“It’s striking.” Reaching up, he removed her spectacles, then used them to lift her chin so they were staring into each other’s eyes. “More so without these concealing those beautiful eyes of yours.”
“What you consider concealing I find quite revealing, Your Grace.” Lydia extracted her spectacles from his grip, feeling his index finger slide along her palm, his skin as free from callus as her own. It was a struggle not to cringe, and she hid her discomfort by polishing the lenses on her uniform before replacing them on her face.
Hacken chuckled softly. “And how long have you been in service to Her Highness?”
A variation upon the question he’d asked everyone else. “Three weeks.”
“Not long at all.” He gestured to the bow. “Why don’t you give a demonstration.”
“Oh.” She looked wildly to Sonia, searching for reprieve, but the young woman only shrugged, leaving Lydia to mutter, “I’m afraid I’m not much of an archer.”
Hacken leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, “Neither am I.”
Lifting the bow, Lydia shrugged her shoulders to release some tension. Her hair had fallen over her right shoulder and her skin crawled as Killian’s brother ran his hand along the nape of her neck to draw her braid back to center, his fingers brushing the chain holding her ring between her breasts. “That’s better,” he said.
“His Grace makes an excellent point,” Sonia said loudly. “Those of you with long hair should not leave it hanging. It catching in your bow is the least of your worries. Here, Lydia, let me help you.” The shorter woman edged between Lydia and Hacken, reaching up to twist her braid into a knot at the nape of her neck. “Now try.”
Lydia aimed, feeling the eyes of everyone in the room upon her as she released the string. The arrow sailed past the target to clatter against the stone wall. Cheeks burning, she turned, expecting to see dismay in High Lord Calorian’s eyes, but they were shining with delight.
“Keep practicing.” As he walked past a glowering Killian, he added, “I look forward to seeing more of you, Lydia of Axbridge.”
* * *
“I’m quite certain I’ve never seen a prettier man in the whole of my life,” Lena declared, putting her bare feet up on the arm of the sofa.
“So you’ve mentioned,” Gwen replied, shoving Lena’s feet away from her face. “Three times. A point you already made clear with the outrageous way you flirted with him.”
“I wasn’t flirting.” Lena moved to sit in front of Lydia, which was a silent cue for her to braid the other girl’s hair. “I was being polite. He’s a gods-damned High Lord—to be otherwise would border on stupidity.” She gave Gwen a pointed look.
Most of the girls of Malahi’s day guard were sprawled across the furniture of the parlor, a fire roaring beneath the thick stone of the mantle. It was rare for Lydia to be here at this time of night. She nearly always met Killian for training after she’d eaten dinner with the other girls—and he with Malahi—after which they’d meet up with Finn to see to the well-being of the orphans in the sewers. It was always close to the second or third hour of the morning before she’d creep back inside the barracks, silently falling into the bed in the room she shared with Gwen and Lena for a few hours of sleep.
But tonight Killian had some other matter that required his attention, and he’d been insistent she not meet with the orphans alone. “They’ll be fine for one night,” he’d said, having caught her alone in the servants’ stairwell. “And I don’t want us to have gotten this far only to have you caught or killed days before setting sail for Serlania.”
Part of her had wanted to go anyway out of fear that there might be a child waiting for her, that someone might die while she lounged around drinking cheap wine with the other girls, but in the end she’d conceded that Killian was right. She was too close to jeopardize her chance at reaching Serlania.
Though by all rights, she could have been on her way already.
Guilt filled Lydia’s chest at the thought, but despite her best attempts, she couldn’t push it away. For some time now, she’d been able to control her mark. Been able to assess the sick and injured children without Hegeria’s power taking control, and once she did decide to use her mark she could direct it to heal