Map of Ember and Moonlight

Chapter 32

Chapter 32

They ended up staying at the cottage with Gideon that night, but they were too tired to need the barrier he had requested, which Amory had told her about, laughing. After leaving the tavern, the three of them separated and went their own separate ways in search of any information.

Lyv went to the few places she knew were frequented by guardsmen who were close with Arnaud, the guardsman who Amory killed for betraying the king. But when she arrived, there was not a guardsman in sight...which was even more concerning.

When she got to the cottage, Amory and Gideon had yet to arrive. She found Jett leaned over the rim of a teacup that was on the counter by the sink. He bolted up guiltily when she closed the door, but gleefully clapped when he realized it was Lyv, flying over to land on her shoulder and nuzzle himself against her cheek.

Amory and Gideon found the two of them on the couch by the fire when they appeared an hour later. Jett had curled himself up in her lap under the blankets. They were flipping through a book of Dalcaine history with plenty of beautifully illustrations when the door opened.

"Anything?" she'd asked them. "I went to places Arnaud had frequented. I wasn't able to find a single guardsman."

"We did," Gideon sighed, plopping down beside her and taking over some of the blankets. "We found only a few, but they weren't given any information that sounded relevant. I don't think they have a clue as to what's going on, so that seemed promising."

"We will go out tomorrow as well," Amory said then, sitting on her other side. Again, more blankets were taken from her. Even Jett left her lap to greet Amory with a hug around his arm. He grinned and gave the little pixie a high-five with the tip of his finger. "We will figure something out. Intimidation seemed to work the last time."

Gideon leaned up to look around her at him. "That ended up with you snapping the guardsman's neck."

"We got the information."

"Because he was talking with his friends. He wasn't exactly willing to give it up to us. You seem for forget that he spat in your face and said..."

"Shut up, Gideon."

Lyv took both of their hands in hers. "We will figure something out."

***

For the rest of the week, they went in search of information from the whispers in the night. But the whispers were few and Lyv's frustration rose. Four nights of sneaking through the shadows and they came up with nothing.

On the fifth night, though, they didn't stay out as long as they had, their lack of a proper nights' rest catching up with them, so they turned in early.

Amory stayed at the palace with her that night. After she came out from the bathing room, she found him sound asleep in the bed, his clothes and boots still on.

Laughing quietly, she tugged off his boots and untucked his tunic so he could at least have more range of motion when he moved around in his sleep. It helped when he unconsciously pulled her to him once she got in the bed. She was asleep not a moment after her head hit the pillow, still in her clothes as well and too exhausted to care.

She woke a few hours later, though, just before the sunrise. Amory still had her in his arms, running his fingers over hers as they rested on his chest. His heartbeat under her ear was faster than usual.

"What's wrong?" she asked, leaning back to look at him.

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head. "I've just been...thinking about something Gideon said to me the day after we got back."