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Flummoxed and hoping to pull her from her idleness, I plowed onward, telling her how the white-haired vampire had appeared before me and then disappeared as if he were playing a game. Then I told her about how we’d taken the rebels to the dungeons. How I’d seen the actors there.

At the mention of the performers, her eyes filled with tears that she wiped away.

When I finished, including my time with my father and Lord Riis, Neve let out a long sigh.

“Is that all?”

“Yes.” I swallowed. “Can I get you anything, Neve? A tea? A tonic? I’ve never seen you like this.”

“No, I feel fine, but off.”

What did that mean?

“Do you want to get out of the suite?” I asked. “Take a walk around the castle? Perhaps we should visit the smithy, Master Urgi, and have a sword made for you. In case the worst happens.”

Neve’s eyes closed. “No. Please, Vale. I want to be left alone.”

Then, before I uttered another word, she lay down and turned her back to me.

I swallowed, watching her for a moment before I stood and went to the bathroom. Once alone, I placed my hands on the sides of the sink and looked in the mirror.

Something was wrong with Neve, and I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d upset her. Or did she regret what we’d done? How close we were getting? That if we grew closer, it would jeopardize her desire to leave.

My heart ached because I regretted nothing of the sort.

Chapter 31

NEVE

Vale and I strode down the hallway, answering a summons from the king.

Tension stretched tight between us, a reminder, as if either of us needed one, that we hadn’t spoken for hours. Even now, when we should be putting on amiable faces for the public, silence rang between us, making our footsteps, and that of the guard following us, echo in the white stone corridor.

I was thankful for the silence, for in my head, I was screaming.

Vale and I were related. We couldn’t be together.

True, royals had wed other royals for centuries and most of them shared blood, but I hadn’t grown up with that expectation. How ironic then, that I’d already wed a royal. Been intimate with him too. My stomach rolled at the thought.

But what do I say to Vale?

Since he’d returned and told me about the rebels, thevampire, and the imprisoned performers, Vale had been watching me closely. He wanted to help. Possibly blamed himself for the distance between us too.

Was it better that way? Maybe I should continue to distance myself? Would that hurt him less than knowing the truth?

As we stepped outside, into a snowy courtyard filled with nobles, the queen, the heir, and the princess amongst them, my questions fell away. The people formed a loose line, and as we passed, each one studied Vale and me. Though I wanted to lie in bed and cry, I put on a show.

A false smile graced my face as a wicked wind blew tendrils of my hair into my vision. I nodded at a few people and pulled the muted sable cloak around me tighter as I followed Vale through the dense snow, which hadn’t stopped falling since yesterday morning. Even a city as used to the snow as Avaldenn couldn’t keep up with the snow removal.

“It’s colder than a mage’s touch out here,” Saga said as we joined her.

I stood between the royal siblings, wishing I could switch places with Saga, but that would look too odd. Newlyweds wanted to be near one another all the time, right?

The princess’s hand appeared from beneath the hand-dyed, pink fur cloak she loved. She gestured at the area. “What’s the event?”

“You don’t know either?” Vale asked.

“No. About an hour ago, a message arrived at my room, telling me to come here.”