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Morning praise—Aurelius would be there.
I hated how things had ended between us yesterday, and I needed to tell him as much.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Was that him? My heart quickened.
I didn’t wait for Brunhilde to get the door—I rushed to it, the stiff fabric of my skirts brushing against one another as I moved. When I opened it, my smile faltered.
“Aurelia,” Arkyn said by way of greeting. Sunlight filtered in through the arched window at the end of the hallway, shining on Arkyn. For the briefest of moments, under the gaze of the sun, he almost looked like Aurelius. He produced a wax-sealed letter from an inside coat pocket and handed it to me. “Aurelius asked me to give you this.”
I took it, cracked the golden seal, embossed with an elegantA, and unfolded the letter.
I crumpled the lackluster letter, frustration mounting. “That’s how he wishes to leave things between us? A formal written apology?” I glared at Arkyn. “When is he going to be back?”
“If we can get away at a decent time today, then I imagine two to three weeks,” he answered, dusting something off his pristine jacket.
“Two to threeweeks?” I exclaimed, trying my best not to blow my top. He was going to leave thingslike thisfor two to threeweeks?! I felt like breaking something. But before I could decide what, my racing mind backed itself up. “What do you meanif wecan get away at a decent time?”
Weimplied Arkyn was leaving as well, and as Arkyn was still here, it meant that Aurelius hadn’t left yet.
“I will be traveling with Aurelius. Soren will be coming along with us as well.”
I shoved against his chest, trying to turn him around. “Take me to him.”
His immortal bones turned to cement. “Aurelia, he is very busy and—”
“Now, Arkyn,” I demanded, my voice echoing around me with sublime power.
We both exchanged knowing expressions—oh yes, that command had come from the goddess within.
“Fine,” he sighed as he turned, starting down the hallway.
I followed him, Brunhilde shouting behind me about my shoes. I ignored her and pressed on.
Half an hour later, we reached the castle’s grand front entrance. A string of carriages and carts lined the snow-packed road, expanding into the horizon—I had never seen so many carriages before.
“Are the king and queen traveling as well?” I asked Arkyn, the snow-covered ground melting beneath my feet, making my lacy hose stick to it. I was beginning to regret my decision not to take the shoes Brunhilde had tried to chase me down with.
“No, they are not,” he answered. “This trip is solely for—"
“Aurelia?” a regal voice asked from behind me, gilded in nobility but made of something so sensual it made my bones ache.
I turned, following the voice.
Golden eyes met mine. Dressed in regal clothes and looking every ounce of the king of the New Gods—Aurelius.
Despite my anger, my heart kicked wildly in my chest.
If the Creator had placed their brush in my hand and told me to paint the key to my heart, I would have painted him just as he looked right now.
Like the seeds of a dandelion kissed by the wind, my anger began to dissipate—piece by piece, it flew away. My clenched fist—the one holding his crumpled letter—slackened.
We walked towards one another, stopping but a breath away.
I lifted my hand, showing him the scrunched paper. “I got your letter.”
“I see that,” he said, his hands not moving from his sides, not reaching for me.
