He carried her back to bed where he tucked her in and climbed in next to her. He pulled her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her that were so big, they swallowed her head as she cried.
He didn’t scold her. Didn’t tell her to stop.
He held her not like she was breakable or shattering, but like she had seen something truly horrible and lived to remember it for the rest of her life. He held her like he knew.
She wrapped her arms around him and let go of everything she held tight inside her. Let everything she had to feel the last twenty-four hours wash away with her tears. Releasing all her despair out in waves until they finally stopped coming and the last tear fell. Leaving her eyes red and swollen and her body exhausted as though she hadn’t slept at all.
He stroked her hair as her breathing evened out and she took her face from his chest and inhaled a deep breath.
“Thank you.”
“Get dressed.” He smiled down at her. “I’m sure you’re starving. I’m going to wash up and find us something to eat. I can hear your stomach from here.”
He slipped into the bathing room, shutting the door behind him while she shifted through the wardrobe until she found a light purple nightgown made of silk and slipped it over her freshly cleaned skin. All reminders of their battles erased from it, but not her mind.
Akadian slipped from the bathing chamber with nothing but a towel around his waist, leaving very little for Ambrose’s imagination. Even through her grief, her heart skipped a beat seeing him so… bare. She tried not to think of the half-naked prince stalking out of her bedroom for a change of clothes, or that he’d used her bathing chamber instead of his own.
Tying her hair back into a loose braid, she double-checked herself in the wardrobe mirror. Dark circles wound their way under her eyes that almost matched the color of the nightgown she chose. Her skin was paler than it had been the last few weeks, losing its usual golden undertones. She’dlost some fat and gained some muscle from the countless hours of training she’d been doing with Magnus and Lily, but her ribs poked out just enough to tell her she still wasn’t getting enough calories.
She gave herself the time she needed with her thoughts before she stepped out of her doorway and into the space she shared with Akadian, who was nowhere to be found.
“Um…” She looked around the empty space, the chairs empty and the doorway sealed shut. Maybe he was still finding them something to eat?
“In here,” his voice called from his bedchamber. She slowly followed it, heart racing at the idea of going intohischambers, even though he’d been in hers a handful of times now.
Akadian’s bedchamber was twice the size of hers. A massive bed with dark blue silk sheets and a matching blanket accompanied by the skin of an animal, sat against a large, open window. The fur unlike any in the kingdom so she ventured a guess that it was foreign. He had his own bathing chamber with a tub big enough for two people. Against the back wall a desk made of cherry-oak homed a matching chair. Her eyes followed the wall and found Akadian—still shirtless—wearing black leather pants, bent over a stove cooking. In a kitchen that would make Ms. Asquith shake with jealousy. Copper appliances and two huge ovens with a stove big enough to cook for a small army.
“You’re cooking.” Ambrose couldn’t help sound surprised.
“Don’t act so shocked,” he chuckled.
“I guess I just assumed none of the royals cooked for themselves. Not with Ms. Asquith and a whole kitchen of servants at your disposals’. She sat on his bed and practically sank to the bottom of it, her feet dangling off the floor, it was so tall. She wasn’t a short woman but his room made her feel tiny.
“I eat in the dining hall when the king requires it, which is usually breakfast to show a united front for the day in front of the nobles and servants.” He flipped whatever he was cooking and the smell of oil and spices wafted over to her. Her stomach rumbled and she was sure he could hear it clear across the chambers. “Dinner however, I usually get the luxuryof eating alone.”
Ambrose shifted nervously, running her hands over each other. “I don’t mean to intrude, I’m sure I can find something in the kitchens.”
He shot a look at her over his shoulder. “You stay.”
It was an easy order to obey.
She let the herbs and spices fill the room as her head swam. She didn’t realize how hungry she was until the smell of food completely entranced her, taking over every one of her muscles but in particular the ones in her stomach. It wasn’t much longer before Akadian had a plate of perfectly golden chicken, chopped potatoes, and sweet carrots in front of her that would’ve made Ms. Asquith hate his very existence. He handed her a goblet of mango wine to pair it with and she didn’t know where to start. It smelledsogood.
He sat next to her with a twin plate and goblet as he bit into the chicken drumstick and grease dripped down his chin.
Ambrose looked from her plate to the doorway. “Are you sure you don’t want to eat alone?”
He smiled at her between bites. “I can’t imagine anyone else I’d rather have dinner with.”
She returned his smile and turned her attention to her own plate, devouring every delicious bite in sight.
Chapter 33
Just over a couple of months passed before Ambrose was able to find the Grand Mage, the tournament growing dangerously closer every day. Apparently he’d been off on a journey of his own that no one could tell her when he would return from. She’d spent her time training relentlessly with Lily, trying desperately to distract herself from the coming days until he finally came home. Now, Magnus paced the length of his office as he took in every word Ambrose relayed about her journey. She frantically told him everything.
Now only four days away, there was no looking back. Her master paced back and forth in front of his fireplace, the silver accents of his green robes twinkling with each step. He smelled even more of campfire than he usually did and Ambrose wondered if it had anything to do with the time he’d spent away. She sat patiently in his chair, waiting for him to gather his thoughts enough for a response.
“You wielded how many Elements?” He stroked his beard, deep in thought, his forehead pressed into deep lines as his hand moved absentmindedly.
