Page 25 of Tides of Shadows

I crouched near the edge of the mire, studying the blackened earth. Dricus caught my arm at once, his grip firm.

“Do not touch it,” he said. “Plague.”

“Are you certain?” I asked.

“Don’t you feel it?”

“No.” I looked at him, startled.

His gaze sharpened. “Let’s go back. Enough adventures for one day.” Then he looked at me like one might a wayward child.

On the road back to the Palace, he finally spoke again.

“What were you doing alone in the forest during the hunt?”

“Is a woman no longer allowed to hunt on her own?” I replied. He looked at me with amusement and disbelief. “And what of you? Were you following me?”

“I saw you slip out through the side gate,” he said. “You had to know it couldn’t end well.”

I lifted my shoulders in a small shrug and offered him an innocent smile.

“And you? Didn’t wish to hunt with the others?”

“I don’t hunt animals,” he replied, the answer sounding dark. “Besides, I am too old for that.”

“Too old?” I laughed softly. “Then perhaps you should go and speak with the Ladies. Seek some… trophies there?”

He smiled faintly, one of those rare moments when his usually impenetrable mask cracked.

“I am speaking with one now,” he said, with a hint of unease. “A Lady, of course.”

He was so different from the other lords in the palace. He didn’t have to force anything. He didn’t have to prove anything. He simply was. But still part of him remained tightly sealed, a place no one was allowed to enter. I could feel there was a great deal of suffering and pain hidden behind those green eyes.

When we reached the Inner Court, preparations for the bonfires were already well underway. The courtyard roared with life. Fires were being lit, sparks climbing into the darkening sky, while servants hurried past with barrels of wine and ale, their voices and laughter colliding in a rising storm of sound. Cedric, the young huntsman that was with us, started sharing his boar story with others. I hoped he would skip the part of lady in the woods. I didn’t need more unusual stories about me.

On our way through the crowd, we encountered Cassandra, commanding the chaos with sharp gestures and sharper words. Dricus turned toward her. The look on her face made it plain that the Lord of the Desert was the last person she wished to see.

“Lady Cavareth,” Dricus said. “It is good to see you.”

“Lord Cineris,” she replied coolly. “And I see you are keeping… interesting company.” Her gaze slid to me, heavy with disdain. “Is there something I may assist you with, young Lord?” She stressed the word deliberately, a reminder that he still belonged to the younger members of the court, not the elders who made all the decisions. Even though he was the sole heir to his lands.

“In the forest we found a tainted mire,” Dricus said evenly. “East of the road. Black sludge, reeking of rot. It should be investigated.”

“Interesting,” Cassandra said. “Thank you for the report. When time allows, someone will attend to it. As you can see, everyone is occupied right now.”

“How many balls and revels,” Dricus pressed, “how many corpses and how much rot will it take before the Regency treats this threat with the gravity it deserves?”

Cassandra fixed him with a glacial stare. Had she the power, she would have thrown him into a dungeon without a second thought. Dricus did not flinch. He was more irritated by Cassandra’s inaction than he was with courtly customs.

“Do not overstep yourself, Lord Cineris,” she said. “We pay you too well for you to talk back. And do not trouble yourself over the Regency. We have everything under control.”

His jaw tightened. “We’ll see for how long.”

We were about to part when Cassandra’s attention returned to me.

“And you. Daughter of Veymaris,” she said. “Soiled as though you had been crawling through the bushes in search of a husband. I see that on the islands they save coins on raising Ladies.”

Before I could answer, she vanished into the press of servants, denying us even the courtesy of a nod.