Page 64 of The Crown’s Temptation

He lets her. That tells him more than he wants to know about his current state.

"She was in that room," he says. "When Avaneer came. She was there." His jaw tightens. "If he touched her⁠—"

"She is likely fine."

"You do not know that."

"No," Nox says. "I do not know that." She holds his eyes. "But if she was not fine there would be a war by now. Even Morrath would have heard it." A pause. "You are not the only one obsessed with her. You know that. They would not let her die."

He looks at her. She does not elaborate on they. He does not ask.

He lies back. The ceiling again. He needed to get to her. And to do that, he would need his strength. He could not forget her.

He would not forget her.

"The Bloodhaven," he says.

Nox says nothing. She waits.

"Five days," he says.

"Five days," she says.

He closes his eyes.

"If I forget her⁠—"

"You will not forget her," she says. Not reassurance. Something that sounds more like experience. "The important things stay."

He says nothing.

She stands. He hears her move toward the door.

"Ivanoxa."

She stops.

"If you learn anything," he says. "About where she is, about what happened to her--"

"Only if and when you are strong enough to do something about it," she says.

The door closes.

He looks at the ceiling.

Five days.

CHAPTER 12

The Scream

Iheard a scream, though before I could question what it was, things fell quiet.

Too quiet. Minutes passed, and as if on cue, the scream came again.

Long. Human.

I told myself it was another nightmare, but then the scream came a third time.