Page 84 of The Blade in the Ashes
Seeing the Manor sent a pang of sadness coursing through me.
How had it only been weeks since I’d last been here, when it felt like an eternity had passed?
This place that had once been a haven—the place I’d fled to when I couldn’t bear to be at the castle any longer. It had been the one place that had truly felt like home. Inside those walls was where Clay had told me he’d loved me. The bedroom I’d claimed as my own had been where we’d chosen each other regardless of the consequences.
This place, which had once imprinted itself upon my soul, now felt more like the ghost of a memory than anything else.
It looked the same as it always had. The marble staircase met gray bricks under the watchful eyes of the gargoyles decorating the front lawn. Hyrax scanned it appreciatively, a small hum in the back of his throat.
“Well, it’s quite lovely,” he mused.
I kept my eyes on the house. “Do you know who built it?”
The Manor had been passed down throughout the line of Hyrax for years, built by some of his earliest Descendants, the children who had been born from affairs with Mortal women.
He tilted his head, considering, eyes glancing briefly towards the sky. “After all these years, I can’t remember.”
Shaking away the thought, he jerked his chin towards Caldrius, silently instructing my husband to lead the search of the estate. Caldrius nodded before dismounting and beginning to issue orders.
The grounds, thankfully, seemed empty, long abandoned by the rebels who had once fled here. I kept my face neutral as the surrounding guards began their search, trying not to betray the fact that I knew the exact room where the Bident was.
Somehow, I needed to sneak away from Hyrax, find that weapon, and hide it somewhere no one would find it.
I pulled Netta aside, running a hand down her mane affectionately as I dismounted and tied her to a fence post, scanning over the various entrances to the house. Perhaps I could slip in the back door, through the kitchen, and up the servant’s stairs.
“Did I ever tell you how I formed the Bident?”
Hyrax’s words stopped me in my tracks.
I turned toward him, surprised to find that his attention remained on the Manor even as he clearly spoke to me.
“I know the story.”
His blue eyes shifted towards me, and he folded his arms over his chest, lips quirking into a slight grin. “The myth you mean? I’ll assume that to be a no. I haven’t told you therealstory.”
It wasn't the first time that Hyrax had tried to convince me that the histories painted him in a false light. Once, I’d even given him the benefit of the doubt.
I knew better now.
“Arto gave Zion his sword, and you the invisibility bangle. I know that part of the story is true because I stole the invisibility bangle.” I lifted my brows stubbornly, daring him to tell me I was wrong.
Hyrax quirked his head, his eyes narrowing even as his expression showed amusement. “Did you now?”
When it had become clear that Camilla had information I needed about Pasnia, I’d had to free her from the prison at the castle. I’d stolen Hyrax’s bangle to sneak her out without anyone noticing.
My heart skipped at the slightest bit of surprise. “I assumed Caldrius would have told you.”
“He hadn’t.” Hyrax chuckled softly, scratching his beard and glancing towards the manor. “Though I suppose a husband and wife should be permitted some secrets.”
He had a strange need for Caldrius and I to be a perfectly happy couple—so much so that he was willfully ignorant of the tension that existed between us on a near-constant basis.
My deep exhale was the only outward show of my irritation. “So, you made the Bident from the bones of Eckna. Like I said, I know the story.”
Hyrax gestured towards a bench overlooking the footpath that led to the garden, sitting while the soldiers searched. My stomach clenched at the thought of wasting more time to sit and talk with him.
Every second I spent here was a second they got closer to finding that weapon.
Hyrax waited expectantly, nodding to the place next to him.
