Page 102 of Blade of the Nightking

“It’s nice to be back,” she said, planting her hands on her hips.

“Does no one find it odd that Rìan’s quarters were reopened just to accommodate me?” I frowned. “What will people think?”

“That Levinica is barking mad. Oh, don’t give me that look,” she waved a hand. “She was the one who suggested it. It’s been empty for three centuries.”

I blinked. “Why doesn't Rìan stay here?”

A slow smile tugged at her mouth. “Why? Were you hoping he would?”

Heat climbed my neck. “Forget I asked.”

She snickered.

I drifted farther into the suite, unable to keep my gaze from wandering. It was curious, really. For all its size and beauty, there was nothing ostentatious about it. No glittering displays of wealth. No statues or gilded ornaments. Nothing to indicate this had once been a royal suite.

Instead, the rooms felt… lived in.

The furnishings were undeniably masculine, all dark polished woods and worn leathers, yet there was a warmth woven through the space that I hadn't expected. I ran my fingers along the dining table, tracing the shallow scratches and faint ring marks worn into its surface. Meals had been shared here. Maybe even laughter.

Shelves overflowed with books whose cracked spines and dog-eared pages suggested they'd been read and reread a hundred times over. I pulled one free and flipped it open. The margins were filled with notes, written in a cramped, slanted hand.

I peered down a darkened hallway where no doors stood save for one at the very end, large and imposing, adorned with intricate mother-of-pearl inlay. There was no mistaking whose bedchamber it had once been. I had no desire to see the inside of it.

I heard a door click open and caught a glimpse of Segolayne slipping into the bedchamber beside mine before it swung shut behind her. A moment later came the sound of running water. Apparently throwing me around a training mat and insulting me for the better part of the morning had been exhausting enough to warrant a bath.

I rolled my eyes, but continued farther into the suite, a little more relaxed now that I was alone to explore it properly.

The living area opened onto an enormous glass wall overlooking Half Moon Bay. After a moment, I realized the panes folded back entirely, allowing the room to spill onto the terrace beyond.

Gods. The view.

The bay curved below like a crescent of silver-blue glass, fishing boats drifting across its light-flecked waters.

Finally, I returned to my bedroom and peeled off my sweat-soaked clothes, leaving them in a heap on the floor before crossing into the bathing room and sinking straight into the bath. Heat enveloped me, slowly easing the ache from my battered muscles.

If I was being honest with myself, the lesson had been brutal. Humiliating. But had I hated it? Not really.

To my surprise, the exercise had shaken something loose inside me. The fog of fear and exhaustion that had smothered me since Solmire no longer felt quite so suffocating. My mind was clear again, no longer dulled by panic and dread. Thoughts came quickly, one flowing effortlessly into the next instead of dragging through mud. Even the world around me seemed somehow brighter, every detail thrown into startling focus. More remarkable still, I didn't even feel the urge to reach for a drink.

I felt awake. Present in my own body again instead of trapped somewhere deep inside myself.

The realization brought the faintest smile to my lips.

I climbed out once my fingers and toes had begun to wrinkle, wrapping myself in one of the fluffy towels stacked nearby. Idly, I wandered toward the tall wardrobes lining the bedroom wall, their mahogany wood polished to a soft sheen beneath bronze handles. Perhaps the servants had moved my belongings from the guest chamber.

The moment I pulled one open, the smell hit me like a blow.

His smell.

Leather and spice threaded with something electric, like rain gathering before a storm.

Rìan's clothes. Nothing but Rìan's clothes. Dark jackets hung in perfect rows beside neatly folded shirts, every piece immaculate.

Why were they in my room?

My fingers brushed the sleeve of a long, black coat before I realized what I was doing.

I jerked my hand back as though burned and shoved the wardrobe shut harder than necessary, heat flushing my face despite the fact that no one was there to witness it.