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When they were gone, Ryn peeled herself off the tree. She interlocked her shaking hands.

“Xerxes,” she said. He turned around to face her. The moonlight was crisper now, emphasizing his drawn brows and his frown. “I wasn’t doing anything out here with Damon—”

“Just say thank you,” he advised. A small touch of humour lit his face. “For saving you, and for that excellent kiss.”

Ryn’s gaze expanded. She closed her mouth, grateful for the night hiding her blush. The tightness in her body unspooled, and she dropped her hands to her sides. She said nothing as several seconds slipped by. She’d stopped shaking, the pressure of forming tears was gone.

Xerxes waited, lifting a brow.

“Oh…” Ryn shook her head to clear it. “Thank you,” she said. “For saving me. And…” She paused, and his smirk widened. Shebit down on her lips, wondering if he really wanted her to say the next part. But he didn’t stop her, so she took in a deep breath and blurted, “…for that excellent kiss.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll wait here until you’ve climbed back into your room,” Xerxes said, but his smirk fell and his lashes fluttered like his vision was misting over. He tapped against the side of his head with his fist and jammed his eyelids shut. “But hurry,” he said. “I need to go, urgently.”

Ryn watched moisture crawl back over his skin, glimmering in the moonlight.

She quickly turned and took hold of the palace wall. She imagined he’d run off the second she was out of reach, but she was only six blocks high when he called up in a loud whisper, “Ryn!”

She glanced down over her shoulder. He stood directly below her now.

“What are you doing for the senses trial tomorrow?” he asked.

Ryn released a sound of astonishment, wondering how he could be thinking about that at a time like this. And why he assumed it was easy for her to hang off the side of a wall. “I’ve chosen the sense of touch. I’m dancing!” she whispered back. Why did he want to know so bad? It only made her want to hide it more.

A moment passed. Then a slow smile spread across his face. “No, you’re not,” he said. But he swept back from the wall, shaking his head as he blended into the orchard’s shadows.

She didn’t know what to feel as she resumed her climb. There was a great wave of things starting with Damon and ending with Xerxes. Heva was going to lose her mind when she found out what Damon did. And what Xerxes did…

Ryn rolled over the windowsill and tumbled onto her chambers’ floor minutes later. When she climbed to her feet and looked around, she realized none of the torches were lit. Adinner tray rested on her dining table in the dark with a large plate of untouched food.

“Heva?” Ryn called into the room.

When there was no answer, she tiptoed to the door and cracked it open to peer into the hall. No one was there, not even Matthias. So, she closed herself in.

Heva still hadn’t returned by morning. Ryn picked at her bread and sugar. Her first bite of breakfast felt like a stone sliding into her stomach. She was sure she’d vomit if she took another, so she shoved the bread aside.

She’d thought all night about telling her guardswoman of Damon’s act in the garden. Ryn’s abdomen still warmed thinking about what happened after Xerxes had shown up too. With all the extra Folke training taking place, she figured her two guards had been dragged into it all. She tapped on the armrest of the chair to keep busy.

Someone knocked gently against the door, and Matthias let himself in. Ryn breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness!” she shouted, jumping to her feet and jogging to him. “I worried about you two all night. You’re with Heva, right?” She leaned around him to glance into the hall.

Matthias made a face. “No. I haven’t seen Heva since… Well, early yesterday morning when you two sent me away.”

Ryn’s smile fell. “Heva was never with you…?”

Another knock sounded on the open door, loud this time. Marcan flashed Ryn a grin as he walked in. “You’re going tobe blown away by the gown I made you for the trial tonight, Estheryn,” he said.

Tonight. Ryn had already forgotten the Heartstealer trial was tonight.

Tonight?!

It nearly knocked her off her feet: the assassination attempt on Xerxes’s life would happentonight. She’d been so flustered by the garden incident, and with her Folke guards absent, she forgot how important this day was.

Ryn had a plan with Heva. Heva was going to release whispers through the Folke from “anonymous sources” that there would be an attempt tonight at the contest, so the Folke would be on high alert. At least if the Folke knew an attack was coming, they’d take measures to prevent it. Then Heva was going to take up a position by Xerxes and watch the crowd like a hawk.

But where was Heva and why would she not at least send word to Ryn if she was going to leave for a while?

“I need to go,” Ryn apologized to Marcan. She moved for the door.