Page 19 of Tarnished Crown

For a prison, anyway.

Taisiya left, promising to return with dinner. All I could do was hope fervently it wasn’t fish stew. Or borscht, for that matter.

The Socairans really knew how to ruin soup.

While I waited, I sank down onto the rug near the fire. The fabric was warm from the flames and I eagerly melted into the plushy carpet.

Leaning back toward the hearth, I utilized the heat of the fire to help dry my hair. If there was anything less fun than being stuck here to begin with, it would be waking up in a freezing pool created by my several pounds of hair.

When Taisiya knocked a solid rap on the door, I called for her to enter, my stomach growling in spite of myself.

But it wasn’t dinner.

Instead, Evander stormed in, still dressed in his traveling clothes. He stopped in his tracks when he caught sight of me, lounging back to stretch my head closer to the fire in a lacy nightgown that was, admittedly, a little too fitted in certain areas.

I lunged forward, crossing my arms over my chest with all the subtlety of a drunken moose. Something broke through his mask for the barest fraction of a moment before he reverted to the dangerously calm expression he had been wearing when he walked in.

Fury burned behind his eyes, and tension radiated off of him in waves. It was a sharp contrast to his usual brand of casual arrogance, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it had something to do with the meeting he had with the duke.

If it had something to do withme.

He cleared his throat. “I came to tell you I’m leaving tomorrow.”

A quiver of panic shot through me, his words confirming my fears.

“Am I to be your father’spetnow?” My voice was breathier than I meant for it to be.

“No.” The word was a low growl.

I couldn’t deny a small, unwelcome bit of relief.Better the devil you know, after all.

“Well, I’ll try not to be too desolate in your absence,” I said, trying for lightness.

In fact, I could use the time to try to get to know Lady Mairi, but I wasn’t about to mention that to him. It was one of my rare good decisions, since his next words were on that very subject.

But he was in no mood for banter.

“I expect you to stay in your rooms.”

I raised my eyebrows at the uncharacteristic order, and his face lost what little humanity it had left.

“Trust me, Lemmikki.” His voice was like a sharply honed blade, pure, deadly, steel. “You will not enjoy the consequences if you disobey.”

I studied him, from the taut set of his shoulders to the subtle savagery that lurked behind his casual façade, belatedly realizing I had been too quick to forget who he was and why I was here.

I nodded slowly, and he narrowed his eyes.

“My men will be watching.”

I wanted to tell him that after sneaking out the castle of the King of Lochlann, his guards didn’t concern me, but that would only make him assign more to me.

Besides, perhaps I wasn’t afraid of his guards, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just the smallest bit afraid of Evander right now. But I would die before letting him see that, so I forced a nonchalant expression.

“Inside these rooms you insist I stay in? That hardly seems appropriate,” I chided.

A muscle ticked in his jaw, and he shook his head back and forth in a barely perceptible movement. “I told you at the Summit, you didn’t have the sense to be afraid. Now would be a good time to remedy that.”

He turned to go as quickly as he had come, leaving me alone with the ominous threat that almost felt more like a warning.