Page 92 of To Touch A Silent Fury
For a woman so devoted to her lie, she wore her emotions too plainly. I saw the consternation in every facet of her expression. She would have to school herself better if she was to survive this place.
But why did she want to?
As soon as that question formed in my mind, several more followed it. Why was she still here? Why hadn’t she run? She had evaded her guards to come sit in this tree. Why not try to leave all together? She wouldn’t get a hundred feet from the castle on a good day, but it was perplexing that she hadn’t tried.
I understood what had brought her here. The desperation and fear of death that caused her to throw herself at the feet of the one man who had destroyed her very Fate. She needed my barracks to survive, to keep her fed whilst she recovered from her injury.
She did not seem one to be hungry for power, bonding with a dragon in order to install herself in a royal court. Maybe though, I had taken a pretty face and assigned it innocence. Edrin knew many had made that mistake with my aunt.
And yet, I was certain she hated me more than anyone in the world. The way she had looked at me on the Isle de Courvin was painted onto my black heart. Tanidwen would never trust me, nor should she. She would never trust my father, my brother, any of us.
She sat there, silently, the tree branch bobbing under her weight, watching me. The moment held.
I concluded she must be biding her time, waiting until we decided she was no threat. The docile Soundlander, loyal to us for saving her from her fellow Euphons. Then she would leave, get as far away from me as possible.
Once more, I felt ashamed I had even come here. “I will leave you to your thoughts.”
She narrowed her eyes at me but said nothing.
I bowed out of habit and turned my back to her as I stepped away across the grass. I’d reached the edge when a noise like a rabbit’s hop, or leaves dropping from a roof, alerted me.
Tanidwen had dropped from the tree, as lithe as a cat. I took her in from head to toe, wondering how such a small person could make this much trouble. She held a book under her arm, though I could not make out the title, its pages turned towards me instead.
“May I ask you a favour?” Her voice was as soft as the breeze, but I heard it.
I studied her face for something, but nodded.
Tanidwen stepped forwards, silently. She had learnt much since Eavenfold. “Your father has invited me to a grand ball in seven days. Some celebration in your honour.”
I rolled my eyes. “One of many excuses this season to corral all the eligible women to Droundhaven.”
Her eyes flashed, the moon catching in them as if begging to reveal the truth of its touch. She glanced down at herself. “I have nothing to wear,” she said. “I know your people value appearance, and I do not wish to be more of a laughing stock to your court.”
Of course. I assessed her clothes in a second. Rough trousers, too big for her but bound with cord at the thigh and below the knee. Two thin tops layered over one another and ripping at the hems. Her only jewellery was a white rock tied around her neck. It looked as if she had tried to clean her boots, but all that did was expose the fraying leather beneath the mud. Sticking out was another way she would invite the court’s ire, and they were well-disposed to bestow that without good cause as it was.
“I will send my tailor to you in the morning and find a lady’s maid to attend to you.”
Her nostrils flared, and her hand clenched. “Thank you,” she replied, though her voice was anything but thankful. “Can I ask one more thing?”
I raised an eyebrow. “You ask a lot of favours.”
She lifted the book up, her frustration pinching her brow in a way I found oddly charming. “This is the only book in that room, and I have already read it cover to cover.”
Even in the low light, I didn’t need to read the front to recognise it. It was the book of our world’s formation.The History of the Five.I hadn’t read it since I was a teen, and even then, it had taken me a year to get through it. She had read it in two days?
I could not help but taunt her. “I didn’t know Soundlanders to be very literate.”
She opened her mouth to retort, and then closed it. For a second, she was a deer caught by a hunter’s snare. How delicious. Then she drew her face into a sneer. “Then you do not know many Soundlanders. Many of us read.”
I savoured her reaction. “Are there many books in Gossamir, as a rule?”
Her eyes narrowed, confused at the game I was playing. She had no idea I knew her secret, and it was truly something else to watch her squirm in her deceit. But she only folded her arms, the heavy book clenched in one hand. “Your snobbery is showing, my prince.”
I lifted my hands in apology. I would concede, for now, but knowing I could get under her skin like that was curious. I wanted to do it again, prod her until she realised there was no possible way in the five lands and all of its islands that I could have ever forgotten her. “What would you like to read?”
She paused, and I saw her glance towards her door. I wondered how close she was to storming off, and I had to admit that part of me wanted to see it. I’m not sure anyone had stormed away from me before, as much as I must have deserved it. She treated me like no one ever had, and it was intoxicating.
Then she sighed in defeat. “Do you haveanything on dragons?”
