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Damyn
Taland I were reading by the fire, on opposite sides of a table we’d drawn close. I slammed the book I’d been reading closed. In all the stories, the heroes eventually banished Ebba to the underworld, but he always found a way back. He was summoned through mirrors or brought back by pieces of himself he left scattered in the world. And once he was back… it was hard to destroy chaos.
Tal glanced up at me. “Are you all right?”
“Of course.” My voice came out harsh. “I just can’t stand to sit here anymore. I’m going to search for Amily’s sword. Maybe Joachim got his hands on it.”
After all, he was the one who had caged Honor. Here, in this house. I couldn’t believe she had brought us all back here.
Talisyn looked at me carefully as if he were about to offer help, then decided against it. He nodded, and I headed to search through the castle. Joachim had other hoards hidden other places—I had done my best to map out the Royals’ hiding places as I served them—but perhaps he’d hidden Amily’s sword here. He’d have kept it away from the other royals.
As I was walking down the hallway, she came out carrying the precious carved box tucked under her arm. She blushed when she saw me, as if she’d just been talking about me. There was something so unexpectedly innocent in those pink cheeks, when she was usually so mischievous, and it made me think of how I wanted to kiss her.
But then, every damn thing made me think of how I wanted to kiss her. “What are you doing?”
She frowned at my tone. “I was going to study… I know I should have earlier, but. Well. What are you doing?”
“Searching for Amily’s sword.”
She brightened. “I’ll help.”
I should have turned her down, but I just grunted and walked into the next room. She followed me. We searched the castle in silence.
“I’m going up to the tower.” I assumed she wouldn’t want to go. She’d spent enough days in that fucking tower for a lifetime. “There’s an armory up there.”
Her lips parted in alarm. “I can go.”
I frowned at her. “Alone? I think not.”
“I don’t mind,” she said.
She must be hiding something. I didn’t like the thought of Honor having secrets when we all needed to work together to defeat the curse.
“You’ll come with me,” I said curtly.
She frowned at my tone but didn’t argue.
The two of us went down that long, dark, cursed hallway. Every step of it was filled with memories for me. I’d carried trays along the uneven stone floors and up the winding stairs, soup or coffee sloshing and burning my hands.
I’d been sixteen when I came here, and she’d been just a little girl, coltish and red-headed and frozen. The first time I’d seen her, sitting with her arms wrapped around her legs and her face down on her knees, I’d frozen. As a little girl, Honor had always been in motion, full of joy and light, always pulling pranks and giving hugs and kisses. The way she’d stared into the distance, her eyes dark pits above her sunken cheeks, had jolted through my system and made me want to kill.
I hadn’t trusted her not to recognize me and say something, so I’d avoided her, speaking only when I was out in the antechamber with the guards. In time, I’d realized I didn’t need to worry. Honor remained silent. Terrifyingly so.
We traveled up, around and around the stairs, to reach the tower. When we reached the top, we passed through the antechamber, and then the cells spread in front of us. The view out the barred windows mocked prisoners with its landscape of snow-swept mountains.
The windows were open, and the air was bitterly cold. The floors were swept clean of hay, unlike when I had last visited here.
Honor let out a shocked gasp under her breath. By the time my gaze went to hers, she looked innocent.
I raised my eyebrows, wondering if she had imprisoned someone. I would have kept Zehr behind bars, even if he did look weak as wet paper at the moment. I didn’t trust him. “There's been someone here recently.”
Her gaze slid away from me.
“Oh, come on, Honor. No secrets and lies between us, and no shame either.”
She whirled, and just like every time those bright eyes met mine, an electric crackle ran through my body. Her red lips parted slightly, and it made me long to lean over and kiss her. Gods, she was beautiful.
She was also, at the moment, pissed, which strangely enough turned me on too.
