Clarissa

W hen we returned to Silenus Manor, Thorne immediately disappeared to Fates knew wherever Galen and Dion Silenus were.

They all resurfaced briefly for dinner. Galen’s features were strained and pale, his behavior jumpier than normal.

I was sure Thorne’s report of the blight hitting the field today put him and Dion both under immense pressure.

I couldn’t take my mind off it. How dead everything was.

Like something had sucked the life right out of every cell, every inch.

I’d seen dead crops before, and they didn’t look anything like that.

I imagined it spreading, hurting more and more farms, killing everything in its path.

Thorne said there was nothing they could do, but were they even trying ?

I spent hours pacing in mine and my mother’s shared suite, fixating and rearranging all my luggage, then the decorations in the room. Mother’s soft snores eventually dragged me out of the suite so I’d avoid waking her.

The corridors were empty, without so much as a guard or maid in sight this late.

A clock on the wall of the drawing room read eleven o’clock.

I’d never been able to go to sleep at a decent hour.

Mother always said it was the fox in me.

Always alert late into the night, my mind unable to rest, my senses coming alive when the sun went down.

I ventured down several hallways until I found a door leading outside.

It opened to the back of the manor, which had a stone path curving into a hedge maze.

The bushes were neatly trimmed and dark green in the light of the moon, towering high over my head.

Taking a deep breath to loosen my muscles, I headed into the maze, needing something to do while my thoughts kept wandering.

The solitude didn’t last for long, though.

“Can’t sleep?” a deep voice said behind me.

I turned to find Thorne leaning against a hedge at the starting point, one ankle crossed over the other.

Of course he was here.

“It’s not that I can’t, just that I haven’t tried.

If you’ll excuse me, Lord Reaux.” I faced forward and continued my exploration, once again missing my fox half.

The moon and stars barely provided enough light to see my way around the winding hedges.

My Shifter eyesight would’ve allowed me much more visibility.

“Do you often take walks in places you’ve never been after nearly being killed?”

I pursed my lips and held out a hand to feel around the next bend. “Do you often follow women down dark paths when they’re alone?”

“No. They’re usually the ones following me.”

I let out a scoff and picked up speed. I heard his footfalls on the grass behind me. Emperor’s tits, this lord couldn’t take a hint.

His low chuckle reached my ears, caressing my neck. “Oh, come on. It was a joke . Are you always so tightly wound?”

I stopped in my tracks. Tightly wound ? I didn’t think anyone had ever called me that in my life. Leo was tightly wound. I was the fun, adventurous twin.

Spinning on my heels, I pointed my finger. “And are you always so—” I halted when my finger met his solid chest. He was closer than I’d thought. His steady heart beat against the tip, rumbling into my hand and down my arm.

I snatched my hand away and took a step backward. My spine met the sharp leaves of the hedge. Thorne smirked and moved forward, bringing an arm to rest above my head and caging me in.

“Always so what, Empress?” A scent I’d never noticed before, like the light, sweet smell of grass mixed with heavy leather, washed over me, and I involuntarily sucked in a breath.

“Arrogant,” I gritted out.

His smirk widened. “You don’t even know me.”

My fingers sank into the shrubs behind me as if my claws were trying to emerge. He was too close. His broad shoulders covered my line of sight, and he was all I could see.

I swallowed hard. “Yes, well,” I started, sliding out from beneath his raised arm to put some distance between us. “I know men like you.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” He fell into step beside me when I whipped around another corner. His tone was light and humorous, as if taking pleasure in my irritation.

“Men who think they own every room they walk into. Who hide behind lies and are used to charming their way into anything they want with a nice smile and pretty words.”

“You think I have a nice smile?”

A quiet growl escaped me as I pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers. He quickened his pace and got in front of me, only to spin on his heel to face me. He walked backward as he laughed. “I mean you no harm, Empress. It’s just too easy to get under your skin.”

I sighed. “You're going to run into something.”

“I’ll take my chances. This is a better view, anyway.” When I glowered at him, his eyes crinkled into a smile. “See? Far too easy.”

My nose twitched, and I cursed my traitorous lips for trying to smile.

“What did you mean earlier, about men who hide behind lies?” he asked, his grin fading .

I stopped walking. “You said you would talk to Galen about all the dead sea creatures, but that didn’t happen.”

“Oh. That again.”

“Yes, that again . And today with the blight, you obviously weren’t being truthful. There’s something going on.”

“You just don’t let things go, do you?”

“Says the man following me even when I’ve asked him to leave.”

He scratched his beard. “Technically, you haven’t asked me to leave, Empress.”

I sucked on my teeth, assessing him with another sigh before continuing my walk through the maze. “Why are you following me, anyway?”

“I was out here first. I saw you head into the hedges and got curious.” He shrugged. “Wanted to be sure you were okay after what happened today and yesterday.”

“I wish everyone would stop asking me that.”

He made an exasperated sound in the back of his throat. “Is it such a burden to know people care about you? You were attacked . You almost died, and you killed someone in the process.”

I swallowed. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Cryptic, I see.”

I stopped walking again and crossed my arms over my chest. “ I’m cryptic?

” I shook my head, causing my hair to brush against my arms. “You know what? Never mind. It’s been a long few days, and I was trying to clear my head out here.

If you’re not going to start telling me the truth, then please, just leave me alone. ”

He closed his eyes. “Clarissa, there’s so much that?—”

I didn’t let him finish his sentence, for something behind him caught my eye and made my stomach drop.

“Thorne,” I gasped out, instinctively reaching for him. At the sound of his name, his eyes flew open, and he grasped my arm, pulling me to his side.

“What is it?” he asked quickly.

“It—it’s the hedge. Look.” I pointed behind him, where an entire section of the well-trimmed bushes was now black and gnarled. Dead leaves fell from the hedge like dark rainfall, collecting on the ground in a heap. “Did that just happen?”

His eyes widened, and his face fell. Licking his lips, he tried to regain his casual composure, but I’d already seen the slip. “I’m sure it’s nothing,” he said. “Perhaps the servants forgot to water this area.”

Oh, absolutely not. I was done with these people and their attempts to cover the truth. Anger flooded me, almost strong enough to fill the hollow pit where my magic used to be.

I yanked my arm from his hold. “Alright, that’s it. I’ve had it with all of these poor excuses. Something is going on in this kingdom. The dead sea creatures? The blight in the farms? You and Galen have been ignoring me, acting like everything I’m seeing is a figment of my imagination.”

I prowled closer to him, my nostrils flaring.

“This is supposed to be an alliance . Fates, I’m supposed to marry him.

I deserve to know what I’m getting myself and my empire into.

I will not willingly join forces with a kingdom that’s hiding information from me.

If you and your king want this union to work, if you want peace with Veridians, someone needs to start being honest with me. ”

I was close enough now that, even in the darkness, I could see every inch of his face.

His blue eyes were tight and guarded as they shifted between mine.

A breeze came through and rustled our hair, my blonde locks mixing with his dark brown.

My chest heaved from my outburst, and his lips parted as I glared up at him.

Just when I thought he wasn’t going to give in, he let out a sigh and took a step back.

“There’s something you should know, Empress.”