“Sorry.” Her breath ghosts over my lips.
“You have nothing to be sorry for, love. You’re perfect,” I whisper before I pull away to stop myself from doing something I’ll regret . . . not that I could ever regret kissing her.
She scrunches her nose in an adorable way, and I’m about to speak again when?—
“Well, aren’t you two the most adorable couple ever. It’s almost sickening.”
Raelyn freezes, and I turn to look behind us.Great.
“What are you doing here?” Raelyn asks her sister Erika.
“Oh, just wanted to pay my respects to the happily bound couple,” she says with fake niceness.
“Well, you’ve done it. Move along now,” I say dryly, turning back to my plate.
She sputters in disbelief before gritting out, “He’s a delight. Congratulations.” The rustle of her skirts announces her departure, and I blow out a breath.
Good riddance.
I slide my hand across Rae’s bare shoulders, enjoying how her skin pebbles beneath my touch. “Please tell me Chessa isn’t here as well.”
“Gods, I hope not. But that dismissal was incredible,” she breathes, her lips curving into a smile.
“Anything to put a smile on your face, love.”
She blushes, but her body has finally relaxed. If only I didn’t need my hands to eat, I’d find every excuse to keep touching her.
To my relief, the dinner moves forward without complication or other unwanted guests. Course after course is brought out, and Raelyn grows more at ease as the dinner progresses. The courtiers have asked her a few questions here and there, but overall, they are focused entirely on their own conquests and achievements. I can’t wait for the dinner to be over; if I hear one more lord brag about his lands, I will shove some land back at him.
It always infuriates me how no one seems concerned about the lack of food being produced. As long as their bellies are full, they couldn’t care less about the rest of our people—many whosuffer because the lords continue to take more than their fair share. If it weren’t for the Shadow, our people would be in much worse shape. Father should be thanking him instead of putting a bounty on him. The king is creating the perfect circumstances for an uprising with his lack of action.
Any time I bring up trying to seek out the lost sun god in hopes he’ll save our land, Father claims I’m acting foolishly and that it’s a complete waste of time.“If the god wished to be found, he would be.”
I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I know in my heart he’s wrong.Somethingis wrong. Us sitting around doing nothing is not going to save us. And what happens when the land stops producing completely? No. I can’t allow that to happen.
After droppingRaelyn off in our wing, I head back to the alchemist’s chambers. I would have brought Rae, but she looked dead on her feet despite our long nap earlier today.
“Your Highness, I have the information you requested,” the palace’s primary alchemist, Hennig, says.
I prop my elbows on the high counter, intrigued to find out what he discovered. The room has an odd medicinal smell that is not completely unpleasant, but it isn’t somewhere I’d want to spend all of my time. The multitude of colored glass bottles and containers lining the shelves behind him refract light into the space, giving it an almost ethereal glow. Hells, I’d get way too distracted working in here.
“What have you got, Hennig?”
“It’s the strangest thing,” he says, scratching his chin as he holds the small vial up to the light. “The ingredients aren’taltogether uncommon, but they surely aren’t for any ailment I’ve ever heard of.”
“What do you mean?” My interest is highly piqued, and concern for Rae filters in.
“The ingredients are typically used to suppress and weaken.”
My eyebrows fly up. “Suppress what, exactly?”
Hennig shakes his head. “I’m honestly not one hundred percent sure. One of the ingredients is what I’d use to help an alcoholic manage cravings, but it’s hard for me to imagine a young girl dealing with that issue. Have you noticed anything strange about her?”
I’m completely baffled. Is Rae withholding some deep secret from me? Or is this her father’s doing? She seemed uncertain of what exactly the tonic did as well.
“I’m honestly not sure how to answer that, Hennig.”
He frowns. “Well, if she insists on continuing to take this tonic, I have reverse engineered it and can provide it for her. However, I am not so certain it’s helping as much as it’s harming. Though I’m concerned that, if she’s been taking it for years, it could be dangerous for her to stop without weaning off it.”
