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How did he find me here? I nervously look past him, half-expecting to find the king, but it’s just Eagan.
“Who is Arlo to you?”
I force myself to maintain a neutral expression, but my nerves are on edge, so I scramble for the safest answer. “He’s a friend from the farm. Someone I knew from before.”
I can tell Eagan doesn’t buy it. He studies me for a moment, his mouth set in a thin, hard line. “If he is just a friend, why are you sneaking around without Kylian?”
The excuses running through my head would only make things worse. “Because Kylian won’t see it that way,” I say finally, avoiding his gaze.
Eagan leans closer, his face just inches from mine now. My breath hitches, and I inch back until I hit the corner of the wall. When I try to escape, his arm blocks me.
He grabs the back of my neck and pulls me closer until our noses touch. “A friend from the farm who likes kissing you?” I push against his chest, and he just lets me go. “I wonder what Kylian would have to say about another man kissing his bond?” Eagan asks, and I peer away.
“It’s not like that. Arlo was just glad to see me.”
Eagan’s frown deepens. I know he doesn’t believe me, and he would be a fool to.
“Don’t let me catch you down here again, Alessia. Next time, I won’t have a choice but to inform him.”
I open my mouth to reply but nothing comes out.
“If he finds you in the cells, especially with another man, he won’t react kindly. Not when it comes to you.”
I know he’s right. I’ve seen enough of Kylian’s possessiveness to know what he’s capable of. My throat tightens.
Eagan steps aside, gesturing for me to walk ahead. “And if you put me in a position where I have to choose between protecting you and obeying the king, just remember, I’ve known him a lot longer.” His tone softens, just barely.
I nod, unable to look him in the eye, and walk back toward my room. Eagan falls in behind me, footsteps silent as a shadow. There’s so much I want to ask, about Dahlia, about what will happen now, but I bite my tongue. He’s angry enough as it is, and I’ve pushed my luck far enough for one night.
CHAPTER 46
• King Kylian •
I REACH SIDEWAYS across the mattress but find cold sheets.
My fingers press into the empty space, and the chill of it crawls up through my hand, settling in my chest where the bond sits, and the bond is doing something I have not felt before. It’s not the steady hum I’ve grown used to since I found her, not the warm pull that tells me she’s close and safe. The wrongness of it floods my veins before my rational mind can catch up, and suddenly I can’t breathe.
Panic settles deep into my bones, and I am on my feet, ripping the sheets back. She is really gone. The bed is empty. The room is dark except for the dying embers in the fireplace. I move to the open bathroom door, and she isn’t inside. I pull on a pair of pants and grab my coat from the chair, pulling it over bare skin without bothering to button it.
My boots are by the door—but so are hers. She left barefoot in the middle of the night? Where could she possibly be going with no shoes?
The corridors are silent as I tear through the castle. Servants press flat against the walls as I pass. Their heartbeats spike when they see me, fear and surprise tangling in their scents. I don’t slow for any of them as I search for her. I use my mindlink to reach Eagan, but he’s either asleep or distracted because I get no answer.
The first place I go is the library, but it’s empty. My panic drives me from room to room, frantically searching for her.
I stop at the dark infirmary entrance. The doors are closed, and the caretakers are making their quiet rounds between the beds. When I press my hearing outward, I catch only the sounds of the sick, their labored breathing, the occasional cough. No voice that I recognize among them. So I try Garret, who answers swiftly.
“Have you seen Eagan or my bond?”
“I saw Eagan about thirty minutes ago, a maid pulled him aside for something then he went into the castle.”
I cut the link.
Alessia must have needed him for something. It explains why I can’t find either of them. The bond settles, assuming she is safe with Eagan.
The eastern stairwell leads me down to the courtyard, and the cold night air hits my skin, but I don’t feel it. The fields stretch beyond the castle walls, visible in the moonlight, and even from here, I can see the green of them, the impossible life she dragged from dead soil with her bare hands.
I reach for Eagan through the mindlink, throwing the connection open with enough force that I know it will hit him with the subtlety of a fist to the jaw. “Where is she?” The words carry the full weight of my fury, and the silence that follows is two seconds too long.
