Page 75

One Year Ago

A FTER RORY ’ S HASTY CORONATION on the day of their father’s death, Evermore’s borders were safely locked again, but Bomardi militia and spies had already gotten inside the country in that hour Evermore spent without a king.

Between the attacks from the inside and the daily losses at the border, Evermore’s size grew smaller and smaller.

Briony had been confined to Biltmore Palace for three years while it was under siege, and even though it was her favorite place in the whole world, she almost sighed in relief when Anna came to tell her that it was time to pack and retreat to the lakeside castle, Claremore.

It was a fortnight’s ride on horseback between the two palaces.

Briony refused to ride in the carriage like a royal while five hundred people behind them traveled on foot, especially when Rory chose to ride his horse and greet the villagers they passed on the road.

General Meers wanted the court to portal and leave the people in the areas surrounding Biltmore Palace to walk on foot, but Rory refused.

Portaling them all was out of the question, not only because it would require Rory to bleed for hundreds of portals, but also because that many tears into the boundary line around Claremore would weaken it.

The castle’s fortifications would be gone before they walked through the front doors.

Finola slowed her horse to ride beside Briony’s mare one afternoon in the second week.

“We have about two days left,” she said, tying her blond hair up in a messy twist to keep it off her sweating neck. “The general and your brother have gone on ahead with a portal.”

Briony gaped. “What? When?”

“Two hours ago. Rory is strengthening the boundary line for our arrival.”

“Why wasn’t I informed? I should be with him,” said Briony.

Panic rose in her. Would Rory succeed in casting the protections if Briony wasn’t pushing her magic to him?

“It had to be done quietly,” Finola said. “There are defectors hiding in every corner these days. Eversuns who think they’ll trade information for their freedom in Bomard.”

“And do they think I am the liability?” Briony scoffed. She straightened the brooch at her clavicle.

“Oh, you know the general.” Finola sighed. “It was privileged information.”

Briony huffed. General Billium Meers did whatever he could to cut her out of the tactical meetings.

There had been more than one occasion on this journey when she was barred from the tent used by the strategists’ council.

Over the last three years, Briony had pushed the general to negotiate a safe return of the four Eversun students who’d been taken from the school on the day of the attack, but her requests had fallen on deaf ears.

Rory was hestitant to make the wrong move when it came to those captives, so he relied on General Meers’s advice.

“When this is over,” Briony said, “I want you to take me to Southern Camly like you said you would. I want to learn how to be useful to the court and council. I’m tired of being nothing more than a bargaining chip in this country.”

Finola snorted. “Careful, you’re speaking like a Bomardi now.”

“I’m serious.”

Briony turned to look at her cousin. Finola chewed on the inside of her cheek before replying.

“I think the time for that has passed,” Finola said softly. “When this is over, there will be a new peace treaty signed. The countries will need to move forward under similar agreements—”

“And I will be nothing but collateral to a betrothal,” Briony finished for her. “I see.”

Briony looked straight ahead, clenching her jaw.

“It won’t just be you. My sister, Phoebe, as well. The rest of your court, including some of the men, will all need to do their duty to hold the peace.”

Briony’s eyes landed on Cordelia as she rode with Katrina and Didion, fifty feet ahead. “Not Cordelia, though,” Briony said, feeling jealousy flash in her blood before she could push it down.

“Well, if your brother was smart, he’d keep himself available to someone on the line, but that’s a losing battle.” Finola glanced at her. “There is another option for you.”

Briony waited for her to say it, her eyes resting on the back of Didion’s head. “Yes?”

“Didion Winchester would marry you without hesitation,” Finola said. “And don’t pretend you haven’t been stoking that flame.”

Briony eyed her uneasily. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

Finola lifted a brow at her. “Anna says you disappear to the docks at the end of every week.”

Briony gasped and sent a glare behind her to where Anna was riding. Anna shrugged.

“It is not every week. And ‘the docks’ makes it sound tawdry. We walk together, that is all.” Briony’s cheeks were bright red.

“After midnight?” Finola prodded. “My, what a lovely time for a walk —”

“I’m twenty-four, you know,” Briony said. “I’m not a child who needs to be watched and reported on.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You’re an unmarried Rosewood woman, as well,” Briony said, accusingly. “Are you going to tell me that you’ve been virtuous all this time? That you never sought comfort in Southern Camly?”

Finola gave her a soft smile. “I’m only pointing out that there is an easy route for you that your brother would happily grant.” She lowered her voice so only Briony could hear. “Unless you were hoping still for something else?”

“No,” Briony said quickly. Gray eyes flickered through her mind, like they often did. “No, I grew out of that fascination.”

“Good.” Finola breathed deeply, changing the subject. “You and I will set the shelter wards tonight in your brother’s absence. It will have to be done quietly so no one suspects Rory is gone.”

Briony nodded at her. The Rosewoods were known for their shielding magic. Rory had done it every night of their journey, with help from Briony, unbeknownst to him.

Finola kicked her heels against her stallion and urged him forward, leaving Briony to contemplate the lie she’d just told.

The name whispered in every meeting of the strategists’ council was Hearst .

Orion could perform Heartstop on two hearts at once—an unheard-of skill—and rumor was that his son was just as talented.

Toven’s name was next to his father’s in every report from the front lines, though no reports had come through about his abilities with Heartstop yet.

Briony wondered what had happened to the boy who’d tried to help her escape the Bomardi school—the boy who hesitated when his father told him to leave her there.

She hadn’t seen Toven since that day, but she’d heard stories of his deadliness on the battlefields.

When the caravan stopped to camp for the night, Briony shared a tent with Cordelia, as she usually did.

As the cooks began dinner and the soldiers began building campfires, Briony and Finola met at the center of the camp and moved outward and away from each other, expanding a wall around all five hundred that traveled with them.

Briony walked among the tents, pushing the shield to the edges.

Didion found her at the far end of the camp.

“Are you stuck doing Rory’s shields in his absence?” he asked.

Swallowing back her annoyance that Didion was granted information on the king’s movements, Briony nodded. “Finola and I both.”

Didion cleared his throat and moved closer when she finished her casting. “I was wondering if maybe we could disappear for a bit ourselves,” he suggested quietly.

Briony forced herself to match his shy smile.

She’d tried to fall in love with Didion. Every two weeks for the past year, Briony met him near the docks at midnight for conversation and sometimes more.

But even now, as she smiled softly at him, Briony couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t her future husband, no matter how easy Finola made it seem.

“I was thinking,” she began slowly, “that maybe we could pause our meetings until the war is over.”

His face fell, but to his credit, he recovered quickly. “All right.” He cleared his throat. “I understand. The retreat to Claremore must be very stressful.”

“It is,” she said, latching onto the suggestion. “Things are far too fragile now to be … indulging in frivolities.” She winced at the words as soon as they were out of her mouth, but she wouldn’t take them back, even as Didion swallowed and looked at the ground.

It did feel frivolous. Perhaps it felt like more to him, but to her, it was an unnecessary indulgence.

“The eclipse is in a year,” he said with a sad grin. “Your brother shall prove he is the Heir Twice Over when ‘the sun shines at night,’ so we can revisit all of this then.”

“Didion, you don’t have to … to wait for me.” She bit her lip. “I don’t expect you to, I mean—”

“I would wait millennia for you, Briony Rosewood.”

His eyes were clear and his voice soft. And though it was the most romantic thing anyone had ever said to her, she felt nothing.

Didion kissed her cheek and left her staring into the trees. She stood for a long moment, wondering why she couldn’t just accept Didion’s affections and live comfortably with him.

Briony shivered against the growing dusk. She’d turned to take the long walk through the camp back to the tent she shared with Cordelia when a light in the trees caught her eye.

It bounced like a fairy, slowly moving toward her. It was a navigator flame.

Briony held her hands splayed to cast, standing on the safe side of the shield. She would be undetectable to anyone on the outside of it.

As the flame came closer, she recognized the young woman wandering behind it. She was a merchant from outside Biltmore Palace. Her mother ran the fish market and always made comments about her daughter’s indigo-dyed hair. Briony loved her rebelliousness.

She was alone in the woods, looking lost and worried.

Briony stepped forward so the blue-haired woman could find her. “Did you get separated?”