Page 26 of A Kiss of Flame

When Finn had said he had to leave, she hadn’t given it much thought. Everything else had driven that from her mind. He was leaving the palace.

When had he planned to elaborate on that?

CHAPTER 13

WREN

If Finn noticed Wren’s dismay he gave no sign. He spoke to Sassone calmly, the perfect knight. ‘I will follow the instructions I am given, my lord. My loyalty is as ever to the Aurum and the crown.’

Sassone smiled broadly and Wren wished she could call up the shadows now to wipe that expression off his face. He took Finn and his loyalty for granted. And still despised him. ‘Should you need it, you can get aid from my people. I still keep the fortress at the city walls in perfect order and it is little more than a stone’s throw from your new home. The embassy is a fine building for an Ilanthian design. But it has been empty for too long. The new ambassador will be lucky to have your assistance.’ He turned away, dismissing Finn from his attention. ‘You raised him well, Grandmaster. That has to be said. The council will be meeting in an hour. You’ll probably want to be there to go over security arrangements with us, Roland. Especially in light of—’ He gestured vaguely towards the door to Roland’s study and then left.

Wren’s stomach roiled and the realisation of what had been so flippantly discussed washed back over her.

Had Finn been planning to tell her he was leaving the palace at all? Had Roland? Was she going to wake up one morning and find that he was gone? Her stomach tightened and the whisper of the darkness grew louder and louder. The shadows had not gone so far away as all that. She couldn’t lose her temper now or let this strange pain overwhelm her.

But Finn was leaving her. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right.

Someone muttered a curse under their breath. Wren wasn’t sure who it was. Her own heartbeat was deafening.

‘Finnian,’ said Roland after a few minutes more. ‘Please escort the princess back to her rooms and perhaps, this time, you should explain?—’

The study door opened and Sister Maryn appeared. ‘Has he gone?’

‘Have you been hiding back there to avoid him?’ the Grandmaster asked. Maryn grinned at him.

‘Of course I have. Wouldn’t you? The wards were broken, Roland. Deliberately. Someone wanted your office to be a weak point. Someone must have summoned them somehow. Blood will have been spilled in the palace to bring it about, too. This is not good.’

‘I suspected as much. And when Wren was there too. If things had gone differently?—’

Maryn held up a hand. ‘But it didn’t. Wren needs training but she’s strong and her instincts are good. She’s already almost the match for Elodie at the same age.’

The age when Elodie had left. No one mentioned that. The age when she had faced down the Nox, broken it and fled Asteroth. The whole reason she was being put on trial.

Wren shifted uncomfortably. If they knew the truth of her, of the power inside her and the things it could do, they wouldn’t even bother with a trial.

She glanced at Finn but his face gave nothing away. She had always known he could keep a secret. She’d had no idea until now how well, nor that he would keep something from her.

‘We have her protection and training in hand, Maryn,’ Roland went on. ‘I’ve formed a guard for her and she will train in the sword and?—’

And Finn would not be there. Now she knew why he’d been left off that list in favour of a knight she didn’t even know. They were sending him away.

‘The sword,’ Maryn scoffed. ‘We’ll train her to use her magic. Hone it. Improve it. Make a queen of her.’

Oh she had had enough of this. Of any of it.

‘And what if I don’t want to be a queen?’ Wren cut in. ‘What if I’m the wrong person? What if?—?’

‘There’s no “what if” to it,’ Maryn replied before Roland got there first. ‘You are who you are. Elodie has agreed.’

Elodie had mentioned training with the maidens, true, but not with a view to taking her crown. Wren growled with frustration.

‘Elodie is a prisoner standing trial for betraying the crown,’ Roland interrupted curtly before Wren said something unfortunate. He sounded as irritated as she felt. ‘She doesn’t get a say in this.’

‘Wren is her heir. Of course she has a say. She has not been found guilty of anything, I would like to remind you. Oh, and Roland, she wants to talk to you.’

For a moment he didn’t move. Perhaps he couldn’t. He stared at Maryn like she’d said something impossible. And then he just left the room, moving as if only his innate sense of decorum stopped him sprinting.

Maryn chuckled to herself. ‘Thought that might shut him up.’