Sea of Starlight (The Riven Kingdoms #2) - Shari L. Tapscott Page 0,1

of it, you’re less likely to panic and harm yourself.”

“Sickness?” he asks after several moments of silence.

“A dark plague that passes between open wounds, both large and small. You contracted it through a scratch on your arm. It’s often fatal, but you’re young and healthy—you’ll make it as long as you keep yourself nourished.”

“I thought I had been poisoned.”

Ignoring him, I continue, “Drink the tea and eat slowly so you don’t make yourself sick.”

Without waiting for a reply, I turn to leave.

Just before I’m out the door, I pause. “I’ll be back with your supper at six.”

“Wait,” he says before I slip out the door, his tone lousy with royal authority.

My curiosity gets the best of me, and I look back.

“I’m Braeton,” he says.

“I know who you are.”

The man pushes himself up to a seated position, though it’s still too dark to make out any of his features. “Please, what’s your name? You’re the first person to speak with me in weeks.”

Am I? I’ve been here less than two minutes, and apparently, I’ve already made a mistake. I should probably leave without answering, but I’m certain he won’t remember our conversation after the fever breaks, so what harm is there?

“Cassia,” I tell him.

“Why am I here, Cassia?” he pleads. “Do you know? What have you heard while you go about your chores?”

He thinks I’m a kitchen maid—a poor, disposable girl sent to feed the prisoner.

“You should sleep,” I say.

My hand is on the doorknob when he pleads, “No information then, fine. But will you at least open the curtain?”

I let out a mirthless laugh. “I daresay the view wouldn’t please you.”

“One more thing.”

He’s needy, this prince. With a heavy sigh, I wait.

“Is my sister safe?”

I stand straighter when he mentions his twin. Worry laces the prince’s tone, making him sound truly vulnerable for the first time. It’s a trait I don’t admire…but a sentiment I understand. Braeton’s relationship with Amalia is identical to the one I share with my own brother, Rhys.

“When your men were bringing me here, I heard bits and pieces of their conversations,” he says. “Amalia’s name was mentioned too often. Please…what do they have planned for her?”

I could tell him that my brother has been charged with bringing the new heir to Renove safely across the Chasm and that we are preparing for her and Edwin’s wedding. As soon as their vows are exchanged, Amalia’s kingdom and her father’s crown will pass to my eldest brother, as is the Renovian tradition, and my people will flee this cursed land.

But he doesn’t need to know our plans.

“Your sister is fine,” I say, and then I walk out the door, shutting it firmly behind me.

2

I wake to a gentle tapping against my cheek. It’s soft, persistent, and wholly unfamiliar. Groaning, I roll away from the sensation.

It follows me.

I’m still more asleep than awake, and my eyelids flutter. After a few moments, my eyes blur on something large—and so near, I cannot focus on it.

Screaming, I sit up, knocking the nightmare creature away. The massive white spider darts across the quilt, eight furry legs flying, eyes as red as blood…heading right for me. I leap out of bed, tossing the covers over it, hoping to trap it.

“RHYS!” I shriek, jumping atop a chair in my small room at the Rock Creek Inn. Morning light filters in through the shutters, but it’s early, and the room is dim.

I can just make out the bump in the quilt as the spider scurries back and forth in an attempt to escape my makeshift prison.

Moments later, the door flies open. It crashes against the wall as a shirtless knight rushes into the room. Rhys’s brown hair is tousled from sleep, and his trousers hang low—as if he hastily yanked them up and didn’t have time to tie them properly.

He carries a sword in one hand and his strange copper dagger in the other. There’s an excellent chance I’d swoon if I couldn’t feel the memory of furry arachnid footprints on my cheek.

“Spider.” I tremble as I point at the bed. “Under the quilt.”

The knight’s shoulders sag, and he rolls his neck, stretching it. “All that screaming for a spider?”

“That is not a normal spider,” I hiss. “It’s huge.”

Two more knights appear in the doorway—Braith, Rhys’s bear-like cousin, and Aeron, a dark-haired, dark-eyed man who is as beautiful as he is intimidating.

Braith leans against the doorframe and crosses his arms, laughing. “And here I thought a bandit broke into your room and was trying