Page 27 of War of Her Heart

“Can it be Yara?”

“Yara?” she asked as she sat up a little straighter, waiting for my answer.

“You know . . . the wanderer.” I paused. “The one without a . . . a mouth.”

“I know which one is Yara. She just wasn’t assigned to you, so I’m not sure how you’ve come across her.”

“She has escorted me to a few meals. Maybe there was a mix-up with assignments?” I asked. I hoped Yara wouldn’t be in trouble because of this.

She looked at me as if she was offended by what I had said to her. “I don’t havemix-ups.”

“Please don’t send a different one. I like her,” I begged. Something about her—even with her disturbing appearance—gave me comfort.

Bronwen let out a sigh before she said, “I won’t, but how do you know her name?”

“I know how to sign. Being stuck in a castle every day with a nursemaid that believed knowledge was power meant I had to learn everything I could.”

“Knowledge. I’m not sure how well that would hold up in a battle against physical power.” Bronwen giggled as if she was picturing it in her head.

“Well, I don’t think my father would ever let me near a battle, so I think I’m good.”

“Oh right, because of your ‘heart condition.’” Bronwen had the same mocking tone that Sebastian had.

“He told you about it?” I asked.

“Are you talking about your father?” Her eyes narrowed.

“You know who I’m talking about.” After she protected me from him yesterday, I felt comfortable enough with her to nothide what I was thinking or feeling. But I didn’t want to say his name. Saying his name would make him more real. I’d rather him stay the evil presence that I was going to attempt to avoid for the remainder of the time that I was here.

“Yes, he did. He asked if I had ever heard of a faerie with a heart condition,” she said as she picked at a loose string on her top.

“Why is he so concerned?” I asked. I shouldn’t even be on his radar.

“I feel like I can’t answer that,” she said, bringing her attention back to me.

I rolled my eyes at her response. She probably didn’t feel right about calling her Sovereign a nosy ass. “Well, have you ever heard of it before?”

“No, but I’ve seen enough things that anything could be possible. Unlikely, but not impossible.”

“Are you andhimtogether?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking. I have been wondering about this since I first saw them together.

“Gods, Violet!” She looked at me as if I had said the most horrible thing anyone had ever said to her. “No. Sebastian is . . . not my type.”

“Oh, I just wasn’t sure because you do so many things that the lady of the house normally does.”

“Is he your type?” She was so blunt with everything.

“Are you really asking me if the shadow king that almost killed me yesterday is my type?”

“He has his flaws,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.

“I’m pretty sure that’s a big one,” I said as I crossed my arms.

“Violet, if you were put through everything Sebastian has been through, you’d understand. But don’t take the way he acted yesterday as a sign that he is incapable of emotion. He is just very careful about who he shows it to.”

I didn’t know what to say to Bronwen. Was she so delusional that she sawgoodin Sebastian? There couldn’t be good in him.There couldn’t be.

Bronwen had a few things to take care of around the castle, so she left me, and shortly after, Yara was at my door with a plate of food and something even better than that: a stack of books. She brought the tray in and sat it on the desk. I thanked her and watched as she faded into nothing, which made me realize how she always left so quickly. She didn’t fly away, she simply disappeared.

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