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“I think…” Ria’s soft voice drifted around them. “I think it was me.”

* * *

Ria bit her lip,her gaze focused on Tes’s blood-stained hands. She’d meant to stay out of the way, but she just couldn’t. There was too much wrong here. Not with the kings or the healer, exactly. But as she’d listened to Toren interrogate Tes, her own thoughts during her captivity had crystallized into a more solid form.

Tes was no villain—she was merely the hero of the wrong story.

“How could this be your fault, Ria?” Toren asked.

She winced. “I shoved her rather hard when I escaped, and I wasn’t sure how well she caught herself against the tunnel wall.”

The healer shifted Tes’s sleeve upward, and Ria winced again at the gash on the woman’s wrist. Teshadhurt herself, then. Ria’s own skin ached as she watched the healer pull a tiny bit of stone from the wound before settling his palm just above the gash. As his magic trembled through the air, she cast a worried look at Toren, but for once, he seemed unbothered by the increased energy.

Without a word, Toren stood, and as he trudged the short distance to Ria’s side, his demeanor had her studying him more closely. Before, he’d paced with sharp, almost frantic steps as they’d waited for Mehl, and he’d questioned Tes with all the regalness of the High King on his throne. But now, exhaustion lined his face and haunted his eyes. Only the magic that hummed around him stood in contrast.

“How do you feel?” Toren asked.

“Perfectly fine.” Should she tell him what the healer had said about a possible pregnancy? Perhaps not. There’d been more doubt than anything in the man’s words, and Toren had enough trouble after Tes’s revelations. “The healer did an excellent job.”

Though the guards and healer were present, the last bit of the cold reserve he always wore in public melted from his expression. He tugged her against him, so abruptly she couldn’t hold back a softoomph. But she didn’t complain. Instead, Ria wrapped her arms around his waist and sank into his embrace. Her heart thrummed a frantic beat even as wild, reckless joy filled her soul.

She couldn’t keep him, but Gods, how she wanted to.

After a moment, he released her, his hands trailing down her arms as he stepped back. But instead of letting go entirely, he twined his fingers with hers. “I am sorry you suffered because of me.”

“You didn’t—”

“I might not have hurt you, but you were injured on my behalf.” His hold tightened slightly. “I underestimated Ber’s boldness. That he would send his own wife…it is difficult to fathom.”

That was true enough. Ria had dismissed that possibility herself. “What are you going to do with her?”

Toren sighed. “Once she has been healed, I’ll send her to the dungeon.”

“The dungeon?” Ria’s brows lifted. “If she’s married to your brother, she’s technically family.”

“If she’s married to my brother, she’s my enemy,” he retorted.

Ria opened her mouth to argue, then pressed her lips together just as quickly. Toren wasn’t wrong, but he wasn’t entirely right, either. There was more to the woman who called herself Tes, an inherent kindness at odds with her actions. When Ria had awakened in that dusty storage room, she hadn’t been mistreated.

She’d been cared for—in a fashion.

Tes had seemed earnest in her claims of rescue, but she hadn’t been the most adept at handling the situation. Now Ria understood why. The princess had obviously received some training in combat and subterfuge, but not much else. She’d probably never been in a situation like that in her life.

If they could figure out the full truth of why, it might give them an advantage against Prince Ber. That meant befriending the woman, but Ria doubted that Toren would entertain that suggestion right now. Possibly not even a week from now.

But there were secrets to be gleaned, and Ria had the sudden urge to discern them.

Chapter28

Before the Dawn

Toren felt every hour of the endless night in the tension of his muscles and the ache in his heart. More, there was a heaviness that weighed down his shoulders. Maybe his very soul. How did he process all that had happened in such a short time? How could he separate lies from truth?

In Ria’s eyes, he could see a spark of curiosity. Deliberation. Part of him felt the same. Princess Lora held fascinating contradictions, and he could understand the desire to explore them. But with his brother involved, there was too much risk. Anything Ber touched suffered from it. Toren didn’t have the time to determine if Lora could be saved.

“Shall I awaken her, Your Majesty?” Vesset asked.

Toren gave Ria’s hands a quick squeeze before he released her to return to the healer. The man had shifted Princess Lora around until she leaned against him instead of Mehl, her hands in front of her now. While so deeply asleep, her face was the picture of youth and innocence, though she was only a handful of years younger than he and Ber were.