Page 5

5

Merrick

A mber fingers of dawn stretched across the sky, staining the wall opposite the windows and highlighting the portrait of a younger me hanging there.

For now, I could only see it through the mirror, of course, but I didn’t need to study the painting to know how the brush strokes revealed my dark brown hair, my scarred face with its tight jawline, and my light-green eyes.

Lorant and I shared the same build, though his body bore many more scars, as if the fates had decided this was the night’s way of paying for the choice our cursed, distant male relative had made.

The night wore its pain for the world to see, while the day carried its wounds behind a facade and in silence.

“That was it,” Lorant grumbled, drawing my attention back to him standing in the king’s suite, staring into the mirror. “She left after that, but I checked. She didn’t flee the castle again. I followed her to her room?—”

“Seen or unseen?”

His mouth coiled up on one corner before smoothing. “I suspected she might not like me following her, so I trailed her unseen.”

“You checked the outer wall.”

“I watched her windows from the roof for a long time after.”

“Good. She might’ve flitted.”

“I don’t believe she did. Not again.”

Thank the fates she was willing to give us another chance.

We spoke quickly. There was never enough time and too much to discuss.

He updated me about their latest conversation.

“It could’ve gone worse.” I shrugged off the bleakness creeping across my soul. We were close, and we would get where we needed to be. I was determined to believe that and do all I could to make it happen. “You did well.”

“I’m not sure I agree with that.”

“She came back. She didn’t kill you.”

“I’m sure she may still wish she had,” he drawled.

I scoffed. “That’s not her way.”

“I see a side of her you do not.”

“Because you’re snarly while I’m sweet.”

We both laughed, and it felt good. The hope she’d sparked when I met her poked its head above the ground again, but I did what I could to suppress the excited, confident feeling. There was still more to do and too many variables to predict to allow myself to bask in a feeling like that.

“We can do it,” I said, giving into optimism for this moment alone, because without the belief we could fix this, how could I go on?

“We’ll see.” His gaze shot to the window where dawn’s light continued to grow on the horizon before snapping back to the mirror where…

…Lorant’s body roared through the contortion we’d endured each dawn and dusk for a very long time. So it had been for my father, his father before him, and all the Evergorne kings since cursed King Aricor built this castle.

This much, I’d discovered. Knowing didn’t fix anything, but the tiny details had to mean something.

I’d build on the information with Reyla.

As the last of the change blazed its trail through me, a shudder rippled across my flesh.

Now Lorant was gone. Now I stared into the mirror.

Turning away, I went to the bathing area to prepare for the day, emerging sometime later fully dressed.

I left my suite and walked down the hall to speak with my wife, the woman I loved.

The woman who might be able to save me.