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Burning on a pyre.Burning.
I looked back at those swathes of smoke that had kept Malyr so distracted, realization settling on me. Hehadkilled Lorn. Not that it bothered me, but… why?
“I did what I had to do, and you would have acted no different if the roles had been reversed,” Malyr said. “Lorn attempted to kill Galantia. As her mate, I made certain that she would never try again.”
My toes curled in my boots. “What?”
“I can attest to it, as can Marla and Asker,” Sebian said. “The day we tried to remove the shadows from Vhaerya, Lorn attacked her. She kept her from shifting while the shadows there attacked us before she fled, leaving Galantia, Malyr, and me behind to die.”
But of course…
Internally, I scolded myself. I should have figured that out on my own, given how different those shadows had felt, but Malyr’s injuries had occupied my entire focus.
“You know it is true,” Malyr said. “Deep down, you know Lorn had committed a crime and why. I never intended to rob you of your mate, but neither will I allowanybodyto rob me of mine.”
“Of course, if you have doubts, I guess you can insist on an investigation,” Sebian added. “Make it a public spectacle, worse than the one we’re having right now, on the firstdrifafter a fucking decade! If you want everyone to hear five matching testaments about what she did, that womanyoucouldn’t charm into a bond, then go right ahead.”
For a brief, agonizing moment, Aros’ face twisted as if in physical pain. He shook his head, a tremulous movement that betrayed his internal struggle. But then, almost as if resigning himself to the grim truth, the motion transitioned into a single, reluctant nod. He pivoted as if to walk away, only to swing back around and sink to his knees.
Head lowered, his voice was little more than a mumble toward the ground. “May I take her remains with me, my prince?”
Malyr hesitated but a moment. “Of course.”
“There’s nothing to see here,” Sebian shouted when Aros rose and trudged away, ushering curious bystanders back into the bustle of thedrif.“Go have a drink. For the next hour, the wine flows and your prince pays!”
Malyr rolled his eyes in-tune with the crowd’s cheers, then his gaze lowered softly on me. “I did not mean to ruin this for you.”
“I’m fine.”
If I harbored any uncomfortable feelings toward this, it was pity for Aros… and perhaps for Malyr. It couldn’t have been easy for him to do that. But he had. For me.
“Nothing’s fucking ruined until we allow it to be,” Sebian added, equally unfazed by Lorn’s death. “Would you look at that.” He gestured to tall wooden stakes draped with loops and nets attached to the castle wall, ropes and pulleys extending over a path marked with intricately carved symbols. “I once broke a fucking flight feather on one of those when I was… nine or so.”
Eager to help Sebian in his effort to return the joy we deserved to this moment, I turned toward the attraction. “What’s it for?”
“It’s an obstacle course,” Sebian explained, pointing at a piece of black cloth that dangled from a hook high above the ground. “See that? Whoever makes it through the fastest gets the cloth.” Just then, one raven out of an unkindness snatched it in its beak, only for a young woman to emerge at the bottom of the course. She held the cloth up high to the cheers of the crowd, turned, and offered it to another young woman. “She’s trying to court her, offering it as a gift for her nest. What do you say, Malyr? Are you up for it?”
Malyr crossed his arms in front of his chest, observing the hoops and nets. The corners of his mouth lifted higher, promising another smile—only for them to drop as he shook his head.
“It looks like good fun,” I said, wanting to see one of those rare smiles that seemed to light up the shadowed corridors of his soul.
“No, it most definitely looks like broken flight feathers,” he said. “And while I do not mind giving one up, I certainly won’t do it for plain amusement.”
“Well,” Sebian scoffed, “that’s one way of avoiding defeat.”
“What’s wrong with plain amusement?” Maybe that was exactly what he needed for those severe lips to remember how to smile, for his lungs to remember how to laugh. “How about this? If you win, I will…”
That caught Malyr’s interest, his eyes flashing, finding mine as he drew closer. “You will…?”
His closeness sent a ripple of warmth through me, the shadows that naturally drifted into me tantalizingly intimate, my void pulling them deeper. “Every morning, I will braid your hair.”
Malyr’s eyes widened for a split second. “Very well.”
“It’s a deal then.” Sebian grinned and gave me a wink. “But you pay.”
“Of course…” Malyr strode forward, reaching the woman who had just strung up a fresh piece of shadowcloth on the hook a gleaming coin. “My friend and I will go next.”
The woman nodded and quickly accepted the coin. “Of course, Prince Malyr.”
