I scrunch my nose and try to think. “I don’t know how to explain it. Certain facts just make sense to me, but when I try to think about events or what happened to me . . . it’s like wading through mud.”
His thumb continues to rub circles on my hand, and I take a deep breath. “I can’t even begin to imagine,” he says softly, and his voice does something to me.
I look up from our hands and meet his gaze, his smoky grey eyes drawing me in. “You feel . . . familiar,” I whisper. “I desperately wish I could remember.”
He leans in just a bit closer, placing my hand over his chest, where I can feel his heart racing. “Rae, I—” His gaze drops to my lips, and I find myself tilting my head up to meet him. My eyes flutter shut, but the bang of the door startles me, and I pull away.
“I’m sorry,” Sera looks between us and flushes bright red. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Kian clears his throat, dropping my hand and backing off. “No, it’s okay. Raelyn needs to finish the tonic the alchemist has been making for her. I nearly forgot.”
My heart is pounding, and I’m so confused. I don’t really know what to do with myself.
Sera holds up a vial and nods. “Yes, that’s why I’m here.”
“Perfect,” Kian says and rises from the bed but avoids my gaze. “I’ll check in on you later.”
“Okay.”
Sera comes back to my side and holds the vial up for me. I uncork it and sniff, the smell reminding me of the foul taste in my mouth when I woke up. “Do I have to?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Sera says.
“Bottoms up,” I reply before downing the disgusting substance. “Ugh, this is almost as bad as the tonic Father makes me take every day.”
Sera makes a face before handing me a glass of water to wash it down, which I accept gratefully.
“Sera . . .?”
“Yes, Raelyn?”
“I’m really struggling to piece things together. Can you please tell me what you know? I’m hoping it might spark something . . . a memory maybe?”
Sera takes a deep breath and sits on the edge of my bed. “If you think that would help, of course I will.”
I lean back against the headboard and listen to her recount what little she knows of the last few months.
My eyes bug out of my face when she mentions the palace.
“Wait a damn minute,” I exclaim.
“Language!” Sera frowns.
I smile sheepishly. “Kian is the prince.”
Sera looks at me as if I’ve lost my damn mind. “You’re telling me you didn’t put that together yet?”
“It’s not like he said, ‘Hi, I’m Prince Kian, your husband,’ when he introduced himself,” I sass her.
She giggles. “True . . . but you knowsomethings. I thought you’d remember the name of the prince of our realm!”
I frown, trying to think through my fuzzy brain . . . It’s as if the royal family is hidden in there somewhere, and while I’m aware of them, I can’t put faces and names to them. “It is odd,” I admit. “But gods, I can’t believe I’m a princess. What in the realms?”
Sera smiles broadly. “You asking the prince to hire me brought us back together after your evil stepmother fired me.”
“I still can’t believe Father is remarried . . . and she really fired most of the staff?”
Sera nods, wide-eyed. “Perhaps it’s good you don’t remember her treating you like a servant in your own home.”
