Page 17 of Tarnished Crown
Her narrow shoulders stiffened at the sound of his voice before she slowly turned around.
“What happened with the Summit? Your father has been concerned.”
I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t this. She spoke the Common Tongue as well as the nobles back home. Even her voice sent a pang of familiarity through my chest, making me realize how homesick I truly was.
When her gaze finally drifted from Evander to me, I was startled by the intense green of her eyes.
For a moment, I saw my sister staring back at me.
The woman reminded me so much of my home and my family and my people that it hit me with an unexpected ache.
“I had planned to have my pet brought upstairs and then was going to report to Father,” Evander said smoothly. “I am certain he will fill you in.”
The woman’s gaze narrowed, and she ran her hand over a few loose strands of white hair on her head, as if she needed to smooth out some imagined imperfection.
It struck me that there was a slightly pink hue there too, almost as if her hair had once been red like mine. Had she endured all of the same prejudices that I had since arriving in Socair?
“And how did you manage to acquire a Lochlannian pet?” Disapproval was clear in her tone. Of me, or of the fact that I had been taken prisoner?
Evander hesitated only a second. “I collected on a blood debt against the Lochlann ruling family.”
Lady Mairi’s hawklike gaze sharpened as she honed in on me before turning back to Evander. “Your father’s blood debt, you mean?” There was a warning in her tone, barely evident.
If her features hadn’t given her away as one of my people, her failure to adhere to Socairan standards of female demurity would have. But to what end?
Was Mairi warning her stepson of his father’s wrath?
If I hadn’t been observing him for the past three days, would I have noticed the subtle paling of Evander’s skin?
“Of course,” he finally responded.
Icy tendrils raked down my spine, true fear settling in for the first time since I climbed into Evander’s carriage.
As much as Evander had claimed I belonged to him, he was going to turn me over to his father? The man who killed my grandparents? Who did unspeakable things in a war that he started? A man who despised my people and who was, by every definition of the word, a monster?
Lady Mairi nodded like she was satisfied with that response, or relieved, even. “I’ll let him know you’re coming.”
Evander nodded curtly, wrapping a hand around my arm and tugging me toward a different hallway.
I glanced back over my shoulder to try and catch one last look at the woman, but she was already gone. She had been impossible to read, but I hadn’t sensed any outright hostility. At least, not toward me.
If I could find an ally in the Clan Wife, I might be safe.
There might just be hope yet.
CHAPTER14
We made our way back to the main entry room, where Taras and Yuriy were waiting.
“Taras, please escort the princess upstairs.” Evander’s words dripped with something dark. “Put her in the room next to mine.”
“In mother’s old rooms?” Yuriy asked, casting me a suspicious look from the corner of his eyes.
Taras placed a hand on the man’s shoulder and shook his head in one barely discernible movement.
“Come, Princess.” Taras appeared to be nearly as thrilled about the idea as I was, but he dutifully tilted his head for me to follow.Well, then.
I shot one last glance at Evander, who was already heading in a different direction, his shoulders tense with the weight of whatever our encounter with Lady Mairi had stirred up in him.