Page 73 of First Light

“Fine. I will help you solve Seren’s murder, but I’m doing it for her. She was a good woman, and she deserved a long life.”

He cared for her too.Cadell’s voice echoed in her mind.And he cares for you.

Carys ignored the strange twist she felt in her chest. It didn’t matter that Duncan cared for her. And he was right.

Seren had deserved better.

Her twin had a father who loved her. Friends who depended onher. A dragon who was tied to her very soul. Seren had deserved a long life flying through the Shadowlands with her dragon and husband at her side. One day, if Carys had children, her sister might have raised their twin in this world. Their lives were inextricably linked, and Carys felt a low, burning fire of anger when she thought about Seren’s life being cut short.

“Okay then.” Carys opened her journal. “Tell me everything about Seren that you remember. I want to know it all.”

The next morningafter Bonnie helped Carys dress, Duncan met her in the foyer of the castle where two arms of a grand staircase met like two branches of a stone river, curving around to meet a statue of a rearing unicorn.

He was holding a chicken leg wrapped in paper and shoved it at her. “Eat.”

It smelled amazing, and she realized she’d forgotten to eat breakfast. “Why are you always trying to feed me?” She squinted. “And why do you look all…” She waved a hand up and down.

“What?” Duncan took a step back and looked down.

“You look… fancy.”

“Fancy?” He snorted. “Hardly.”

Duncan was dressed in the same wrapped leggings most of the men in the castle wore, a kilt in weathered brown and blue with red details, and a wool knit sweater on the top. His beard was freshly trimmed, and his wavy red-brown hair was slightly tamed.

He looked good. He looked… handsome.

Reallyhandsome.

Dammit, there was that strange twist in her chest again. There was a part of her—a small part—that acknowledged that if she was attracted to Lachlan, it was natural to be attracted to Duncan as well. That made sense because she was in love with Lachlan and Duncan looked exactly like his brother, and that had to be normal.

Right?

She didn’t want to think about it, so she took a bite of the chicken leg. “Thanks,” she muttered around the bone. “This is good.”

The corner of his mouth lifted. “Mylady. Your table manners befit your lofty station.”

“Shut up.” She gulped down the bite and wiped her mouth with the napkin. “Okay, I guess I was hungry after all.”

“You ate like a bird last night, and you need to take care of yourself.”

Carys took another bite. “I don’t like steak-and-kidney pie. My dad loved it, and my mother would make it, but I just never?—”

“In this place, you eat when there’s food.” He took an apple from his pocket. “Finish that and then eat this apple. I packed some cheese too. I know you like cheese.”

“Who doesn’t like cheese?” Carys scoffed. “Sociopaths, vegans, and people who hate happiness?”

Duncan stared at her. “Unicorns.”

Touché.

“Okay, but they’re herbivores, obviously, so that makes sense.” She walked at Duncan’s side as they turned right down a corridor to the left of the stairs. “Unicorns are, like, the opposite of sociopaths. Where are we going?”

“Aisling’s work room. She’ll know who has Seren’s journals.”

“Can’t you ask Lachlan?”

“Couldn’t find him this morning,” Duncan muttered. “He’s avoiding me. I think he’s avoiding everyone since you arrived.”