Page 65

“And if I hadn’t been here?” I shoved his chest. “Don’t you ever do something like that again. ”

“I promise,” he whispered. We both glanced down at Galen, who was knocked out cold several feet away. Thorne sighed. “Well, that’s a mess we’re going to have to deal with.”

I shrugged, my adrenaline still racing. “Maybe he’s so drunk, he won’t remember any of this.”

“Your optimism is inspiring.”

The edge of my lip quirked up. “How are you going to get him back to his hut?”

Thorne looked around. “Do you have any spare rope?”

I chuckled, surprised I could find humor in anything tonight. But he had a way of making the burdens not seem so heavy. “Let’s see if Nox and Leo can help. We won’t have to worry about them accidentally touching his skin.”

He nodded, then took a deep breath. “The things he said, Empress, I?—”

“Don’t.” I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. He’s drunk and angry and an idiot. I won’t waste two seconds caring about what he says about us, Thorne. All that matters at the end of the night is that you and Katrine are okay.”

“We are, thanks to you.” With his thumb, he tilted my chin up to meet his eyes. “You don’t have to go through with this, you know. Marrying him. After everything he’s done, nobody would expect you to uphold your end of the alliance.”

“It’s never been about him, Thorne,” I whispered. “What kind of a person would I be if I left your people defenseless against this curse?”

He let out a breath. “We don’t deserve you, Clarissa. He doesn’t deserve you.”

“It’s not about what they deserve. It’s about doing what’s right for those who can’t help themselves.” I covered his hand with mine and squeezed. “If I’m in a position to do good and don’t use it, I don’t deserve the power I’ve been given.”

He stared after me, his eyes searching mine so deeply, I wondered if he could see into my soul. I squirmed under his gaze and forced a smirk on my face. “Let’s go, Lord Reaux. We have a mess to clean up.”

The boys got Galen to his bed while Rose and I helped Katrine to the hut I was sharing with Mother.

Devora urged me to let her take Katrine back to the servants’ quarters, but I refused.

Nothing like this had ever happened before, and I wanted to make sure there were no lasting side effects.

And after seeing how frightened the poor girl was, I didn’t want her out of my sight.

I could tell Devora was shaken too, despite how nonchalant and coy she always tried to appear. Her gaze kept bouncing back to Katrine, her fingers fidgeting in her shirt or adjusting her glasses.

“Come on,” I said to her after I got Katrine settled on an extra cot in the living room. “You’re staying with me too, Devora.”

Her eyes shot to mine. “Your Majesty, I?—”

“For Fates’ sake, if you call me that one more time, I’m leaving you on this island,” I said with a laugh as I grabbed her arm and pulled her into the living room. I set up two pallets of blankets and pillows on the floor next to Katrine and patted the spot beside me.

Katrine tugged the blanket to her chin and rolled on her side to face us, her dark brow furrowed as she met my gaze then quickly glanced away.

“I’m so sorry,” she choked out with a whisper.

“I—I don’t know what I was thinking. You’re engaged to him, and I—I fell for his charm.

I didn’t know he was going to k-kiss me.

” She hiccupped at the last word, and my heart squeezed.

I reached out to take her hand. “It’s alright, Katrine. I don’t blame you. Please, get some rest. You’ll feel better tomorrow.”

“You’re very kind, Your— Rissa .” She yawned wide, black curls framing her tired features. “Much better than who we worked for in the past.”

“We?” I asked, tilting my head.

“Katrine—” Devora said in a voice of warning.

“Devora and I used to work for Lady Reaux,” Katrine said with another yawn as her eyes fluttered closed. “Devora brought me with her when His Majesty hired her.” She opened her eyes again and gave me a look of concern. “You promise you’re not upset with me?”

I smiled and said, “I promise. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

She nodded slowly as her eyes shut again, and she was asleep within moments.

“I’m sorry, Rissa,” Devora said quietly. “She shouldn’t talk like that about our former employers.”

“You never told me you worked for the Reauxs.”

She shrugged and took off her glasses, placing them on the side table nearby.

“It wasn’t for very long. Lady Reaux hired me when she saw me working at one of the taverns in the North Territory.

It’s how Katrine and I met—she was barely fifteen.

” She averted her gaze as she crawled back under the blanket.

“Like Katrine said, we’re much better off now. ”

“What did Lady Reaux do to you?” I asked, forehead creasing. “Was she?—”

“Nothing,” Devora said quickly, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“She was fine. It doesn’t matter.” She turned to face me, her red hair spilling onto the pillow beneath her.

Her voice was softer when she said, “You’ve been so good to us.

And the way you saved her tonight… She’s like a little sister to me, Rissa. That’s something I can never repay.”

“I didn’t save her,” I whispered back. “She just fainted.”

Devora gave me a look that spoke volumes. “You can tell the others whatever you want to, but I know what I saw.”

I searched her stare, and I knew arguing with her would be a lost cause. Devora wasn’t like the others. She was perceptive, far more so than I’d given her credit for. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Maids are taught not to ask questions. It’s how we survive.” She shifted to lying on her back and gazed up at the dark ceiling. “I don’t need to know everything, Rissa. Just that she’s going to be alright. ”

“She will be. And, Devora…I’m sorry for whatever you may have faced in the past. For how people may have treated you. You didn’t deserve that.”

The room went quiet, save for the sound of Katrine’s steady breaths, and I thought Devora had fallen asleep.

Just as I was drifting off, I could’ve sworn I heard her say, “It’s you I don’t deserve, Rissa.”