actual cage.”
He winces at the reminder of how they found me and beckons me out, starting down the hall a couple of paces ahead of me. “A scout reported seeing Tristan and two from his cadre on their way into our domain. They should be here in less than an hour. Sylas thinks you’ll be more secure in your bedroom. I’ve already brought up some food so you don’t go hungry.”
“Thank you.” My gaze skims over the hall and the stairwell we head up. Every inch of surface area has been scrubbed and polished to gleaming. New artwork—fanciful paintings and twisted gold-and-bronze sculptures—hang on the walls on the main floor. Extra lantern orbs dangle from a winding branch that stretches along the ceiling. Every time I’ve come up, the keep has become fancier. I can only imagine how the other rooms have transformed.
“This guy is a pretty big deal, huh?” I say, continuing up the broader spiral staircase to the second floor. “I mean, I know he’s related to one of these arch-lords and all…”
“Casting us off this far into the fringes is only one step up from total banishment,” August says. “They’ll be watching to see how we’ve handled the disgrace, and you can be sure he’ll report back to his cousin. The higher we can hold our heads despite our situation, the more respect we’ll earn. A real lord isn’t diminished by his location.”
That last bit sounds as if he’s quoting Sylas. I can’t help thinking that anyone who puts conditions like this on their respect after casting people off is such a dick their respect shouldn’t matter anyway, but I don’t say that either.
August leaves me at my bedroom. It, at least, looks the same as it always has. Sylas obviously doesn’t anticipate that the visitors will be examining it. I find a plate on the bedside table with a simple meal of bread, cheese, and a cold cut of meat, but since August prepared it, it’s delicious in its simplicity.
I’m halfway through the sandwich I’ve assembled when a knock comes that I didn’t expect. Are they moving me again?
“Yes?” I say from where I’m perched on the side of the bed.
The door eases open to reveal Sylas’s imposing figure. He takes a couple of steps inside and then stops, studying me with both his unmarked eye and the scarred one. “All these restrictions should be over soon,” he says. “It’s unlikely our guests will want to spend the night, and if they do, we’ll ensure they leave early in the morning.”
I am looking forward to having full run of the keep again. I nod. “I guess I should just stay quiet up here?”
“Yes. If you can manage to sleep or at least attempt to, that would be best. Although I know how quietly you’re capable of moving on your feet.” He glances at my brace, which I’ve already taken off and set by the end of the bed. “Even if they stay over, we’ve set up a guest suite on the first floor. There’s no reason for them to venture anywhere upstairs. You should be perfectly safe.”
He doesn’t intend to make a farewell gift out of me, then. More tension than I knew I was holding unspools through my chest. I inhale deeply into my loosened lungs. “I’ll make sure I don’t do anything that’ll tip them off that I’m up here.”
“Good. I apologize for the stress this will have put you under.”
He pauses, and like in other moments when he’s stopped by to talk to me, I have the abrupt impression that he’s going to step even closer, touch my face, maybe even kiss me again. Something smolders in the depths of his unmarked eye, and an answering flame sparks in me—but whatever he might have been considering doing, he holds himself back. If I didn’t simply imagine the whole thing out of wishful thinking.
“Until tomorrow,” he says with a slight dip of his head, and leaves.
Whitt must have been waiting in the hall. His voice travels through the door. “If they realize what we’ve been hiding—”
Sylas’s answer is firm. “We’ve discussed this. It won’t be a problem.”
“You know we can’t pretend her out of existence forever. It’s not even a week until the next full moon.”
“Which I haven’t forgotten.”
“The whole point of taking the risk of stealing from Aerik was—”
“I haven’t forgotten that either,” Sylas replies, a growl creeping into his voice, and they move beyond my hearing.
My stomach clenches, but I manage to