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Silver
All day Silver had thought about the night before—Keelen’s lips on hers, his hand trailing her scar, then sliding between her breasts. She’d still been covered by her robe, but she’d never been exposed like that to anyone, and in that moment, she’d wanted to give him everything.
That was, until he didn’t want anything she had to offer.
Silver pressed her fingers to her mouth, still missing his warm lips on hers. It wouldn’t happen again—she’d seen the regret on Keelen’s face. Perhaps it was meant to happen this way, fate’s way of telling her to keep her attention on Afton and Ketill. She’d loved him for so long, and as she told herself before, it wouldn’t have mattered what he looked like because he was still hers.
But he wasn’t hers...
For most of the day, she’d stayed locked inside her room, attempting to clean. Yet, somehow, more gowns ended up on the floor as she tried to rearrange her wardrobe. She scanned over a yellow dress, stitched with black flowers at the hem and metal skulls resting at the shoulders, debating where to put it. A knock came at the door and she shoved it between two other garments.
Silver hurried to the door, expecting Afton. Her sister was overdue, and if she didn’t return today, Silver was going to track her down. As she pulled the door open, Keelen stood there, his curled locks rumpled in different directions. In his hands was a plate filled with tarts covered in strawberry and grape jam.
Keelen’s fingers tapped the bottom of the plate, his expression unreadable while he watched her. Then his throat bobbed as he swallowed. “I brought you something since you haven’t come downstairs.”
Blinking, Silver peered down at the plate, her stomach twitching for the desserts. A peace offering?
She couldn’t deny such a glorious thing. “Ah, I’ll owe you some next.” With a smile, she took the plate, the bottom warming her hands.
“You don’t owe me, Silver.” He smiled back.
She tilted her head, studying his teeth, her heart singing at the sight. His smile was the most beautiful one she’d ever seen, and he was only just now showing it. “You seem different today?”
Pressing a fist to his mouth, he cleared his throat. “I wanted to apologize for last night. Fuck, I’m truly sorry.”
His hot mouth against hers, the tender stroke of his fingertips...
“Don’t worry. It meant nothing.” Silver winced on the inside—it wasn’t the truth. But she didn’t want Keelen to know how much she’d enjoyed it when he obviously hadn’t.
“Sometimes we do things we shouldn’t,” he said, his brows lowering. “I’m headed to the weapons room if you care to join.”
Silver glanced back at her mess of a room and figured she could procrastinate a little longer—or forever. It would only get messy again anyway. Nodding, she picked up a tart, bit into its magical sweetness, and walked beside him down the hall.
His eyes continued to flick back and forth at the tarts.
She released a small laugh and gestured at the plate. “Eat some.”
“Jeanette gave me several already.”
Keelen was still eyeing the tarts, so she took one and handed it to him. “Here. You need another.”
His long lashes fluttered as he pushed it into his mouth. A spot of grape jam stuck to his lower lip.
“You have some right there.” She pointed to the speck.
He slowly swiped his tongue across the area, catching the lingering jam. “There?”
“Yes, right there,” she said, a bit breathless.
Over something as small as that, her chest cracked, her heart bursting free, and she didn’t know how to contain it. She glanced away to stop the heat from spreading through her. No more distractions.
They spent the next several hours silently practicing the art of killing—Keelen throwing dagger after dagger and Silver swinging, thrusting, and circling her familiar mace—until sweat drenched them. Silver was about to tell him to just remove his shirt already when the echo of footsteps interrupted her thoughts.
A servant brought them steaming bowls of potato soup, and as Silver sank into the chair at the table, her stomach growled. She hadn’t realized how famished the exercise had made her. Neither of them spoke as they hungrily ate their portions before returning to training.
Silver again worried about her sister when practicing, but she swung the mace without pause to divert her thoughts. And yet, that distraction led her to continuously sneak glances at Keelen’s muscular form while he used his twin blades.
The clatter of approaching horse hooves and the screech of wagon wheels from outside drew their attention to the door. Silver and Keelen exchanged a heavy glance as she clutched her mace.
Afton.
“I’ll be right back,” she said, setting her mace on the table. “I think Afton’s carriage is here.”
“All right,” he replied, hurling a dagger forward.
Lifting her skirts, Silver raced out of the weapons room, passing a servant carrying a basket of laundry. She threw open the door and flew outside, her claws extending. Normally she wouldn’t have rushed, but she wanted to make sure Afton was in one piece.
Shani sat at the front of the carriage, prepared to return it to the stables. She gave a wave but was without her usual smile. Javan stood outside the carriage, leaning on his cane as Afton stepped down onto the pebbled ground. A sapphire dress, with a sweetheart neckline, showed off her curves, and a dark ribbon laced up the front. The sunlight caressed Afton’s hair, the black making her skin appear paler than before. For only a moment, Silver had thought she was looking at her reflection, the image that always quietly stared back.
“You’re safe,” Silver called, withdrawing her claws and striding up to her.
Afton’s dark eyes met Silver’s and something in them didn’t seem right.
“I need to speak with you.” Afton grabbed Silver’s wrist and pulled her toward the castle. Silver glanced back at Javan and Shani, but both wore the same distant expression as her sister. What had happened in Enare?
“What’s going on, Afton?” Silver said hurriedly, worry bubbling. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, but I need us to sit down and talk.”
Now that she knew her sister was home safe, her worry turned to something else. “You shouldn’t have left me here like that!”
“Sometimes we have to make tough decisions.”
Silver twisted out from Afton’s grip and glared at her sister’s back as she followed her into the weapons room. Keelen turned to face them, and his hand clenching the dagger dropped to his side.
Afton remained silent as she twirled her mace in between her fingers. Silver knew these motions—Afton was wound up and trying to find a release so she could hold whatever she was feeling inside.
A few moments later, Javan came in and shut the door. Perspiration dotted his forehead, his demeanor stiffer than usual.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Silver asked.
Afton stopped twirling the weapon, her chest heaving as she scanned Silver’s face. “You got the hair color right. But, it doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Something happened in Enare, didn’t it?” Silver balled her hands into tight fists, wanting to scream at her sister because Afton was never like this, toying around and avoiding the point. “What is it?” she shouted, unable to hold it back any longer. “How was Thorin? Did he hurt you? You shouldn’t have left me with only a note. What if you’d died?”
Afton laughed. Laughed. “I’m fine, Silver. But things are wholly different than I expected. Thorin isn’t who we thought he was, and Enare will need to take care of their own issues.”
“He doesn’t need to die anymore?” Silver arched a brow. “After his guards tried to take you against your will?” Afton was never one to be swayed, let alone by a stranger, so there had to be something else that brought her to this decision.
“There’s something strange at the castle in Enare.” Javan cleared his throat. “When we arrived, Afton and Shani couldn’t sense any magic from the land, but then in the middle of the night, I awoke to a darkness I’ve never felt. Energy I’ve never experienced. I went to Afton to tell her we needed to leave, but she’d already had a discussion with the king and decided to remain until morning.” His gaze flicked to Afton, a scowl on his face.
“I don’t understand?” Silver’s mouth parted as she turned to her sister. “And what does he mean by strange?”
“It was as if the magic there was dead during the day. I couldn’t even set my claws or teeth free. The two guards there didn’t speak, like the other three who came here. Only Thorin. He pleaded with us to stay the night and for me to meet him in the garden. I hadn’t expected anything, but then during the night, I felt this energy and decided to meet with Thorin. He explained that his guards have been silenced by the energy, and the others have either vanished because of it or he sent them away. We left before anyone stirred in the morning, including the king.”
“Vanished?” No one just vanished unless they were murdered. Even with the magic here, Silver couldn’t will people to appear and disappear. She may have drawn Keelen’s soul out from Torlarah, but she couldn’t make him physically disappear.
“So he says.” Afton shrugged. “You remember the Valgmyr story?”
“I remember. You were the one who told me it wasn’t real when I believed it.” She still did, especially on nights when the stars were shining at their brightest. The mysterious king who lured others to his kingdom, never to be seen again.
“Thorin claims the King of Valgmyr is the cause of his problems.” Afton shrugged.
“Why would he not take Thorin then?” Keelen asked. Silver startled. She hadn’t even heard him come up beside her.
“I don’t know. That’s a good question.” Afton arched a brow, her gaze shifting to Keelen. “And aren’t you becoming the perfect guard? I assume you used my gift while I was gone.”
A rush of confusion flowed through Silver. “What gift?”
“The weapons of course.” Afton sank down into a chair. Silver didn’t believe that was the whole answer, but as she went to speak, her sister continued, “In the morning, the new energy I’d felt was gone. Thorin mentioned this darkness is now seeping into our territory, that it will continue spreading unless we find a way to stop it.”
Silver’s chest tightened. How could they stop this energy if her sister didn’t understand it? “Perhaps we could figure it out together and work alongside Thorin?”
“I told him we wouldn’t be returning.”
“We have to!” she shouted.
“No, we don’t.”
Afton would always protect Ketill, regardless if an enemy had relayed the message. It was still a possible threat. To her Kingdom. To her people. Something was different. Something was off about Afton. It was as if a part of her had been sucked away then unleashed elsewhere. “What is it? What’s truly bothering you?”
“Ragan’s the king,” Javan said. “He’s Thorin.”
“What!” Silver gasped, darting her gaze between her sister and Javan. “He can’t be.”
“I told you to keep quiet about that,” Afton snapped. Her expression softened as she looked back at Silver. “Thorin came here in disguise to figure out a way to get me there to help. He claimed if he’d told me everything early on, then I wouldn’t have gone, that I already hadn’t answered any of his letters.” She paused and took a breath. “But he also doesn’t know I felt the energy there—he doesn’t need to know either.”
Ragan was Thorin. Silver let it spin in her mind. He’d lied. Lied to all of them. But perhaps there was a reason ... Valgmyr. If the same thing was happening to Ketill, Afton would lie to anyone to make sure her territory was saved. Despite what he’d done to her sister, what if he truly wasn’t lying about a darkness spreading here? It wasn’t as if he’d lied about the strange energy in Enare if Afton, Javan, and Shani had all felt it.
“I want to go, Afton,” Silver said. “You felt it yourself. Let me do the same, and if what he says is true, then it has to be stopped.”
“No.” Afton gripped the mace.
“This is because Ragan is Thorin, isn’t it?” Silver asked. “If Thorin hadn’t been Ragan, would you be returning? There are innocents in Enare too—you wanted to help them.”
Afton narrowed her eyes at her sister, and Silver cocked her head in return.
They held each other’s stares for what felt like days when Afton finally relented. “Three nights. Only because I know you would run off in the middle of the night to seek it out yourself.”
That was true—she would have. “And if Thorin is good and on our side, then what?”
“Then our territories will remain separate, and he’ll be lucky I let him live.” Afton rose out of her seat and stepped toward Keelen. “We’ll be leaving tomorrow morning. Are you prepared to guard?”
He nodded. “With my life.”
“I see you now have hair. You look almost human.” Afton gave a feral smirk and studied him for a moment too long before grabbing Silver by the wrist. “I need to talk to my sister. Alone.” Motioning Silver to follow her out of the weapons room, Afton closed the door behind them.
They stopped in front of the stairs and Afton leaned forward. “Did Keelen do anything to you while I was gone?”
“What?” Silver’s voice squeaked. She thought about his tongue tasting her, his warm fingers traveling across her flesh.
“Did he try to hurt you at all?”
“Oh.” A rush of relief flowed through her. “No, he’s the perfect guard.”
“Good. Don’t argue, but he will continue guarding you in Enare while Javan will be with me. I guess it’s pointless to pretend to be me anymore. But show me what you can do to defend yourself there if the magic is still gone.” Afton tossed her the mace.
“Fine.” Silver easily caught the weapon, twirled it in between her fingers and swung it forward. She stopped just before it struck Afton’s cheek—her sister didn’t even flinch. “Do you dare to defy me? If you open your mouth once more, I will remove your head and pull your entire skeleton out from within the gaping hole.”
Afton rubbed at her chin.
“It was quite good, wasn’t it?” Silver grinned, tugging the weapon to her chest. “Very you.”
“Enough of that.” Afton craned her neck and rotated her shoulders. “Be ready early, so we arrive before nightfall, otherwise we’re not leaving. I’m going to find something to eat, preferably bloody to suit my mood.” She rolled her eyes and headed to the kitchens, but Silver could have sworn there was a twitch of her lips before she’d turned around.
