The Thief King

44 | Frost Creature of Winter

Mrs Bailey sent Sera out the moment she laid eyes on her. Despite the new set of clothes—slightly creased but far better than ripped—and the red mark across her face already showing signs of a yellow bruise, she took one look at Sera's tears and scolded her, dismissing her for the night.

"You're lucky I'm not deducting any coin from your wage, Missy. Next time you bring your home life to work I won't be so kind. Now get out of my palace before someone sees you and starts asking questions."

Sera had run to an inner courtyard far away from the celebration itself, but not far enough from the tail ends of the music and laughter the glacial winds of winter carried further. Sera shivered on the cold stone bench, knees tucked under her chin, arms wrapped around her shins. She shook from crown to toe, and not only from the weather. The storm outside could not compare to the one ripping the masts of her heart to pieces and sinking its ship to dark, unknown depths.

Feelings she had almost forgotten ripped her insides into a thousand glass shards and scattered them so that everything hurt. Sobbing hurt, the tears stung like needle points dragged down her skin, parting it with haunting precision. Her fingers ached as if they were bruising, her calves and her knees were hard marble at the softness of her neck. Was this what the novels meant when they spoke of heartbreak? Because they were wrong. It was not her heart breaking. It was everything. The very fibre and fabric of her soul dissolving into a glittering mess of ice and blood.

She kept her eyes open lest she see a flash of red. Darker and deeper than any fire. Like rose petals, or blood. Her blood...her heart's blood. Her mind kept returning to the moment she saw the woman, all curves and lips as she poured golden liquid into two mugs. Her mugs. She would throw those out. She would burn them. Shatter them and burn them.

Her mind, so blind and trusting, had not even considered Koltin might be there, and when he appeared she'd still not connected the dots. Her mind had frozen, unwilling to contemplate the meaning behind the woman's presence in their house. His half naked state. His guilty expression.

Was that woman the reason why Koltin was acting the way he was? Was she the reason...? Of course she was. It all made sense. She thought back to the market, had there not been a redhead standing next to Kole when Sera had seen him? Why had she not made the connection then? The suspicion was there to be caught in a net like a butterfly, yet she had ignored its flutters and demands for attention. She should have paid more attention, given more heed where Koltin was concerned.

New tears cut a path down her cheeks, hurting her. She pulled harder on her legs, wanting to cave in on herself and block the world out and squeeze her hurt into the smallest ball possible. Hibernating in her room was out of the question. She'd have to burn those good white sheets. Her mother's sheets. She'd have to clean that room until it some how looked different—anything to make it not remind her of what she had seen. What she felt. There was no light at the end of this path. There was no end to this pain, though her mind told her to follow its journey and see it through. Trudge on. Suffer on. Hurt on. Until the hurt ran out. The hurt always ran out. It had to.

Sera didn't know when she'd fallen asleep, but she woke with a start, her cheek pressed against the cold stone bench, her knees bent into her chest like a child's. She blinked, two blue eyes blinked back. A dream. Kind blue eyes, surrounded by dark lashes set in a handsome face topped with...

She shot up with such speed she saw stars and almost toppled off the bench.

"Easy now." The stranger spoke with a Lethilian accent, smooth and deep.

Sera squeezed her eyes shut and waited for her heart to stop racing before she opened them again. Her eyelashes felt like spear points and her skin was salty dry. A new weight rested on her shoulders and more warmth surrounding her body than she remembered. When she slowly opened her eyes, she first noticed the brown travel cloak draped over her, then the stranger's boots scrunched near the front as it supported his crouch.