Once he was the boy who sat across the gods and monsters board, soaking up all her friendship and advice.
Now he was the boy who took every girl but her into his bed. He was the king who broke all his promises. He was the enemy who had stolen her sister from her.
And tonight...
Had he given the order to strike her down?
Roa lifted her hand, uncurling her fingers from around the seal, letting it rest on her palm.
“I think this belongs to you.” She no longer cared if he saw the blood on her wrist. Let him see it. If it was Dax who gave the order, let him know what happened to the guard who tried to carry it out.
His eyes darkened. Reaching, he said, “Where did you... ?”
The moment he took it from her, Roa stepped swiftly back.
“You should be more careful next time,” she said, moving around him. “Good night.”
He fell silent. When she was halfway up the hall, he called after her. “Your rooms are in the opposite direction, Roa.”
But she wasn’t going to her rooms. There were three other guards standing outside her door. How many of them could do what Sirin had done?
“I don’t want to sleep alone tonight,” she said, touching Essie’s feathers for comfort.
Roa stood in front of an arched doorway just beyond the royal quarters. Two soldats stood guard on either side of it.
She opened the door and stepped quietly inside.
Lirabel’s room was half the size of Roa’s, and so was the bed. Her friend was asleep in it, curled on her side, while the moon shone in through the windows, illuminating the soft curves of her face.
Roa stood frozen in the entranceway, watching her sleep, wondering where and when they went wrong.
She made for the bed.
Lirabel stirred as Roa pulled back the covers and climbed in. Essie hopped off her shoulder and onto the pillows, curling up near their heads.
“Roa?” Lirabel murmured, her voice raspy with sleep. “What’s wrong?”
Essie’s disappearing,Roa thought.I’m involved in a treasonous plot with Theo. And I found Dax’s seal on the guard who just tried to kill me.
Instead, wrapping her arms around Lirabel, she said, “I miss you.”
She didn’t realize the truth of it until the words were out of her mouth.
“Oh, Roa,” Lirabel whispered, pulling her close and kissing her head. “I’m right here.”
But their friendship had been fraying for months now and Roa wasn’t sure how to fix it. Lirabel kept moving further and further out of reach.
“Are you homesick?” Lirabel whispered as Roa clung to her. “Is that what it is?”
Homesickness was the least of Roa’s problems.
“It’s okay if you are,” Lirabel said, rubbing Roa’s back. “I’m homesick every day.”
Roa held her tighter, wanting to ask a question, but too afraid of the answer.
She thought of the conversation she’d overheard from beneath Dax’s bed. Thought of Lirabel crying all alone when he left her.
“You would tell me if you were in trouble, right?” Roa whispered.
