Page 30 of Tarnished Crown

At the wordsrunning away, my lips parted. All this time, I had been worried that my family thought Davin and I were missing or dead. But what if they thought, as Evander did, that we had left on purpose?

That would break them. It would break Avani.

“I don’t know, LordAalio,” I said quietly. “Is there a reason you turned out as empty as you did or are you just that bored now?”

His expression shuttered. “The latter, I suppose. In any event, you can have your weapon on the road.”

I blinked, nonplussed. “Even though I didn’t win?”

“I never thought you were going to win, Princess. I would have been an idiot for arming you if you did. I just needed to know what you were capable of.”

Why did I get the feeling he was talking about more than my sparring skills?

CHAPTER23

The next few days passed sluggishly while I waited for news from Evander, who always seemed to be out when I tried to sneak over to his room, making an excuse to my guards.

He kept his door locked, not that I checked or wondered vaguely if he had another captive he was squirreling away in there.

It would certainly go in line with his winning personality.

In the meantime, Taisiya delivered several bundles of fabric, thick wools and velvets in shades of navy, emerald, scarlet, and gold, most with fur lining. Dresses.

I had been expecting one since she measured me, but there were several here. She had me try them on, one by one, to make minor adjustments. I never imagined I would be excited about Socairan clothing, but here I was.

Though, these didn’t look like any Socairan dresses I had seen.

There was a thick inner layer that served as the base. One was cream, one black, and the third the shade of tree bark. All three had full sleeves that buttoned at the wrist and two buttons at the back of the neck, easy to reach, that pulled the fabric together.

Then there were interchangeable outer pieces, some that were corseted in the front and others that tied just under my bust, but every one of them was wide, layered, and divided for riding. There were nightclothes as well, and two practical, warm pairs of boots.

I was no stranger to pretty things, and these weren’t spectacular in and of themselves, but what they represented had my lips tilted up with excitement. The need for warmer dresses meant I was going outside, and the divided skirts meant I was riding somewhere.

Taisiya quietly shook her head at the clothes, enough to solidify my suspicions that they weren’t conventional for Socair and that she hadn’t been the one to pick them out.

Interesting.

When she took the clothes back to alter them, I grabbed a heavy fur blanket and retreated to my balcony to watch the snow fall.

The grounds were strangely beautiful blanketed in white, considering they were the source of my captivity. But it was too still. Too undisturbed. No one here threw snowballs or built forts or snowmen or made snow angels.

Not like in Lochlann, where even the guards had been known to join in our epic snow battles. Of course, Gwyn was always a hair too competitive, generally singling out Gallagher as her primary victim. And as the years went by, Avani and Mac usually wound up tackling one another in the snow and getting...distracted. Davin and I lived for those showdowns, though.

Melancholy settled over me like a dense cloud, remembering those times when we were all happy and the entire world felt like it was in front of us. Before death and imprisonment and grief crept into our lives and refused to leave.

Something I had contributed to.

At least if Evander was true to his word, I might be seeing Davin soon.And Theo.

I couldn’t stay away from the balcony, even with the bittersweet memories it brought. The crisp, cold air was as close to freedom as I came these days.

So that was where Evander found me two days later. His arrival wasn’t unexpected, since Taisiya had dressed me in one of the new outfits, lingering in the room longer than normal until Evander came to fetch me.

“Put these on,” he ordered without preamble. “It’s time to go.” His voice was strangely devoid of inflection.

“To meet with Elk?” WithTheo. “Is my guard coming?”

He narrowed his eyes but nodded, and I took the proffered bundle, which turned out to be a pair of supple leather gloves and a black velvet cloak with shining white fur lining...and wrapped in the middle, a delicate rapier.