Page 66 of Fallen Nocturne

His eyes lock with mine, and I can’t look away.

“You could have left at any point. The door was right there.” His voice is soft but relentless. “But you stayed.”

My hands are shaking. “I’m sorry...”

“Don’t apologize.” He cuts me off. “Answer the question. Why did you stay?”

I have the answer.

Because I wanted to watch.

I can’t say it out loud.

“I should go.” I glance toward the door. “Rainer will wonder where I am.”

“Probably.”

But neither of us moves. We just stand there, staring at each other across the cottage in terrible silence.

“I didn’t mean to spy.” My voice wavers despite my effort to control it. “I thought you might be meeting someone. I’m trying to find traitors and conspirators in my court. I needed to know what you were doing out here.”

He studies me for a moment. “So you hid.”

My face burns so hot that I think I might combust. “I was going to leave, but then you started...”

I can’t say it.

“I didn’t know you were there,” he says, and something in his tone makes me look at him again. “Not until you gasped.”

“I should have announced myself and left immediately,” I whisper. “I’m sorry.”

The silence stretches between us like a chasm. He stares at me for a long moment. I have the terrible feeling that he can see right through me.

Arescaine turns away first.

The movement breaks whatever strange tension has settled over the room. He walks to the table and places both hands against its edge, putting a few precious feet between us.

“I really shouldn’t have...”

“We have established what you should not have done.” He sighs, sounding tired rather than angry. “If we continue discussing it, neither of us will survive the embarrassment.”

I nod, grateful for the escape he is offering.

The awkwardness doesn’t disappear, but it loosens enough for us to breathe around it.

He reaches for a narrow wooden box resting on the table and begins unwrapping it. A moment later, he removes a bundle of papers and spreads them across the wood. Maps lie beneath lists of names, dates and locations, many of them connected by lines of red ink.

“What is that?” I ask, desperate for anything to focus on besides what has just happened.

He is quiet for a moment, his hands resting on the papers.

“The reason I came here.” He looks down at the papers. “I have uncovered evidence of a traitor within your court.”

The word cuts through everything. My head snaps up.

“A traitor? Who?”

“Lord Kharlis.”