Page 162 of The Crown’s Temptation

I was still thinking about this.

Dali couldn’t be doing that to Teorin, I reassured myself. Maridale would stop her.

"Do you not wish to repay me?" Aviaryn said. Very still. Very pointed.

"What would repayment look like?"

She reached beside her and produced a thin book and held it out.

I took it. I looked at it. I looked at her.

"Sit," she said, "before I get upset."

I sat, less out of fear and more out of curiosity.

I opened the book and understood immediately. I looked at her and thought about what she was and what she had likely never had.

"The proper way to listen to one of these," I said, "is to get close to the person reading it. So you can see the pictures."

She considered this. "I have never heard of such a custom. But I will indulge it."

She moved to sit beside me. Close enough.

I opened to the first page and began to read.

She listened intently, clearly enthralled and interrupting with questions every few minutes. By the sixth page her breathing had slowed. By the eighth she was asleep against my shoulder, her dark hair across my arm.

Flag looked at her from across the room.

"The princess of Umbrelai," he said quietly, all three heads in unison, “rarely sleeps this well.”

I looked at her and thought about a child who had learned early that the world was not gentle and had become something it could not easily harm.

I did not move until her breathing deepened completely.

My eyes met Flag’s and he nodded. Then I set the book beside her and walked toward Darkway Palace.

CHAPTER 34

From Leather to Lad

Iwoke up the next evening with a sense of resolve that I could not explain.

Colsar was between Urasal and Veynar protecting the children. Protecting our future. He could handle Edrin for me until I was able to return.

But Avaneer was in Thrykis. Too close in proximity to Morrath for me to ignore. I had been able to handle Urasal. Perhaps I could handle Thrykis.

My cough had grown worse. The vials helped, but they were only delaying something I did not fully understand. The Arrolyn gave me strength after dark, but it was only placed, not activated. I did not know what would happen when it woke. I did not know what it would change, or whether I would still be myself afterward.

And if I chose not to activate it, I did not know what would happen next.

There was no guarantee I would find an antidote. No guarantee I would have another chance.

I thought of my mother, how she had died without ever seeing the vengeance she deserved.

I remembered Avaneer's voice that night.

"Two nannies. But only one guard."