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“An absolute embarrassment,” Father was muttering. “We’re the laughingstock of the court. You’re practically the Hunter queen’spet.”
“Father, the relationships at court might be different—”
“Do you think you know better than me?” he snapped, coming to a sudden stop and turning on his heel to glare at me. “I grew up at court, I lived here until Sirena was born. Do you think the few years you’ve spent surrounded by the rest of theGuardgives you more insight than me?”
“No, of course not—”
“Did youknowyour mother was going to be there?” he asked abruptly.
“I’d never seen her before in my life,” I responded calmly, remembering how Father could be when he thought someone was plotting behind his back. “I’ve never spoken to her, nor do I intend to.”
Little tendrils of shadows flicked out around him as though they were swatting away bugs, a sure sign of an impending angry rant.
Please not here, I thought slightly desperately. My mysterious family attracted enough gossip as it was.
“Find a discreet way back inside to collect your possessions then come immediately home. I expect to see you at the dinner table tonight, Levana. I cannot spend another second here.”
Father stormed off, slamming the door of the entry room, leaving me for a brief, blissful moment, alone.
Chapter 11
“Boss,”Torinsaid,skiddingto a stop in front of me and somehow knocking a plate off the counter he hadn’t even touched. It was truly a gift, the way he managed to destroy both everything he encountered as well as things hedidn’tencounter.
“What is it?” I gritted out, gesturing for the dustpan and brush.
“She’s leaving. Levana is leaving.”
The whole kitchen fell silent, watching our interaction as though we were the finest court entertainers they’d ever seen.
“When?” I rasped, a stabbing pain hitting me square in the chest.
“Right now. The queen made a speech—”
I was already moving.
Leaving. She was leaving.
How was it possible that I was surprised by this and yet not at all surprised at the same time? The possibility of her leaving had always been there. She’dsaidshe was going to go, and I thought I’d believed her.
But I hadn’t. Not really. All this time, I’d thought that perhaps there was a chance she would change her mind. That because she hadn’t gone yet, that meant that perhaps she didn’t want to leave at all.
That maybeIwould change her mind.
My steps faltered until I came to a complete stop. What was Idoing? I was nothing to her. A fun little distraction, perhaps, but that was it. She’d basically said as much herself, in more polite terms, constantly reminding me that this couldn’t ever go anywhere.
She doesn’t owe you anything, I reminded myself.She doesn’t feel the same way about you. She’s not obligated to.
But at some point, I had to protect myself too.
Instead of heading left to the stairs that would take me up to the entrance hall, I veered right to my apartment. My staff needed me in the kitchens—it was selfish of me to take even a second to myself when I had none to spare.
But I couldn’t face them right now. If Torin dropped a plate, I might actually murder him.
As much as I reminded myself that this had always been an inevitability, I didn’t feel any better about it by the time I rounded the corner in the corridor that led to my apartment.
“We need to stop meeting like this,” Levana whispered, standing in front of my door, shadows nervously flickering into shapes between her palms before dissipating again.
I grunted in acknowledgment, words suddenly hard to come by, unlocking the front door and gesturing for her to enter ahead of me. It took everything in me not to tell her to just leave. To tell her that I didn’t want to hear it. Ididn’twant to hear Levana say goodbye. That was my temper talking, though. If I told her to leave, if I didn’t have this last moment to study her face and breathe in her scent, I’d regret it forever.
