Page 125 of Esperance

Either way, he would find out tonight.

“Is everything all right?” Amryn asked, her voice echoing softly on the stone walls as they walked back to their room.

It was late. While everyone else had slowly left the room to retire, Argent and Jayveh had been too excited to sleep, so Amryn and Carver had lingered.

Admittedly, he hadn’t been in a rush to be alone with Amryn.

But once Jayveh started yawning, Argent had insisted that she go to bed. The prince and princess had just gone down the hall that led to their room, leaving Amryn and Carver alone except for the guard that trailed them.

“Fine,” he said, in answer to her question.

Amryn frowned. “Was it something Rivard said to you?”

Yes.

“No.” He was aware of the guard behind them, and he didn’t want to have this conversation here.

She bit her lower lip, making it clear she didn’t believe him. Her skirt whispered over the floor, shimmering in the glow of the hall lamps.

Carver unlocked the door to their apartment and pushed it open, letting Amryn step inside first.

Perhaps that was a mistake, because their bodies brushed as she passed him, and the smell of her unique perfume tried its best to unravel him.

He closed the door and locked it, then turned to face her.

She was waiting for him in the center of the room, the dark balcony behind her. A servant had lit some of their lamps, and the soft light cast shadows over her pale face. Her hands were clasped in front of her, and her bare shoulders were tensed.

She was braced for his questions. She knew what was coming.

A stone dropped in his gut.

“We need to talk,” he said.

She didn’t even blink. “About what happened on Zawri.”

The skin around his eyes tightened. “About a lot of things.”

“All right.”

Her voice was fragile, and he hated the undercurrent of fear in those two words.

He took a slow breath. “I need you to tell me the truth. Are you—?”

A scream ricocheted beyond their room, blood-curdling and sharp.

Carver cursed. “Stay here.”

He darted from the room, following the guard who was already bolting down the hall.

The screaming continued, growing more frantic. It was coming from the floor below them.

Footsteps pounded the floor as guards ran toward the piercing sound, and someone was shouting.

Carver reached the staircase and took the steps three at a time. When he landed on the next floor, he saw that all the doors in the hall stood open, and a crowd had gathered in front of one of the corridor’s alcoves.

Tam was the one screaming, and she was being held by Sadia. The two women stood slightly away from the crowd, but Tam’s haunted eyes were fixed on the alcove—trapped by something she couldn’t even see anymore, because of all the guards blocking her view.

Carver’s pulse tripped.

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