Page 70 of Reaper’s Curse

“Check the bedchamber,” said another.

During my stay at the palace, I had not known any of the palace guards or personnel to lay a hand on Winter. Whatever the sentries saw when they burst through the bedroom door brought an immediate change in royal handling.

They yanked Winter back, breaking his connection with me. I sucked back oxygen like I’d been holding my breath for a decade. My fingers popped and crunched, breaking free from encrusted ice as they curled into the comforter.

The guards dragged Winter from the bed, the prince struggling against their hold, all the while maintaining his locked gaze upon me. Eyes as wild as a stormy sea stared at me. Varied frothy blues crashing into one another, slammed with pockets of snow and cracked ice.

He was high…on magic.

I slowly sat up, the warmth returning to my extremities, and the sensation of Winter’s magic fading into the background. I wiggled my fingers and toes, kick-starting the blood flow.

A third guard dashed into the room and halted at the sight.

“Get the royal healer,” one of the males holding the prince ordered.

“Wait.” I leaped off the bed and threw out my hand as if to grab the guy a room away.

He paused, turned back to face me.

“Don’t get the healer for me,” I continued and glanced over Winter. “I’m fine. Truly. And the prince…”

After the things he’d said over dinner, I didn’t think he’d want Valen involved. No, I was pretty sure he would be against the idea. And if Winter were to see the queen in his current state, amped up on mystical energy, she might syphon his magic to use it on the citadel barrier and undying force. I couldn’t do that to him. He’d been so thrilled to have the magic back after so long.

I rubbed my palms along the sides of my night pants. “The prince is just a wee bit intoxicated. We don’t need to rouse the royal healer for such a thing.” I glanced out the window to verify that it was truly dark outside. “And the queen definitely doesn’t need to see him like this. What do you say we let him dry out?”

Winter struggled, albeit lightly, as the guards considered him, me, the situation.

“Maybe someone can get Lucas?” I added. “I’m sure Lucas will know what to do and will be happy to help.”

Because the two males had a history and seemed to have a good rapport.

None of the guards said a word, but when they all exchanged glances, and the one who had spoken the most nodded at the last one to enter the room, I was confident it was Lucas the male ran off to retrieve and not Valen.

I released a sigh and slumped against the bed. Eyed Winter until help came.

When Lucas arrived, shackles in hand, he begrudgingly clamped them into place around the prince’s neck and wrists and escorted him from the room. He tossed me one sorrowful departing glance before vanishing into the outer hall.

Too late, my tongue unglued, and my thoughts caught up to the moment. Had shock or exhaustion trapped my question amongst the unspoken? Because… Shackles? Really? That seems a bit excessive.

The night had been too short and too restless. My mind had hardly given me any peace after the event with Winter. Somehow, during that session, the chandelier in the receiving room had come crashing down, and the supporting chain had snaked along the floor and stopped within inches of the bedchamber door.

I wasn’t sure which disturbed me more—the falling chandelier and snaking chain, or Winter high on magic.

Someone, or several someones, would replace the light fixture later in the day. But the hour was still young, the morning light only beginning to peek a gander at the world, sending lazy beams through windows to stir the sleep away.

Even though I didn’t expect Neive anytime soon, and I imagined Winter was sleeping off his overindulgence, I had locked my bedchamber door to ensure privacy. Cozy under the covers with my back pressed against the headboard, I read Chace’s note once again. My attention tugged back and forth between several lines.

Using the al Sada, the death owl, to communicate Aldine’s passing was inventive. But Winter had already broken the news to me, so that didn’t take me by surprise. The reaper’s demise was likely the reason Chace had wanted to meet in person. I now wished I’d had the time and foresight to ask him what had happened when I’d seen him. Then again, we’d been kissing, and, well…

The thought drew my gaze to the start of his letter.

You were wild in the most unexpected and exciting way. I cannot recall any exercise or enthusiasm ever leading my heart to pound with such excess.

I wonder where things might have led had you not⁠—

Ignore that last bit.

I bit down on my thumbnail, wiggled my finger, and read that section again. The rest of the letter read as if to support his first few lines, expressing concern for me and wanting me to stay safe in the castle. He was apparently worried about dangers beyond the palace wall. Maybe Winter had been right. Maybe a monster lurked nearby that I had yet to learn about.