Of Whispers and Daggers ✓ [TLRQ #2]

Chapter 38 - Leavi

For the first time in hours, voices rise outside the door. I recoil. My mind has conjured up so many convoluted, condemning scenarios, I no longer know what kind of reality to believe in. Schemes dance within schemes, the world reduced to one room and outside as unknowable as the universe. Heart trembling, teeth gritted, I tiptoe back into the living room. I try to pick out pieces of their conversation, but all I can hear is the memory of the soldier I knocked out calling for the Queen in Morineause.

A fist pounds on the door, and I raise my poker higher.

"By order of the crown, open this door!"

Relief cascades over me like a waterfall in a dry stretch of cave. Aster. The poker slips from my white-knuckled grip. He was dead. I'd known as surely as you can know anything you refuse to believe. He was dead, the castle was taken, and we were trapped here until either they did break down the door or we died of starvation—

The door rattles again. "Open up!"

I start forward, hope a torch in the darkness of my mind's cell. He's alive. The Kadranians didn't take the—

I pause, straightening. "The castle is safe?"

"Yes!" His voice is harsh and angry, and my suspicion spikes.

"Who's there with you?"

"The guards, maid. Now open this door!"

Certainty settles solid as metal, and I struggle with the pieces of furniture in the barricade. There's no one holding a knife to Aster's neck because he wouldn't betray his sister even if there were.

I'm pulling away the tea table when Aster says, "You will let me in to see my Queen."

"Just a moment!" Weaving through the mess of furniture, I unlock the door.

The moment the lock clicks, Aster, without a glance at me, pushes in and hurries into the bedroom. My disbelieving eyes sneak glances at him as I close the door back and relock it.

"Did Illesiarr tell you what to do for her? Has she woken?"

I come into the bedroom, where Aster stands over Selenia, gaze worried and searching. My eyes flick over him, still trying to convince themselves he really is here. His hair is wet, both his eyes blackened. Bandaging lies across his nose, but his clothes and skin are clean. He's fine. We're all fine. I force my words level, as though an even tone can straighten out the rest of the world. "Illesiarr said she was stable. I've looked after her, but she's not woken. Some broth would probably do her good, though."

Suddenly, he looks up at me, blinking as if coming out of a haze. "Leavi."

"Yes?" I step closer, searching his eyes. What dark world are you trapped in that you didn't know you were talking to me until just now?