Page 33 of Sharpest Court

Remembering to take the room key, I marched out into the corridor.

Today, Keil was taking me to meet the person who’d recognized Erik’s symbol. It would mark the first day of our alliance—the beginning of the new dynamic between us—and fresh nerves fluttered inside me as I absorbed my surroundings. Glossy white hallways and gold filigree; arched windows letting in a stream of birdsong; buttery sunlight warming the lily-scented air. The estate dripped with wealth, but there was a sense of home here, too: a well-worn book on a window seat, a water ring marking a hallway table.

That fluttery feeling intensified. Because after our conversation in the carriage, it felt as though I were stealing glances into a life that Keil might no longer want me to see.

I was rounding a corner when purposeful footsteps clacked toward me.

“Val, we’re running low on hot water at the settlement—” The unfamiliar young woman skidded to a halt, her golden bracelets jangling.

Striking in both beauty and style, she had adorned her black chiffon ensemble with every piece of gold imaginable: thin chains dripping down her neck and earlobes, hair rings dotted through her long braids. Even the deep brown skin of her shoulders glittered with a dusting of gold, making her shimmer with every movement.

“Oh.” She looked all the way down me, revealing more of that gold dust on her eyelids. “It’s you.”

It wasn’t until her eyes flicked up again—with cool, familiar disdain—that I recognized her husky voice.

Osana. One of the Wielders who had kidnapped me all those weeks ago. On a second occasion, she’d slammed me against a wall and barred my throat with her forearm.

Refusing to be intimidated, I lifted my chin. “Good morning,” I said, as though bumping into each other in this hall was a regular occurrence. As though I might follow up with a remark about the weather, then join her for teacakes in the courtyard.

Osana quirked a brow. “Going somewhere?” Her tone was that of a guard toward a prisoner, and it irked me enough that my placid smile tightened.

“Is that a problem?”

“I heard you were under house arrest.”

“I’m still in the Arcus house, aren’t I?” I looked around, brows raised. “Or have I miraculously stumbled into yours?”

She crossed her arms, unimpressed. “How did that backtalk go over with Arun?”

“Not half as well as it did with Rheya.”

“Well, you do have a way with monarchs. How did it feel at the Rose Season ceremony, swearing fealty to the man who slaughters our kind? Or were you accustomed to rubbing shoulders with Wielder-killers by then?”

She was referring to Garret, clearly remembering how he and I had fought for each other during my kidnapping. But she knew nothing about the years of pain and conflict that had existed between us. Nor that I had only made it to Ansora because of his sacrifice.

Even now, I couldn’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if I’d waited a moment longer at the palace gates. Would Garret have bested Briar and escaped alongside me? Would he be here with me in this new land?

After all the awful things he’d done, would I even want him to be?

My nostrils flared with my next inhale. “Will any answer I give make you think differently toward me?”

“Probably not,” she said.

“Then why bother asking?”

Her eyes narrowed, something unexpectedly pained gleaming behind them. “Because I want to know how you could bear it,” she said, with more emotion. “Why you didn’t fight him—fight any of them—when you had the chance.”

Any of them. The Hunters, she meant. The people I had feared my entire life.

“I am one person,” I said, determined to keep my composure. “They are many. I did what I had to do to survive and to protect the people I love. If you had grown up in Daradon, perhaps you would understand.”

Osana scoffed and was just opening her mouth when a new thought struck me.

“You mentioned a settlement,” I blurted. “Are the others there?”

Her jaw snapped shut and then clenched. “Yes. The settlement is for those who’ve been relocated by the war, but there are also people there from the eastern continent.”

I blinked. “You mean more people from Daradon than those who’ve just arrived?”