Page 31 of Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades #2)

Aeri

City of Vashney, Khitan

Royo is determined not to talk to me as we ride into Vashney. So really, it’s a pretty standard trip.

Between my lack of winter gear, the time of night, and my desperate need for sleep, we made the decision to stay in the closest city and leave for the Light Mountains in the morning.

We check into the first traveler’s inn we find. I’m not even sure what the name is, but it’s a small place of maybe eight rooms. We put the horses in the stable and then go into the lobby. Royo, impatient as always, rings the bell for the innkeeper. Then he purposefully avoids looking at me.

An older Khitanese woman with gray hair comes out of the back room. I think we woke her, but she smiles.

“Good evening,” she says in Khitanese.

“We’ll need two rooms,” Royo says in Yusanian.

The innkeeper squints and shakes her head.

Oh. We didn’t think about the language barrier when we split up. All the people who can speak Khitanese are on a sleigh headed to the ice caves.

Royo holds up two fingers and then says it again louder and slower, as if that will translate. I can’t do any better. Although I pick up languages quickly, I don’t know enough Khitanese to tell her that we need two separate rooms.

She slides across one key. Royo tries to ask for another, pointing again and putting up two fingers, but she must think he’s telling her that there will be two of us in the room. She nods and nudges the key again.

He looks at me and then gives up with a sigh. He turns to the woman and makes the money sign, rubbing his fingers together.

The innkeeper tries to tell him the amount, then purses her lips and writes the number down. They use papers for money here called marks. The room is twenty marks. I have no idea what that means in terms of mun, if we’re being ripped off or not, but Mikail gave us two hundred marks before he left. It won’t be nearly enough for a wardrobe, but I can sell a small diamond tomorrow.

“Let’s go,” Royo huffs.

I smile at the woman, and she nods, then shakes her head, confused.

You and me both, ma’am.

I race to keep up with Royo, but I don’t know why he’s so bent out of shape. Ever since we met, we’ve spent more nights together than apart. Why is he acting scandalized by the idea? Plus, I saw all the times he looked at me today—all the moments he didn’t think I was watching. He’s angry, but he’s not nearly as put out as he pretends to be.

He opens the door to the quaint room. There’s a dresser, a nightstand, a washroom but sadly no bathtub, and one small bed. It’ll barely fit the two of us. I laugh.

“It’s not funny,” he says. “It’s not enough space.”

I shrug. “It’s better than an isle.”

He looks at me like I’m the least amusing person in the three realms. Right. We’re back to pretending like that never happened.

I roll my eyes. “We’ll manage for a night, Royo.”

I’m so exhausted that my vision is blurry. I force myself to wash up and get ready for bed. The new problem is that once again, I lost all of my clothes. And that includes nightgowns. I’m beginning to wonder if I should even keep replacing my wardrobe. I’m going to, but it’s been a pain that my trunks keep getting lit on fire.

My hair is past shoulder-length now from using the amulet, but no one’s noticed. People just assume they misremembered my hair length. I brush it as I come out of the washroom. Royo stands by the weapon-covered dresser. I see he’s unpacked.

“Here.” He holds a shirt and pants away from his body like they’re contagious. “For you to sleep in.”

“That’s thoughtful, Royo,” I say. Because it is.

He grunts and goes into the washroom. I change out of the dress and into his clothes. It’s ridiculous how much more comfortable they are, even though the pants are way too big. I’m trying to figure out how to keep them up when he comes out of the washroom. He looks at me and laughs and then pretends like it was a very strange cough. But I heard it—the greatest sound in the world. My heart flutters, and I smile. He frowns harder.

“You can laugh, you know,” I say. “I won’t tell anyone.”

I give up on the pants and let them fall as I peel down the quilt and get into my side of the bed. I hope he’s not going to be weird about sleeping next to me.

He stands at the end of the bed, folding his arms.

Weird it is.

“What?” I really am too exhausted for this. I feel it in my bones. This cheap bed feels like a cloud. After being awake and panicked for two days, this room is Elysia.

“I’m angry,” he says.

Never mind. It just became the Tenth Hell.

“What else is new?” I murmur, snuggling the side of my cheek into the soft pillow.

He scoffs, but there’s a bit of a laugh in there, too. Enough to make me feel lighter, for my toes to curl under the quilt.

“Why are you angry?” I ask, sincere this time.

“You lied to me.”

There’s so much pain in those four words that my heart twists at having caused it. I had my reasons, but in the end, he’s right—I did lie. I purposefully made him think I wasn’t the king’s daughter. Because I’m really not. Or, at the very least, he’s never been like a father to me.

But I wasn’t honest with Royo.

“I know I did,” I say. “I wish I hadn’t. I wish I could’ve told you the truth from the beginning. But I didn’t know you had anything to do with the plan. I really thought you were just a guard. And you weren’t honest, either.”

Well…that wasn’t what I meant to say. I meant to apologize, but sometimes sorry is the hardest word to pronounce. It rolled off my tongue with Sora, but it’s so much more difficult with Royo. And not because I mean it any less. I suppose it’s difficult because my heart is at stake.

He blinks. “What wasn’t I honest about?”

“Killing your girlfriend,” I say with a yawn. I do not mean to yawn. It just escaped because I shouldn’t have gotten in bed before we finished talking.

His amber-colored eyes take on the appearance of an incoming storm. And then I know for certain: he didn’t do it.

The realization hits and rakes down my guts. I dig my nails into the pillow. It had been my excuse—I was a liar but so was he. We’d both made mistakes. And that made us even. But he wasn’t lying. Just me. Well, me and my father and the northern count. Really, only Royo was telling the truth this whole time.

“They lied…” I whisper, sitting up in bed. “Why did they lie? What was there to gain?”

He’s breathing hard, but he shakes his head and speaks quietly. “I didn’t hurt her. I never would’ve. I don’t know why Bay Chin and your father said I did. Maybe so you wouldn’t trust me. I dunno.”

He stares down at the ground, wounded. It hurts so bad that my heart physically aches for him. I didn’t know that was a real thing.

“I’m sorry, Royo,” I say. “For all of it.”

My words have never felt punier than they do now, measured against the damage they’ve caused.

He nods. “You swear you didn’t know I was being set up? You thought I was just a guard?”

“On my soul,” I say. “On my mother’s.”

He stares at me, and I hold his gaze because I am being honest. I had no idea.

Eventually, Royo nods again. “You’re exhausted.”

“I’m so far past that. I’ve been up for two days.” I shift my shoulders. They’re so sore they click as I move them.

He stares at me. “Ten Hells, why didn’t you stop?”

“I saw the dead zaybear, and I needed to know you were okay. I couldn’t rest until I reached you, so I rode all night.”

Royo shakes his head. “You’re the most foolish girl I know.”

But he says it like I love you. Being called a fool shouldn’t make my chest fill with joy, but here we are.

“I know,” I say, lying back down.

He hesitates, but he turns out the oil lamp. I can still see him in the moonlight, though. Those super broad shoulders and muscled arms.

Slowly, reluctantly, he gets into the other side of the bed. I think about clinging to him like the barnacles on the fleet ship, but he might go sleep in the horse stall if I touch him.

“I really am sorry, Royo,” I whisper in the quiet.

“Why didn’t you say so on the ship?” he murmurs. I feel the vibrations of his voice on the mattress, and I love it. I love hearing, seeing, and feeling him.

I shrug. “I thought you wanted to kill me.”

“I did…” He looks over at me and hesitates. “Because you didn’t apologize. I thought you just didn’t care.”

“How could you think that?” I ask, my eyebrows shooting up. “You know me.”

“No, I knew a girl named Aeri. Not a princess.”

“Royo, all I am is a girl named Aeri. Naerium died seven years ago, and no one mourned her.”

He stares at me, his eyes shining in the moonlight. Pity and then understanding flashes in them. “Don’t ever lie to me again, Aeri.”

“I won’t.” I yawn. I really hope I mean it.

He adjusts his pillow, his body stiff as can be on the bed, but at least he’s next to me. I fall right to sleep, although I wish I could stay awake just to hold on to this moment for a little longer. Tomorrow, we’ll leave for what promises to be certain death. But right now, I hold on to this fleeting moment.