She absolutely did not need an escort to her room. The door was hardly more than twenty feet away. She wanted it though, and she could say yes... but if she did, she knew she wouldn’t let him leave. Then she’d hate herself for compromising—everything.
“I think I can find it myself.” With a wink, Nes pushed off the railing and released her hold on the ballroom decor, which disappeared in a series of pops.
“Gods,” Kas sighed as she walked away. “I’ll convince you. I’m going to make you mine.”
“Right,” she scoffed,positiveshe’d made the right choice. She would not be his damn mistress.
twenty-eight
Nesrina has baggage.
HertimeatStormhillwas ending. Nes knew it would happen, but she hadn’t expected the sadness. Annoyance at a transitioning routine? Sure. Change was always difficult, but a different sort of melancholy consumed her. At some point over the past weeks, the deceptively austere . . . manor house . . . had wormed its way into her heart, and she was loath to go.
The next morning their entourage was departing for Summer Cottage. Nesrina would be joining the royal family for their annual late-summer holiday.Guest of the King,she thought bitterly while yanking her clothes down from the closet she’d come to think of as her own and dropping them onto the green-draped bed she’d also come to think of as her own.
She’d gone and lost herself to the glitz. This was her own fault.
“I can’t believe this is goodbye,” Aylin, typically so cheerful, grumbled as they stood side by side, folding her items and organizing them atop the bed.
“Maybe we’ll return after Summer Cottage?” Nes offered, not believing her own words, not sure what she wanted to be true. Her own feelings didn’t factor in, not that she could make sense of them anyway. The fact was, the twins had made significant progress when it came to harnessing and controlling their powers, and it was more than likely that they’d be returning to Kirce together, reunited with their parents... Plus her, thehanger-on.
Aylin rolled up a chemise with a look of undisguised sympathy on her face.
Nes tried not to think too deeply about why leaving upset her quite so much, because it made no sense. Shewantedto leave, she needed to break out of the situation with Lord Kahoth. This was not her world. She was passing through. But she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t looking forward to a few more days in his company at his family’s cottage.
Blustering to the closet, Nes grabbed onto the large trunk Kas told her to use and began to pull it out. She would, it seemed, be leaving Stormhill with far more baggagethan she’d arrived with. Some things couldn’t be avoided.
She sighed.
Though the big chest was empty, it was too heavy and awkward for her to lift. Standing with her rear sticking out of the closet and the rest of herself sticking in, she grasped one of the brass handles and gave the trunk a great yank, trying to get it over the sill. The chest slid forward, got stuck on the threshold, and momentum propelled Nesrina backward, bum-first into the wall with athudand acreak.
Across the room, the bedroom door banged open. Aylin startled, tossing two mismatched shoes into the air as Thera rushed in. “Stop packing! Trip’s canceled. The queen is coming.”
“What, here?” Nesrina asked at the same time Aylin broke into a grin and exclaimed, “My Hevva is coming!”
Thera nodded tersely, then turned to Aylin. “A word, Lin?”
“Of course. Don’t you worry about this, Nesrina. I’ll return and rehang your things.” The maid gestured toward the messy bed as her eyes searched for Nes in the hall, at eye level.
“I’m down here,” she mumbled, drawing Aylin’s gaze to the floor.
“Oh!” Both Aylin and Thera started forward at the same time, but it was Aylin who offered, “Let me help you.”
“Oh no, no, I’m fine. You go! I only need a moment.” Nes waved the women out, keeping her back pressed to the wall.
Good gods. Good. Gods.She scooted herself sideways, running a fingerdown the new crack in the wallpaper. They weren’t leaving. She was staying at Stormhill,andshe’d broken thelenedwall.
Wait... she hadn’t broken anything. It appeared she’d released a hidden panel. Not one to shy away from a learning opportunity, she jammed her fingertips in the crack and pulled. A dark stairwell appeared in the gloom, spiraling down into the house.Aylin’s never come through here. This is a secret passage.A grin split her face. At least she had something fun to look forward to with the holiday canceled.
twenty-nine
Kas practices patience.
Patience,Kas.Patience,hereminded himself for the umpteenth time as he stood for his final fitting. He’d hired a tailor to make him a new wardrobe since his old clothes got too small due to Nesrina’s constant reminders to eat. Smirking, his thoughts drifted to her, yet again, and Kas found himself repeating his familiar mantra:Patience.
She hadn’t believed him, he didn’t think, when he said he’d make her his. But the timing was finally right for him to bring her around, to ramp up the courting, to propose. All would be well.
In the spirit of preparing for a holiday, he’d hammered out his newest article and mailed it that morning to theMystical Sciences Review. Passing the packet to Thera prompted a flutter of anticipation in his gut, not unlike when he’d published hisfirstarticle a decade before.
