Page 131 of A Reign of Roses
“Not in a while,” the other confirmed.
Calm down. If something were wrong, the whole castle would know it.
And it was true. It had to be almost midnight, and the castle was quiet. If someone had come for him, I’d hear the thunder of his wings, the torrent of soldiers running, the screech of Griffin’s shifted form…
Right?
I sped through the candlelit hall, that shred of doubt driving me faster and faster. Past the locked throne room doors and down that sprawling stone staircase. Along the hallway filled with statues, past those shadowed, haunting enclaves. Past shimmering cobwebs and sturdy wrought iron and delicate, snow-flecked stained glass.
Barney was walking out of the great hall right as I ran by, a loafof cloverbread in one hand, mug of something warm and steaming in the other.
“Where is Kane?” I asked, my voice a whip through the silent night.
Barney studied me, hesitant to say anything at all.
“Barney.”
“He should be in the gardens.” Something like sympathy laced his words, but I was running again before I could ask. My mind had flashed to the last time Barney told me the same.
When Kane had been planning to leave.
Oh, Stones.
Barney’s face. He’d looked so…guilty.
Kane would not be so moronic as to attempt some kind of suicide mission…Would he?
Don’t you dare leave me, my brain begged, despite all logic that told me nothing was wrong. Barney wasn’t scared. No guards appeared concerned…
So why was I sprinting like my very life depended on it?
I couldn’t answer myself as I raced across darkened halls, trying my best not to cry, not to crumble at the thought of searching this entire keep and finding it empty of him. Hurtling over stairs and slipping under railings, I reached the heavy doors and nearly screamed as I waited for the guards to wrench them open for me.
Panting, I careened out into the ice-cold night, the falling snow harsh against my still-damp skin and wet hair. I listened to the acute silence—even as the barracks were noisy with soldiers’ laughter and merriment—it was the absence ofhisvoice. His footsteps. That was silence to me.
My hands shook.
Don’t do this, Kane. Do not do this.
I could barely see the moon through the clouds and the thick trees that rose overhead. I ran through the courtyards and fields for those gloomy, ethereal flowers.
Barreling, sprinting, lungs in my throat—
And stopped short, my heart stilling, too.
To find the entire garden—every hedge and arch and pathway—illuminated in twinkling, flickering firelight.
Trees adorned with hanging glass bulbs that glowed. Verdant, despite the season. Tiny candles placed around the gazebos and verandas. Bouquets of flowers that I knew for certain did not bloom in the winter, tinged with glittering magic. Lilies—those black, spindly ones that grew only here, tied beside the white ones Kane had brought to Onyx just for me—as well as roses and orchids, pansies and lilacs. Fragrant lavender and night-blooming jasmine wreathed the central arch, moonlight and all that dainty, flickering fire casting the curved structure in an otherworldly glow. Like the sun, risen in the dead of night.
And below it, Kane.
Lighting a few lingering candles.
“What…” I had no words. I was still catching my breath when emotion closed my throat completely.
“I thought you’d still be bathing. I was about to send for you,” he said in that low, sensual voice before turning to face me. His brows knit together. “Did you run here?”
I responded only with, “This is…for me?”
