me, and her big amber eyes met mine. Her mother’s eyes. Wizard eyes.
Iris was about to come into her powers, and I didn’t know what to do about it. I couldn’t train her to use them. My own powers were weak and inept. With magic banned, I couldn’t officially hire anyone to teach her. I could send her to study with Rose, or perhaps to the school in Korelan, but the thought of losing another sister made my heart ache.
One thing I was quickly learning—there were no easy decisions when you were queen.
Four
Keane
I’d heard many interesting things while standing guard over Lily. Always things I’d never repeat, and some things I wished I’d never heard in the first place. I got the feeling I was going to have to listen to a lot more chatter about prospective husbands in the days ahead. Maybe even see them, meet them, and protect them as well. My stomach roiled at the thought.
Whenever Lily needed me, I’d be there. That was even more important now, after this morning’s attack. I couldn’t be sure the wizard behind it had deliberately targeted Lily—we’d been in the forest outside the castle, bordering the capital, after all. But any attack on Talador was an attack on its queen—something I had both professional and personal responsibility to guard against.
As Lily and her sisters finished their meal and began saying their goodnights, I glanced around the room, automatically noting the window was secure for the night and a servant was standing by the only other exit from the room, the one that led to the backstairs to the kitchens. Chairs screeched across against the stone as the princesses rose and pushed them back from the table.
“Goodnight, Lily. Sleep well.” Jasmine pressed a kiss to her sister’s cheek and squeezed her hand as she drew back. She looked meaningfully at her sister, and her brow creased. “And stay safe,” she added, as though she didn’t dare not issue the warning to take care.
My hand tightened on the hilt of my sword as I responded to Jasmine’s worry for her sister, a habit borne of having the lives of others under my care.
Lily watched her sisters file from the room before turning to me. She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes, and I longed to take her into my arms and reassure her. But that wasn’t my place.
“I think I’ll retire for the evening too,” Lily said, and I nodded.
It seemed for the best. The other guards and I could protect her better if she was in one room in the castle and didn’t move about too freely—at least until we’d neutralized the threat.
I tightened my jaw. I had to locate the source of the threat first.
I walked my usual pace behind her to her room, and she paused at the door, glancing at the guard already stationed there. He was so young he barely had a hair on his chin, with big brown eyes and an earnest face.
She turned toward me. “Are you finished for the day?”
I nodded. “Yes, but Caspar will be here through the night to ensure your safety.”
She did that same smile that left her eyes worried, and I reached out to touch her hand then abruptly stopped, letting my arm drop back to my side.
“I won’t let anything happen to you.” Those words didn’t seem enough to sum up just how much of a priority her safety was to me. “I promise,” I added.
“Thank you.” She pushed open the door to her room, before leaving me in the corridor, her sweet floral scent lingering in the air.
“Caspar.”
The guard straightened up, even though I’d said nothing more than his name. I looked closer at one of my youngest recruits and held back my sigh. I would rather have had an older, more experienced man on guard out here tonight, but what Caspar lacked in years, he usually made up for in enthusiasm and devotion to his task.
“Have you got this?” I asked the question in a low, urgent voice. “I need you to answer honestly. That’s the future Queen of Talador in that room.”
“Aye, Captain.” His eyes looked straight ahead.
“Good.” I stepped away, fighting my reluctance to leave Lily’s side. Then I shook my head. I was being ridiculous. I didn’t usually watch her as she slept, after all. But since this morning’s attack I’d been doubly worried for her safety, and I wasn’t used to such uncertainty. Frustration pushed through me at not knowing my enemy.