"How dramatic," I said. "I was hoping you'd tell me about the handkerchief business."
"Let a lady keep her secrets.” Winking Bláth tucked the bottle under her arm and followed Liam outside.
Setting my empty bowl aside, I tried to make myself comfortable. I'd finally closed my eyes when I heard someone brush through the tent.
The lantern's flames danced across silver armor.
"Reese?" I sat up, and my side groaned in protest. "Is something wrong?"
"No.” He gently closed the tent flap. "I've sat by your side every night, in case you needed me. You were too drugged to notice."
"I'm fine," I assured him. "You need sleep, too."
"Paragons live in hardship, remember?" He knelt and dimmed the lantern. "I'm not spoiled like you." A mischievous glint flashed across his eyes. "You talk in your sleep."
All the blood drained from my face. Had I spoken of the darkness?
"You kept murmuring something about 'Liam, you boor, get the painting.'"
Intense relief floods my lungs. "My bag.” I gestured weakly. "It's in there."
Reese unlatched my bag and sorted through its contents. He pulled out the little painting of Tirnanog's tree, foxes dancing in its boughs.
"It’s—” I sat up, suddenly desperate to explain myself. “For Liam, really. He had such horrible nightmares when he was little, and the only thing that calmed him down was that painting. Once I got him to stop crying, he would stare at it untilhe fell asleep, and . . . and I guess it stuck, because now I don't sleep well without it."
I thought Reese might tease me, but he simply reached over and set the painting by my side. "You two remind me of myself when I was younger. Hold onto him. Don't lose your brother, the way I lost mine."
I'd never heard Reese speak with such sorrow, such grief. I wanted to say something to comfort him, to give back a little of what he'd given me.
The tension, the hostility that had passed between him and Quinn—what had caused it?
"Now, get some rest." Reese pulled my blanket up and doused the lantern.
His hand brushed mine again, a note of warmth in the darkness, trailing fingers across my skin.
And then it was gone.
Chapter 36
Mare
My dreams betrayed me. They were filled with him.
A lavender dress swirled around my feet as I stepped into the ballroom and bowed my head, hoping a lord would ask for a dance. But it was not Laiserian who took my hand.
Joy bloomed through my heart as warmth enveloped my hand. I looked up into Reese's golden eyes.
And saw only scorn.
Shadows plumed around my fingers and snared my wrist. They sank deep into my skin like pointed teeth, tearing my flesh, dripping blood onto the pristine floors.
Reese flung me away, and I fell into a pool of my own blood, stained the color of the night. I drowned in the darkness.
Sweat beaded my forehead when I woke. Pain lashed through my side and radiated across my abdomen.
A tall, slim woman stood at my bedside, a lantern clutched between her fingers. The deep red fabric of her gown matched the blood from my dreams.
Brighid brushed her fiery hair back and knelt beside me. "Oh, please. I'm not that frightening."
