Page 154 of A Crown of Tears and Treason
“Now.” He cleared his throat and shook his head, as if wanting to dissipate the cloud of lust that had overtaken us. “I didn’t bring you here for a night of debauchery–”
A part of me sighed in disappointment.
“–I actually have something for you.” From inside his armor’s breast pocket, he pulled out a red envelope. It had a silver wax seal on it, with the dragon crest of the Rohen dynasty.
“This is my wedding letter,” Zandyr said softly. “To be burned, unopened, when we seal out futures together.”
I gulped. The letters. The ones in which we had to write our feelings for each other, only to be turned to ash after we said our vows.
I’d totally forgotten.
He placed the letter in my palm with gravity, as if he was entrusting me with a little part of him. This envelope, all crisp crimson lines, held the secrets of his mind. At least when it came to me.
Xamor almighty, I wanted to rip the seal off and read every single word and dot.
“I wanted to give it to you last night, but we got sidetracked,” Zandyr said when the silence between us stretched. “I know you probably didn’t have time to write yours–”
“I will,” I said with absolute conviction. I pressed the letter to my chest. “And I won’t open it.”
“Good.” It might have been my overworked imagination, but I heard the smallest sigh of relief in that one word. “I won’t open yours, either. Better to find out for ourselves what the other feels, no?”
“Unless we really start reading our thoughts.” If mere glimpses of his psyche, the ones he let me see, had left me with this deep desire for more, how would it feel when–if–we truly could read each other’s minds?
“Then, truly, all doubts will vanish.” He sighed, then let out a mock scoff that dissipated the tension. It was time to play again. “Listen to her, thinking I wouldn’t want her without the Vegheara blood. If anything, it’s a liability.”
“Hey!” I pointed a stern finger at him playfully. “No insulting our families. Especially not in front of Dria.”
Zandyr bowed toward the statue. “My apologies, oh-great-Stolen-Princess. I meant no harm.”
A bubble of laughter escaped me, even as the envelope felt heavier in my hands.
Could I resist the temptation of opening it until the wedding? Even worse–would I find the courage to lay down my own feelings in a letter to Zandyr and trust he wouldn’t read them?
That’s all it boiled down to with us, didn’t it? Trust.
Even as my very being wanted to believe, the Oracle’s words echoed in my mind.
You will suffer more.
Chapter
Forty-Nine
EVIE
The crisp breeze made a mess of my hair and dried my face, but I didn’t care. Zorin was as restless as me, galloping so fast we almost flew across the field.
Past the towering trees, with their swinging vines and rainbow flowers.
Over the quick and cold streams in which the golden fish swam like arrows.
Through the grove, as a flock of jeweled-toned birds erupted into the air out of Zorin’s way.
Nothing and no one could stop us. Not in these stolen moments at the outskirts of the Capital’s menacing walls, where I could pretend danger wasn’t waiting at every polished corner and in every sickly-sweet smile.
As Zorin slowed, nearing the decadent stables Zandyr had set up for him in the grove my beautiful nazdran had picked out himself, reality creeped back in.
I was getting married in four days. Four short days that seemed like an eternity.
