You know I’m all for some good man musk, but even I have my limits.”
Hyllus coughs in a way that sounds suspiciously like a stifled snicker.
I watch them enviously as they settle in after their long day. I wish I could relax like them, but the things I’ve learned in the last few hours keep running through my head.
Leon notices, of course, brushing past me as he heads to one of the unclaimed rooms.
“Come talk with me,” he says.
I don’t know if I should follow, if it’s right to keep putting myself in situations where I’m alone with him. But I’ve been so untethered today I’m desperate for that grounding influence again, that still, solid presence he embodies.
I follow him to the room, where he’s leaning against the wall, far from the bed. I risk sitting down on the soft mattress, meeting his gaze.
“How are you doing?” he asks.
Just the question makes me want to crumple inward. It’s hard to be strong when you’re on your own, and it’s even harder when someone comes along and offers you a kind word or listening ear. It can break down all your defenses in an instant.
“I feel so betrayed,” I say, letting the words pour out of me. “I knew my parents didn’t care about me—at least not in the way parents should. But Etusca was supposed to be the one I could trust. She was all I had for so long, and now all that time we spent together doesn’t feel real—how can it be, when nothing she told me was real?”
“She stayed with you a long time for a dryad,” he says. “I’m not making excuses for her, of course. But that means something. Some of her care for you had to be real.”
I nod miserably. “I felt so bad when she started getting sick from being away from the Miravow.”
“Do you know where she is now?” he asks.
“I hope she’s gone home,” I say. “But it’s possible she’s still at the palace in Elmere, wondering where I am.”
Even the thought of her worrying about me gives me a stab of guilt.
“A huge part of me still wants to believe maybe she didn’t know what she was doing,” I continue. “Or that she had reasons that would make sense if I heard her explain them. But is that me looking for the truth or wanting to ignore reality?”
“You’re hoping people turn out to be better than they seem,” Leon says. “Most of us do that when it comes to the people we love. We hang onto that stubborn idea.” He pushes off from the wall, straightening. “But that doesn’t mean we should be complacent. Whatever her intentions, your nursemaid has given you a gift. You’re powerful, Ana, and that’s why you must keep training. You can protect yourself if you work at mastering your magic.”
“And what about you?” I ask, remembering the things he’s kept from me—the things he’s decided to leave unspoken. I lean back on my hands, staring into his eyes with a hint of challenge. “Are you better than you seem? Or are you one of those people I need to protect myself from?”
He stalks toward me, his eyes dark as storm clouds.
“I can’t be the judge of that,” he says. “But maybe you should ask yourself if you reallywantprotection from me. Because I’ve seen your dreams, princess, and they weren’t about me keeping my distance from you.”
He stops in front of me, his legs nearly touching mine, and I know he’s inviting me to cross that line the way I do in my fantasies.
