Page 78 of Bound
Chapter 28
Amoret
The manor is quiet. Most of the actual guests have retired for the night and the hall is empty. Nisha and Lilah are back in the colony house. Wena and Vish have disappeared somewhere, and only Sila and Ivo trail me from a long distance. They are like shadows. Seen but not heard.
Though I am no longer sure silence is golden.
My body aches with a mild fever, and my mind whirs with everything Lilah and Nisha said. Even the air-cooled theater that they took me to did not dispel the heat under my skin. It hovers just beneath the surface, leaving sweat trickling down my spine.
Sighing, I slip around the corner and find myself on the guest corridor. Several doors away, my room waits.
I could go to bed. Could lay down and attempt to put this whole day behind me. To move on.
But I can’t.
Every time I close my eyes, Gage’s horrified face appears in my mind. He didn’t say a word before the men left. Nor would he meet my gaze. And now I want to seduce him?
I hang my head as tears threaten to well.
Taking his power was a risk. I knew it before I ever stepped over the grass to him. It was something Bran warned me about years ago. The one and only time I ever gleaned a trace of his magick from an ill-timed touch.
He had not been as furious as Gage was earlier, but it was close. It was also the last time he ever raised his voice at me.
I can still see Jarrah’s thunderous features as he stalked into the room and struck Branwen across the face. Bran had spun from the force of the blow, too surprised to yell or even move. And despite the few years of age between them, Jarrah had always been like our older brother. Even to Bran. To see them fight at all was rare, and to go from that to the violence of Jarrah hitting Bran …
I shudder.
No one has ever brought that day up again. But it has always been in the room with us, like a dark cloud.
Now they are both missing. Vish did not say earlier if the body Markus mentioned was anyone we know. Though, perhaps that is why he disappeared with Wena. To speak through how best to tell me.
Though, I am sure if it was one of our envoy, Nisha or Lilah would have mentioned it.
I stop outside my door, eyes closed.
“My lady? Do you wish to retire?” Sila’s voice is gentle at my back.
My head raises and I peer at her over my shoulder. “I think I may, Sila. You and Ivo may go.”
She assesses me. “As you like. But I am only a few doors down if you have need. Just yell, lass. I’ll hear ya.”
My lips quiver. “Thank you, Sila.”
She motions to Ivo, who gives me a formal bow and a small smile before they fade down the hall. I grip my doorknob and ease into the room.
The French doors are open onto the night outside, the fresh air filling the room with the first hint of ozone. It will rain.
And soon.
I grip the small tie on my dress and unfasten the gown. The material slides from my arms, leaving me bare but for my silk chemise.
I shrug it off too and rifle through the bags from the human stores.
Many more pretty gowns fill boxes and a few smaller parcels are tied with ribbons. I select one that I spied earlier and set it onto the narrow bench beside the bathing room.
The paper parts to reveal white silk and lace with two cute bows at the hem. I run my fingers over it before plucking it from the box and letting it drape my body.
It is nearly see through, but cool in the stuffy heat from outside. I pad on bare feet to the open doors and step onto the grass. As before, the small pool seems to draw me first. I glance down at my legs.
