“Yes.” She squared her shoulders. “I want...this. My life. My family.”
I missed a beat, then threw myself at her, my lungs expanding in a rush. “You’ll marry Ky, then? Go to Hightower with me?”
She patted my arm, then attempted a giggle. It was a sallow, trembling thing, but a giggle, nonetheless. “I will.”
“Oh, goddess, I want that so badly,” I said into her shoulder. She smelled like flowers. Like night-blooming jasmine and plumeria, which must have been some kind of goddess thing, considering no one in this house had been able to afford perfume for years. “But only if it’ll actually make you happy.”
“It will.” She patted my arm. “Also, you’re choking me.”
I eased back, my limbs syrupy with relief. I felt heavy, like someone had poured me full of molasses. “Thank Zephyrine. I mean, not Zephyrine—that’s actually kind of rude to say, now that I think about it—but thankyou. Zephyrine can wait. She can have you back when you’re eighty.”
Amryssa mustered a smile and fondled the diary. “Until then, what do we do with this?”
I considered the journal. If Olivian found his wife’s letter—if he learned about the blood-price—he would offer Zephyrine his life. Of that, I had no doubt. But that would kill Amryssa as surely as fading into the swamp would. “I’ll keep it hidden, in my room. Olivian can’t know. No one can.”
“All right. And Harlowe? Do you think I could have some water? I’m thirsty. And tired. And I think I need to lie down for a minute. This is...a lot.”
I jumped to my feet, ready to go join the stewards’ lawn war, if necessary, so immense was my relief. “Of course. I’ll go grab some from downstairs. Be right back.”
She lay down, her shoulder blades jutting beneath her dress like wings. I strode into the hallway, then dug for my keyring and locked her door, just in case Vick was prowling around nearby.
But in the end, I shouldn’t have worried, because Vick didn’t come for Amryssa.
He came for me.
25.
Iwas nearing the stairs, my steps whispering against the tatty carpets, when a shadow darkened the corridor behind me. I glanced back, and...shit. Vick was headed my way, clearly on a mission.
My stomach sank. Goddess, Ky had asked me to do one thing today.One thing.
I veered into a side hallway and chose a random corner to turn, then another. After ducking through a door, I found myself in what had once been a nursery, complete with pastel curtains and a cradle with a bug net draped over the top.
I leaned against the wall, my chest heaving. Had I lost him? A minute ticked by, then another, and I allowed myself to hope.
But then the knob turned. When the door opened, Vick slipped inside.
Dread flash-boiled in my stomach. As usual, he wore his shortsword. A disembodied section of my mind calculated whether anyone would hear me if I screamed.
Probably not.
Vick smiled, a slow bleed that sharpened to a wolf’s grin. A few carroty curls had escaped the tie at his nape and frizzed in the heat.
I sidled away. “Don’t mind me. I was just on my way downstairs.”
He was on me in a flash, barring me from retreat with a hand planted against the wall. He leaned close, one hand rested casually atop his sword pommel.
I froze, eyeing his weapon. If he drew, I could go for my dagger, but I had no illusions about howthatwould go. I wasn’t a fighter. The best I could do was lure unarmed princes into sucking on my neck before catching them off-guard with a blade to the throat.
Vick, unfortunately, was not an unarmed prince. Nor was I about to offer him my neck.
“Just the person I wanted to see,” he said. “You’re a tough one to get alone.”
“Yep. Great to see you, but I’ll be going now.” I made an attempt for the door, but he pinned my shoulder to the wall.
“Ah, ah,” he tutted. “It’s past time for us to have a chat,Princess.”
My skin writhed in his sweat-dampened grip. “Is it? Because I’m pretty sure I’d prefer we never speak again.”
