Page 37 of Blood & Roses

Sera spent days checking for any obvious illusion remaining in the guards’ minds while Rowan and Tristan wrote several letters. The first was to the captain of the High King’s Guard, explaining everything that had happened, proclaiming our innocence in any evil doings, and requesting they adjust their investigation to focus on the wicked mirror. Tristan signed and sealed it with his signet ring to lend it credence.

Owl, who had been mysteriously absent, although apparently still watching the proceedings, appeared to deliver the second letter to my sisters asking for them to come to Elandor. Rowan wanted Mora to check that no one else’s memories had been tampered with and verify the guards’ stories, and Tristan insisted all be invited to the coronation anyway.

He sent a royal carriage to bring them, and I braced myself for the squealing Calli was likely to do at the honor of riding in a royal carriage.

And then we were forced to wait for coronation preparations and invitations to be sent and for my sisters to arrive.

Rowan spent most of his free time training and vetting new palace guards, finding time only to kiss me between duties and tangle in the sheets with me each night.

Sera and I wandered the grounds when we weren’t busy helping. She refused to talk to me about Tristan, insisting it was none of my business now that everyone was safe. I knew better than to push. Perhaps Lena or Mora would have more luck getting her to talk about it.

She seemed almost like her old self again when the rest of our sisters arrived in Elandor the day before the coronation, except for Ella who couldn’t get away from school because, in her words, “My rival will destroy me if I leave.”

Lis threw her arms around me, Orson looking on with a grin as she whispered, “I set a date!”

“When?” I asked, beaming at their happiness and mentally trying to decide what preparations would be needed.

“Two weeks from today,” Lis declared proudly. When I widened my eyes in horror, she added, “I’ll help you of course, Izzy. I’d like to do it at the cottage.”

“Of course you would,” I said, feeling a bit faint at the idea of planning and hosting a handfasting ceremony in only two weeks.

Other dignitaries had arrived for the coronation with my sisters, including Captain Everhart, who gave me a stiff nod as he went to Rowan and asked to be shown to the enchanted mirror.

Sera hugged Mora fiercely when she arrived behind the captain, whispering as only twins do as she led her away to look into the minds of all the palace guards who had been ensorcelled by Amira.

“Hey,” Rowan said, trailing kisses over my shoulder as I lay atop him. I shivered at his touch and resolved to stop turning the previous week over and over in my mind. “Where did you go, Isolde?”

“Just thinking about Sera and Tristan,” I sighed. I had told him my worries for Sera, and he confirmed that Tristan had refused to talk about it as well. To talk aboutanythinghe experienced when under the mirror’s spell either.

“She’ll come around eventually,” Rowan assured me, his hands roaming distractingly down my back. “He will, too.”

“You think?” I asked, examining a mole on his shoulder with practiced intensity. Despite the delightful setting, alone in a luxurious suite with Rowan naked beneath me, I felt restless and irritable, and I wasn’t sure why.

That was a lie. I knew exactly why. Because I would be leaving. Returning home with my sisters after the coronation to plan Lis and Orson’s handfasting and returning to the life I knew.

And Rowan would be staying here to protect his brother. The new King of Elandor.

We hadn’t talked about it. I hadn’t wanted to broach the subject, not ready to have my heart thoroughly broken.

Which was silly. We’d known each other barely two weeks. It was too soon for heartbreak.

“Hey,” Rowan said, drawing me back to the moment with a tap on my chin. He raised his scarred eyebrow at me, eyes soft and warm. “You disappeared again. What is it?”

I swallowed, deciding on the whole truth for a rare change.

“I was thinking about what comes next,” I confessed, shivering a little as he trailed a finger lazily down my arm. Despite the fact we had shared a bed for a week now, and had fallen into an easy rhythm with each other, this still felt new. “After tomorrow.”

Rowan frowned, confused. “What do you mean, Isolde?”

I swallowed, pushing back the tears that threatened. Gods, when had I become so sentimental?

“I mean after the coronation,” I said, looking away so he wouldn’t see the hurt. “When I go home.”

Rowan continued to frown. “I don’t understand.”

I sat up, a noise of exasperation escaping me as Rowan went a little feral at seeing my naked torso. “When I leave and you stay here, Rowan. What will happen with us then?”

Rowan sat up, face clearing as understanding set in. He smiled faintly, brushing a finger over the rosebud pendant. “I just assumed I’d be going with you.”