Casteel picked up a glass and took a drink, his eyes hard as polished topaz as he stared at the wolven.
Kieran tore off another piece of the biscuit. “I ran into Malik heading to the stables. Said he was waiting for you all.”
“He is,” Casteel said.
Kieran raised a brow. “For…?”
My gaze cut to Casteel. “You didn’t—?”
A fine shiver rolled through me without warning. Frowning, I looked down at where the sleeve of my blouse had fallen back to my elbow. Tiny bumps erupted along my forearm as the fine hairs rose. My gaze lifted and connected with Casteel’s.
“Yeah.” He lowered his glass. “I feel that.”
“So do I.” Kieran frowned at his biscuit. “It feels like…something unnatural.”
Everything to do with Tawny and my worry over what was going on with Casteel and Kieran—the argument, all of it—immediately fell to the wayside. “Something that…” The airthrobbed. “Doesn’t belong here.”
Casteel’s gaze sharpened. “Do you know where—?”
A horn blasted through the air, cutting him off.
“It’s coming from the west.”
Our west? That would be the Stroud Sea. Casteel brushed past us, heading for the Solar as Kieran finished his biscuit without making a mess. “Really?”
“What?” He tossed the pieces into his mouth. “Why let it go to waste?”
Shaking my head, I followed Casteel. He stopped by the large table, grabbing the still-harnessed swords he’d left there the night before.
I didn’t wait.
Which was probably a sign that the argument hadn’t completely left my mind.
Whatever.
Yanking open the doors, I stepped out into the hall, my gaze sweeping right and then left as I tried to get my bearings within Wayfair.
“This way.” Kieran entered the hall with Casteel, who was tightening the straps on his leather baldric that held a sheathed sword. “If we go down one floor and then to the west end, some of the balconies should give us a view.”
Casteel glanced at me and shifted the sword. “Forgetting something?”
“No.”
An eyebrow rose. “Yes, you are.”
Kieran opened the door, and we quickly entered a staircase. “I have my—”
“I was talking about your lack of footwear, my Queen.”
“Oh.” My lips pursed as I glanced down at my bare feet. “Too late now.”
The hall of the floor below us was empty, and we quickly crossed it to reach the end. Kieran pushed open the doors and then skidded to a halt, his head jerking back as a horn blew somewhere again. I went to the railing, unable to see anything beyond the inner Rise, where guards in gold-and-silver armor walked along the battlements.
“We need to get closer.” I stepped back and scanned the length of the balcony. There was a staircase at the end. Kieran pivoted toward it.
Casteel stalked along the railing, his eyes narrowed. He stopped beside Kieran. “Something is happening in the water,” he said.
My gaze snapped to the nearest steps in the Rise. Walking would take too long.
