Page 85 of Crimson Kingdom
He was already alert enough to shoot me a questioning glance.
“I have to go before Da’ finds out I’m here and murders you,” I whispered, moving toward the edge of the bed.
That was only half the reason I was in such a hurry to move. If I stayed here, I wasn’t sure I trusted myself not to cancel everything and say to the stars with all of our wedding plans just to spend a little longer in Evander’s arms.
I avoided his gaze before he could see the very obvious longing in mine.
“Besides,” I reminded him, “you have your stag hunt this morning, so my cousins are sure to come barreling in at any moment.”
I ignored his probing gaze as I rushed toward the passageway, sprinting down the narrow hallways and hurling myself in my rooms just in time for Taisiya to enter with a silver tray.
“I was just...getting some air, before breakfast,” I lied badly.
She glanced from my rumpled hair and nightgown to my perfectly made bed, raising a single, sardonic eyebrow, before making a noncommittal noise in the back of her throat.
Well. At least, I had tried.
I wolfed down my breakfast, and Taisiya fixed my hair and face more hurriedly than usual, so I had just enough time to run by Rayan’s before my dress fittings.
Rayan was waiting with his usual expectant expression when I entered, but this time, there was no accompanying smile.
Dread churned in my gut.
“Young Highness,” he said, a gravity to his voice that wasn’t usually there. “Your order is ready.”
“That sounds like good news, Master Rayan,” I said carefully.
“They are some of my best work,” he responded, the barest hint of a smile pulling up the edges of his lips at last.
He handed over the wrapped parcels, and I didn’t bother to insult him by inspecting them. Besides, I was too busy trying to analyze his expression.
Rayan held my gaze with his piercingly blue eyes, taking out another parcel from beneath his counter. This one was in a rectangular wooden box, nearly as long as the first package he had given me and twice as wide.
It was secured with a hefty metal clasp. For reasons I couldn’t explain, no part of me wanted to know what was inside that box.
“I made you something else,” he said quietly.
I shot him a questioning glance, almost afraid to voice the question aloud.
“Something I suspect you will need,” he expounded.
The man had worked for the Luanian royal family since before my parents’ rule. He had hand-crafted every weapon in my family, imbuing them all with his tremendous skill...and perhaps a bit more.
He never openly spoke of his fae blood. Only his agelessness and the things he shouldn’t have known gave him away. Though, I had wondered more than once about my mother’s sword, the way it seemed more like an extension of her arm.
With a training sword, she was a decent sword-fighter at best, but with the one Rayan gave her, she became something else entirely. And he had given it to her before she knew she needed it.
So, what had he given me? And why did he look so unhappy about it?
“All right,” I said in a low tone, reaching for the clasp.
He put a hand on mine. “I am a cautious person, Princess. It is possible you will never have any need of what is in this box. So for your sake, wait to open it until and if that need does arise. I suspect you will know, if that time comes.”
I nodded slowly. “Thank you, for these... All of it.”
“Of course, Young Highness,” he said with a small bow. “And congratulations on your wedding.”
He gave me a sincere smile at last, and I tried my best to return it before I turned to go.