Page 69

Morning light filters through gauzy curtains, casting the space in cool, muted hues and the ornate bedpost in stark silhouette.

I blink and, for a moment, a memory flashes—of being in Liam’s bed, of his tousled hair and the warm, contented smile that would play on his lips before he kissed me.

I don’t want you to go, I said. I know, but I have to, and I’ll be back soon, he replied.

We should’ve run away together.

All of us. Liam. Me. Arina. The whole club…Taken the mountain tunnels, endured past the desert, gone to somewhere that we could be free of Oricalis.

I close my eyes and force the memories away. I’m not sure why they’re creeping back to me now. Perhaps it’s because this is the only other time I’ve woken up in a man’s room, more or less. Though, this time, I am alone. Not even Priss is with me any longer.

“You have a beautiful soon-to-be wife,” I tell the specter of Liam that still lives on in me.

The part that, somehow, even my sacrifice to the Chalice couldn’t expunge.

That night at Ravin’s soiree…If I hadn’t surrendered that future, would that have been the moment when we found ourselves coming back together?

No, the details of the soiree didn’t match what I saw in the Chalice’s vision.

But I rest the back of my hand on my forehead and tell myself the soiree was what I saw in the Chalice anyway.

I’m going to drive myself mad if I keep dwelling on a past that can’t be undone. A past that, if I’m honest, I don’t want. Liam was a closed chapter, even before the Chalice. I don’t desire a future with him. I just want his memory to not hurt anymore.

Plus, I’m engaged now, after all. And I need to rise and face my first day here with Kaelis. Whatever that will mean.

The wardrobe in this room is empty. While I’m grateful no one was sneaking into my room during the night, I’m also mildly surprised that he didn’t happen to have a dozen garments sitting around, just waiting for me.

Knowing Kaelis, my clothes must be somewhere around here. I poke my nose out of the door.

It feels oddly like I’m sneaking around, even though, according to him, this is now my wing of his apartments.

The hallway has five doors in total, and I emerge from the one at the very end.

The one immediately to my right leads to a well-appointed but small bathroom—so there’s at least one set of morning needs taken care of.

The door to the left opens to a dressing room with clothes all in my size.

There’s even some new attire waiting for me.

I knew I’d find it. I choose a supple but simple tunic and trousers that won’t draw too much attention.

I think I drew more than enough eyes to me last night.

The other two doors in the hallway pique my curiosity.

The one to the left of the bathroom is a study that seems like it might share a wall with Kaelis’s, if I’m guessing the layout of this place correctly.

Although, given the labyrinthine nature of the academy, I could be far off.

The shelves are barren, desk empty. I wonder if I’ll settle in long enough to fill them, or if I’ll always feel like a temporary guest in my new “home.”

Vaguely, I wonder why he didn’t put me in this study to work on my Major Arcana card. I tell myself it’s because, in his office, he could keep an eye on me. But…it doesn’t ring true.

Across from the study is a narrow storeroom, crammed with boxes and dusty rolls of parchment that have my nose itching.

The bindings on the books on the shelves are so moth-eaten that I worry they’d crumble under my touch.

The gilding of the titles has flaked off so that they’re no longer legible, and the gold flecks dot forgotten trinkets crammed between the boxes, collecting on a discarded wooden doll that perhaps once belonged to Kaelis.

Though, imagining him as a boy seems…oddly unnatural.

It’s as if he had been born the severe man I’ve come to know.

In the very back are a series of cobweb-covered portraits. Each one looks older than the last. A particularly ornate frame catches my eye. Gently, I pull forward the other canvases that have been stacked atop it.

I fight an inhale so I don’t go into a coughing fit.

A pair of sharp black eyes stares back at me. As intense as Kaelis’s. But different. Older. Though not as old as when I saw them last night.

King Oricalis stands next to—not sits upon—a throne.

In the center of the portrait is a queen with bright green eyes and equally dark hair, though hers has a unique sheen I recognize as Kaelis’s—hair that’s more of a deep shade of purple than black.

She wears a five-pointed crown. Four points each bear a suit of the Minor Arcana.

In the center, over her brow, is a massive sapphire.

I stare at the oddity, trying to make sense of it. I’ve never seen Queen Oricalis in person before. But I have seen portraits of the queen in clubs and pubs. I’ve heard tales of her pale hair and “moonlit beauty.”

This is not her.

So if it is not Queen Oricalis… Who is it?

And why is she the one in the dominating position on the throne, bearing the crown and holding—I lean forward to get a better look at what she delicately balances between her hands— a blank card?

No…The gilding has flaked off here, too.

The lines are barely visible. If I had better light, then maybe—

“Clara?” Rewina’s voice startles me from my thoughts. I jump back, the canvases clacking into their place with a plume of dust. She stands in the doorway, her expression a mixture of disapproval and caution even though her words have a forced levity. “May I help you find something?”

“Oh, no, I was just…looking for the bathroom.” The lie sounds bad, even to me.

“His highness would not approve of you being in here.” She ushers me out.

“Why is that?”

“There’s nothing in here of importance, just dust.” Rewina coughs and waves away the cloud that follows me.

She pats cobwebs off my shoulders. “Nothing a lady like you should be bothering herself with.” She promptly locks the door behind me.

None of that was a good answer for why Kaelis would not want me in there…

“Now, if you would like to finish freshening up, breakfast is served.”

I go to the bathroom and stand for a minute, picking cobwebs from my hair.

A pop of magic crackles over my skin, and I suspect she’s locking the door with more than the key I saw.

Keeping my racing questions to myself for now, I follow her out of my apartments, across the central foyer, and into another hall that connects to a dining room I recognize from one of the dinners we shared here.

Though the atmosphere this morning feels markedly different. Tenser.

The table is set with an array of dishes. Kaelis looks up as I enter. “Good morning.” His tone betrays nothing. “I trust you slept well?”

“As well as can be expected.” My tone is begrudging, though mostly out of habit rather than actual sincerity, if I’m forced to admit. I take the seat Rewina guides me to at his right hand. Though I would’ve gladly taken the opposite head of the table for the sake of keeping my distance from him.

“Given that you stole my cat—”

“I did not steal your cat.” I roll my eyes and reach for my napkin.

“—I would hope that you slept quite well,” he finishes, ignoring my objection.

“Are we expecting company?” The table is set for six, despite it being just the two of us.

“Based on my brother’s annoying ability to enter the academy at his whim, one can never be sure.”

The remark makes me think of Silas—he can magic someone in and out of the academy with no problem.

And if he’s Ravin’s inside man…I keep the thoughts to myself.

Just like I keep silent about the portrait.

Knowledge is power, and I need to choose when I’m going to let those arrows loose from my quiver. Now is not the time.

Act when you’re certain. Gather information first. Bristara’s instructions are loud in my mind.

“While you’re in class today, I’ll see to it that your study is set up for you to start on your forgeries.”

I nod. I suppose I wouldn’t keep using the settee in his office, given that I now have my own.

But why not just give me that office in the first place?

The question from earlier returns. I look at Kaelis from the corner of my eye as I pick at my food, attention dropping to his mouth and the way it twists as he flips through the pages of a book he has open at his side.

Is the awkwardness because of what we said before the feast last night? Because of the lines we were so ready to cross but now…now that we’re here it seems like we’d rather do anything but?

The silence is oppressive, and I finish my breakfast as quickly as possible.

“Come back in the afternoon so that we may begin work.”

I pause, halfway to the door. I know a command when I hear one. “I’ll do as I please.”

Kaelis rests his chin in his palm. “Don’t forget, Clara, they need to think you’re madly in love with me. Not avoiding me. Otherwise, it could be back to Halazar for you.”

Thousands of little pricks dance under my skin at the not-so-subtle threat.

I cast him a disapproving frown, and, for a brief second, I see Kaelis’s expression soften.

As if he, too, is realizing the jab was unnecessary.

But I don’t give him a chance to say anything else and instead make my way to class.

The moment I catch up with the other initiates I am aware of their whispers rustling around me like autumn leaves.

Many make no attempt to be subtle, eyes darting between me and their friends as they murmur about my eating at the head table and my sudden move to Kaelis’s apartments and what they’ve heard about our relationship so far.