you expected—”
“No,” I interrupted. “It’s fine. I don’t know what got into me. I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “You’re the last person who needs to apologize. If there’s anything bothering you, anything at all, you can talk to me about it. You know that, right? That’s part of the reason I’m here. And I promise I’ll keep my romantic aspirations firmly under wraps.”
I couldn’t help being touched by the vehemence in his voice. He was so ready to defend my honor even against himself. As if I wasn’t the one who’d been behaving bizarrely just now.
“I know,” I said quietly. “Thank you.”
“And we can both go back to the university if this gets to be too much.”
Give up after what I’d already put myself through? Everything in me balked at that idea. All that would prove was how unheroic I really was, fleeing the second things got a little hard.
“I don’t think that’ll be necessary. You really don’t need to worry about me.”
He was going to anyway. That much was obvious from the pained set of his mouth as he walked me to the door. He didn’t even mention the fact that I’d originally agreed to have lunch with him, just let me go without complaint.
As I walked to the elevator, the weight in my gut expanded. When I reached my room, I flopped down on the bed face-first and squeezed my eyes shut against the tears that abruptly prickled up.
Get it together, Cressida. You might not be good, but you’re at least better than this.
After a few halting breaths, I shoved myself into a sitting position. When I’d gathered myself enough, I pulled out my phone and propped it against the lamp on the bedside table. I straightened my blouse, raised my chin, and pressed the record button.
If I was going to see this mission through, then I couldn’t let myself shirk any of it, no matter how hard.
I inhaled deeply and began to speak to the camera. “There’s something you should all know about the mages who are now calling themselves our barons…”
Chapter Thirteen
I met Emeric in front of the hotel with trepidation winding through my stomach. He stood off to the side, his hands slung in the pockets of his dark jeans and his expression typically pensive, but when he caught sight of me, a crooked smile crossed his face that reminded me of everything I’d enjoyed about his company.
Walking over to join him, I started to relax. I could hope that another night’s sleep—a better one, this time—and a little distance from both Noah and my experiences at the party would be all I needed to feel normal again.
Relatively normal, anyway. My pulse still hitched when Emeric motioned for me to head down the street beside him and remarked, “That was quite the party, wasn’t it?”
“Definitely not what I expected,” I said, keeping my voice level. The summer evening breeze licked warm over the wisps of hair that’d escaped from my braid. “But at least it gave me the chance to chum up with the right people some more.” And to figure out how to get into their good graces. I’d sent my recording to Barbara Haythorpe yesterday afternoon, and she’d replied with cool but clear approval.
“Yes, I’ve been hearing good things through the grapevine. Everyone seems impressed with you.” Emeric glanced over at me, a question in his stormy eyes. “I was going to offer to escort you back to the hotel when the festivities wrapped up, but I couldn’t find you toward the end.”
I made a dismissive motion. “Oh, yeah, I think something I ate disagreed with me a bit, so it seemed best to slip out quietly. I was fine after a good night’s sleep.”
To my relief, he dropped that line of questioning. “Well, I think something big is in the works. I’m not invited to the next shindig, but Harriet Mismeren can’t help dropping hints about their exclusive get-togethers to rub in that fact. Apparently they’ve brought someone important on board. I get the impression they see this guy as the key to going through with their plan.”
Then he could be my key to bringing those plans down. “I don’t suppose you got a name?”
Emeric shook his head. “I suspect you’ll be getting an invite to whatever event they’ll be hosting him at soon enough, though. At this point, they’ve got to be convinced that you’re on their side, and they’re not going to pass up the chance to have a Warbury