Page 28 of To Wake a Kingdom

Hurt speared down the center of my body in a hot burning line. It was a truth that had been nibbling away at my heart since the day I awoke. All those years ago, I had been too overwhelmed to process it. But now, I had nothing but time to think.

My mother had been so distraught that she couldn’t bear to watch. So saddened, she had taken everyone with her for support. She’d simply said goodbye and walked away, and I wondered now if she’d really said goodbye to me much sooner. My mother, who had wanted me so much. As though this had been only about her. As though only her feelings had mattered.

There had been no last words of comfort from the Fae. I’d saddled them with twenty-one years of burden. They’d fulfilled their duty, said goodbye, and then closed the door, but that was how it had always been between us.

I wondered how often my family would have visited me had they been able. Here, in this room, so far away, in a spot where few would ever wander unless by choice. A sleeping princess, forgotten in her sepulchre of flowers.

“No,” I said, finally. “No one else was here.”

Chapter Thirteen

24 days left

Thesoundsoffightingdrifted into my room, steel clashing against steel as I cracked open my eyes. The sun was out, the sky the color of bluebells in spring and the sun hanging like a bright, white snowball. Ronan, Noah, and Em were in the courtyard training.

I’d slept late, my body sore and sluggish, every limb aching and every joint creaking like a rusty hinge. Ronan’s lessons were partly to blame, but the pressure of all my worries added so much weight to my shoulders that it felt like I was dragging around a sack stuffed with lead.

Kianna drew me a bath, and I took my time, watching the soap weave glistening tracks along my brown skin. The warm water soothed my tired muscles, releasing some of the tension coiled in my limbs.

As much as I ached, there was something satisfying about putting my body to work, pushing it to the limits of what it could do. I felt a little less helpless. A little less useless.

After my bath, I put on a simple blue dress that trailed to the floor and stepped into a pair of golden slippers. My dark hair hung unbound in loose waves to the small of my back. Kianna hovered in the room as I spreadCommon Magical Curesover my knees, still trying to find something useful in its pages. I couldn’t give up until I’d skimmed through them all. Then I’d go back to the library, or maybe to Tenby, and try again. Mentally, I tallied the days I had left, watching the numbers fall through time like a sundial collapsing in on itself.

“Here, this says it’s a cure for drowsiness. Do you think this might work?” I pointed to the cramped writing on the page.

Kianna sat down on the bed next to me and leaned over, scrunching her nose.“Perhaps?”

“Navitas.” The sketch depicted an herb with clumps of small white berries. “We need to find some. It’s winter, though.” I pushed out my bottom lip.

“There are some patches in the forest, Your Highness. It’s still early in the season. We may find a few stems.” Kianna nibbled on her fingernail, not meeting my eyes.

I threw up my hands. “Kianna! Do you not want to solve this?”

She jumped at my outburst. “Yes, of course, Your Highness. I will show you after lunch. I was just going to help Gideon.” She thumbed in the kitchen’s direction, and I nodded. Grateful to escape, she leaped up and scurried away.

I stepped out onto my balcony, overlooking Lake Ravalyn, covered in a thin layer of ice.

Ronan and his crew had gone out this morning, claiming they wanted to check if the roads were safe to travel. I suspected the real reason was to continue their search for the king. Ronan still hadn’t mentioned him, and I pretended I hadn’t overheard their conversation in Tenby. My gaze wandered in the direction of my graveyard in the forest, wondering how it had fared in the storm.

The flash of a sword flicked in the corner of my eye. Someone had cleared away the snow, and they were circling each other. Ronan had stripped to his pants, the sun’s feeble warmth beating down on the expanse of his warm, bronzed skin.

My appreciative gaze traveled the bulk of his shoulders, veins popping in his forearms. It traced the bricked wall of his chest and the planes of his stomach, voyaging to the dark trail of hair and the vee of muscle that disappeared into his low-hanging waistband.

But these were pointless and unproductive observations. I had far more important things to worry about. Things I should have been getting on with right this very moment.

Yet I kept watching as igneous fire stirred in my treacherous stomach.

Ronan knocked Noah on his back, sword flying from his grip. Noah grinned at his commander, dark blonde waves shining as Ronan helped him up. Em stepped up next, tossing her mane of red hair over her shoulder.I marveled at her lithe and graceful movements. I swore I’d keep training until I looked even half as powerful.

As they circled, Ronan’s back turned toward me, and I sucked in a sharp breath. A mass of scars covered his skin, tangling and twisting like a canvas of branches sculpted with ruined flesh.

Who had done that to him?

They sparred while Noah shouted insults at Ronan and Em that they did their best to ignore. After several minutes, Ronan took Em down too, both their chests expanding with shortened breaths.

Seeing the way he’d flattened Noah and Em, I felt better about never besting Ronan. Not yet, at least. I shook the thought away. The storm had passed, and they needed to leave. Ronan had taught me what he could, but our lessons were over.

As if feeling my stare, Ronan looked up to where I stood, his eyes bright, as the heat of dragon flame scalded my bones. It raced from my heart and down through my stomach, pooling somewhere below my navel. My lip caught between my teeth, I stood up straight, mortified he’d caught me staring.

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