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“No, thank you.”
He pivots to face me again, eyebrow raised.
“I tire of your surprises.”
He steps into the room, ignoring Kaia when she subtly shifts to block his path to me with her body.
“Don’t make me dress you myself and haul you outside kicking and screaming.” He pauses for a beat. “Or maybe do. I’d enjoy it so much.”
“Thieran.” Kaia’s voice is a low warning, but he isn’t deterred.
“Ten minutes. Meet me at the bottom of the stairs.”
He’s gone again before I can speak, and Kaia huffs out an annoyed breath with her hands on her hips.
“I swear I have no idea what he’s up to,” she says. “But you’ll have to get dressed to visit the library anyway. I’ll go with you, and we can go there right after his…surprise.”
“You don’t know what it is?”
She shakes her head, moving to the door. “No. He wasn’t at breakfast this morning. And Railan said he’d left early.” She looks at me when I don’t move to change. “Better to get it over with quick, I think.”
Disappearing into the hall, Kaia closes the door behind her with a gentle click. I’m not eager for Thieran’s surprise, though I have to assume he uses that word loosely. I can’t imagine he’s interested in doing something nice for me. But I do want to see the library, so I’ll consider this my medicine first.
It doesn’t take me long to change my dressing gown for a fresh pair of breeches and a tunic. I quickly lace up my corset and draw the strings tight, tying them into a neat bow. Thieran’s had more gowns delivered since my arrival, but a curious amount of corsets have also appeared since he kissed me, in an array of colors and cuts and styles.
I run my fingertips over the fabric before closing the wardrobe doors and meeting Kaia in the hallway. We walk down to the stairs in this part of the palace in silence, and Thieran is waiting for us at the bottom.
“You’re coming too, then?” he says to Kaia.
“I am. You’re not usually one for surprises. I want to make sure you mind yourself.”
Thieran scoffs but doesn’t object, reaching for my elbow. He raises a brow at Kaia, and she gives a slight nod before we disappear. The air that envelopes us is warmer than Thieran’s power usually feels, and it’s devoid of the nauseating tumble I’ve felt before.
When we arrive, Thieran brushes a hand up my arm, and my body warms further, calm settling into my bones. I glance up at him, but he doesn’t make eye contact. He’s made the shift not just bearable, but comfortable for me without being asked.
A ploy, I’m sure, to try and earn my trust or something. The man is always thinking ten steps ahead of me. Infuriating as that realization is.
Kaia appears beside us a second later, and I realize for the first time that we’re standing at the edge of a farm somewhere on the outskirts of Videva. From this vantage point, I see the village is far bigger than I imagined, stretching out from us to the horizon.
A small, neatly kept farmhouse sits just back from the road, with a pasture to the left. Beyond the simple wooden fence, a herd of goats grazing on the short, colorless grass surrounds a single cow.
“What’s the surprise? You’d like me to make myself useful by becoming a farmhand?”
Thieran casts his eyes to the sky and moves to open the wooden gate, motioning me to go ahead of him up the short path to the farmhouse. Intrigued, I skirt around him, tilting my head to study the house.
There’s something oddly familiar about it, the slant of the roof and the striations in the wood, worn from the elements, though it’s never rained or stormed in the Shadow Realm as long as I’ve been here. Flowers in what I imagine would be a riot of color overflow a garden bed right by the front door, and I stop short as a memory barrels through me.
Me on my knees, digging in the dirt and singing a made-up song while my father rips weeds out of the ground beside me. His smile is indulgent when he looks over at me, and he runs his hand over my tumble of unruly curls.
Grip this one here, poppet, he says, using his strong hand to show me how to grab a fledgling weed. And tug it free so it doesn’t kill the pretty flower.
This place. It looks just like the home I was born in. Right down to the simple lace curtains hanging in the front window. I take a step back as Thieran raises his fist to knock on the door.
“Wait. I can’t.” I hate the tremble in my voice, and I clear my throat. “If it’s all the same, I’d rather not have this particular surprise.”
He frowns. “What are you talking about?”
“If…” I take a deep breath. “If my parents are in there, I don’t want to see them.”
