Zerah rolls her eyes upward. “If yousharehis bed, Lyra, he’ll stop swimming in cold lakes.”
“Oh.” Warmth spreads across my face as I look away, fastening my stare to the nearby maple tree swaying in the breeze.
“I have seen you with men,” she says.
My gaze snaps to her as she throws up her hands.
“I’m not accusing you of anything. This was before you married Jasce. But I saw you. You knew things I only read about. Did things I only dreamed about. Yet now, you seem more innocent than I am.”
Nerves tighten in my chest as I swallow. “Things changed after I hit my head.”
“There’s one of them right now.” The sun moves behind the clouds as she points to a guard patrolling the courtyard. He’s young with brown hair and a thin frame. “I saw you with him at least five times.”
I swipe my fingers across the sweat on my brow. “Of course.”
Zerah’s eyes narrow. “You would never dally with a guard, Lyra.”
“But you said…”
“I was testing your memory.”
“It is lacking.”Very, very lacking.
Needing a change of scenery, I stand and smooth my cotehardie. “Would you like to go to the library?”
She nods and follows me into the palace and down the corridor. The entire time, she never stops talking.
“You didn’t have any favorites. They all seemed like they were your favorites. They gave you such expensive jewelry. I was surprised when Father chose you as Jasce’s wife. Jasce was surprised too, even if he didn’t say it. Iknew.We all knew he didn’t like you.”
I open the door and step into the library, and Zerah follows me, still talking.
“You flirted with him, and he always just stood there so stiffly. But not anymore. Now, he’s interested.” Zerah grabs my arm and leads me to the sofa, where we both sit. “So, it’s probably a very good thing you hit your head. He likes you more. I like you more.”
“Well,” I say when she finally gives me a chance to speak. “I’m glad you like me. I have needed a friend.” So very much.
A grin pulls at her mouth. “I’m an excellent friend, and I’m quiet when I’m around the court, so I observe a lot. I couldobservefor you.”
“I’d like that.”
She leans back against the cushioned sofa. “This is fantastic. I won’t have to marry, and now you and I are friends.”
I smile as she continues talking and talking. Maybe she needed someone to speak to, someone that got her away from her books and her dog, even if only for a bit.
That night when I join Jasce in his bedchamber, I think about Zerah a lot. How bubbly she had been. How honest. She reminds me of Emerin.
“Thank you for the horses,” I say as he settles on the bed next to me.
He shifts to his back. “Of course.”
“It was far too generous, but I love them already.”
“You were right,” he says after a moment.
“About what?”
“You had never ridden a horse before today,” he says, his words straight-forward.
I rub my sweaty palms against my nightdress and try to think my way out of this, but there’s no way out.
