Renna put her hands in the air. “Right, right. Just not used to another woman being around to deal with Krew’s mood swings.”
“Sounds like the three of you all need naps anyway,” I smiled, not really bothered. “I will see you all soon, I hope.”
Out in the hallway, I gave Owen a tight smile.
He put up a moving sound barrier over us.
“One down, one to go,” I told him. “Molly was there too, and I may or may not have just brought her up to speed on everything.”
Owen gave me a shrug. “She’s dating Keir. Best friends with both you and Renna. I always kind of assumed she knew more than she let on anyway.”
I gave him a nod. “Exactly. So what was the point in keeping things from her?”
I was quiet the rest of the walk back to Krew’s wing, trying to figure out what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. I didn’t want to punish Krew or make him feel even more awful, but I wasn’t about to act like everything was perfect either.
I took a deep breath as the door to Krew’s wing came into view.
“Good luck,” Owen said as he dropped our sound barrier.
“Thanks.”
* * *
I enteredour wing by myself, looking for Krew. He was freshly showered and sitting out on the veranda. In the cold. It wasn’t raining. Or snowing. But it wasn’t all that nice outside either.
I went outside and sat down next to him, taking in how pretty the forest looked at this time of day. I had this vision of the forest vibrant and green, Krew chasing Warrick across the meadow, the king nowhere to be found. It didn’t matter if Krew was then king or Keir was. It was just an image that I didn’t want to let go of.
Tears pricked my eyes.
“Did your conversation with Renna not go well?” Krew asked gently.
I shook my head. “No. It went fine. I mean, you might be mad at me because I filled Molly in on just about everything, but it went really well. That isn’t the reason I was getting choked up.” And then down the bond, I added,I miss Warrick.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.Me too. Father wants us to plan a trip to Nerede soon so you can fish for disloyal information. So we should be able to see him soon.He stood and held a hand toward the door. “Shall we?”
I stood with him.
Once inside, we settled on the couch. Krew gave me space but turned slightly toward me. He reached for my hand but then stopped, as if unsure. “Tell me how to fix it.” His eyes tore into mine, and I knew he hurt. He hurt because he knew he’d hurtme. He moved to rub his forehead with both hands, resting them on his temples. “I watched Keir do this to you on repeat and I promised myself I would never do it. And yet here we are, married less than a few weeks and I did. Just tell me how to fix it, please.”
I reached over to put my hand on his shoulder. “You can’t fix it, Krew. You just have to learn from it.”
Krew tipped his head back to look at the ceiling. “I thought that Renna and I could get my father away from you. And seeing you struggling this much under the weight of the magic, that was all I really wanted for you. To get him off your back.”
I sighed. “I understand all of that Krew. I understand the motive was to protect me. It doesn’t change the result. It was too far.”
“I agree.”
Unable to speak at a normal volume, I whispered, “Please don’t make me beg your father for anything elseever again.”
He closed his eyes and tilted his head as I felt his pain down our bond. “I won’t.”
I leaned against the back of the couch. “And you didn’t even ask me if I wanted you and Renna to do this. Before the bonding, I probably would have been all for it. But we are married now, Krew. And that means something to me.”
His eyes flew to mine. “It means something to me too.” His voice cracked. “It means...everythingto me, Jorah.”
“Okay, but you’ve got to stop all this constant scheming, Krew. I wasn’t that thrilled about Nara. And I’m still not. So we go directly from that into me getting informed about the situation with Renna. I wasn’t allowed the courtesy of being included in the planning. I was just told how it would all happen. All of these plans are exhausting, Krew. The only thing that matters is taking down your father. It could be a week. It could be a year. It could be five years. Let’s focus solely on what we have to do to take him down and then the rest of the time let’s live our damn lives.” I paused, the tears finally spilling over. “I don’t want to waste however short of time I may have as your wife with pointless plans that wouldn’t matter at the end of the day anyway. I want to build a life with you.”
I saw a tear slip down his own face. “I want that too, love. That’s why I decided we should act on the Nara opportunity. It’s why I feel an urgency now to remove my father from power.”