Chapter 75
1 hesitated for one long agonizing beat. Then nodded once.
He leaned forward, elbows on the table, his gaze cutting straight through me. “What is Alaric really looking for here?”
I licked my lips, my mind racing. What could I say? What could 1 reveal without damning myself?
1 took a shallow breath. “Information.”
His brow lifted slightly, as if waiting.
“He suspects something. I added. “Maybe that you’re planning something.”
Harden’s smile widened. “He suspects everyone. You’re smart.” He leaned back again, arms folding lazily once more. “Paranoid bastard.”
I stayed quiet, pulse thudding in my ears.
“He thinks I care about him,” Harden said idly, almost as if to himself. “Thinks I lose sleep over Sheridan’s politics.”
1 blinked.
“You don’t?” I asked carefully.
He laughed, a soft, bitter sound. “No, little bird. I have my own worries,”
I studied him, frowning slightly.
“He’s from the south. I’m from the north. Harden continued. “We were never the same. We never will be.”
Something about the way he said it made my chest ache a little. That loneliness–the same loneliness I had seen lurking in Alaric’s eyes too many times.
I tried to lighten the mood, “Yeah, well,” I said, glancing out the window, “I expected the north to be freezing cold. It’s actually ridiculously hot.”
Harden smiled crookedly. “There are seasons.
I raised a brow. “This is the hot one?”
He nummed an affirmative, reaching for his wine again. “Enjoy it while it lasts.”
And then-
He breathed out slowly.
And the air changed
The warmth vanished, replaced by a sudden biting chill that prickled against my skin. My breath misted in front of me.
I shivered violently, instinctively pulling my arms around myself.
I stared at him. “How how did you d
you do that!
Harden’s mouth twitched into a real smile. “Trade secr
Igaped at ham, stunned. “That wasn’t normal”
“No,” he agreed, sipping his wine like he hadn’t just turned the room into a waster storm with a breath.
Are you-
“A monster?” he interrupted smoothly. “Depends who you ask.”
fad come, it vanished
The cold deepened for a second, swirling around him like he commanded at–and then, as quickly as it had co
The room warmed again.
Chapter 73
Textualed shakily, still staring at him.
“What are you?” I whispered before I could stop myself.
He just watched me, his gaze distant, imreadable.
Then he smiled, but there was no warmth in it. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
That my hip hard, grounding myself.
“Nuu’re dangerous,” I said, half to myself.
He shrugged “And you’re not?”
Thlinked thrown.oll.
He stood up, grabbing his coat off the back of the chair. His movements were slow, deliberate, and my instincts told me to be very, very careful around him.
As
he pulled the coat over his shoulders, he looked at me one last time.
Thank you for the company, little spy
I opened my mouth to protest but he was already walking away.
“Oh—and Elena,” he said, glancing back at me over his shoulder, a glint of amusement in his sharp eyes, “if you’re going to survive here, you might want to work on your lies and I wish you good luck in your spying adventures. You would be disappointed when you find nothing.”
And then he disappeared into the shadows.
Leaving me sitting there,
Shivering
Wondering if I had just made the biggest mistake of my life.
I didn’t know when my legs carried me to the laundry hall.
Maybe it was the throbbing behind my eyes.
Maybe it was the heavy weight in my chest that refused to let me sleep.
30
Either way, I found myself there–staring blankly at piles of damp clothes, the scent of soap and old stone walls filling the air.
I grabbed a bucket, more out of instinct than anything, and started scrubbing, my arms moving mechanically. I needed the distraction.
I needed something
I was halfway through wringing out a runic when someone moved beside me.
I didn’t look up at first. Another maid, I thought. Another lowly servant like me.
A soli voice said, “Luna”
My bead snapped up
The woman standing beside me was older—maybe mid–thirties–with dark hair pinned neatly under a scarf. Her hands were calloused,
Chapter 75
I stared at her like she had grown two heads. “What did you
She smiled faintly and bowed low “Luna”
I almost dropped the tunic
“What the hell!”
call me
She straightened, her face calm. “Relax. I’m not your enemy.”
1 set the tunic down carefully. “Who are you?”
“My name is Ada,” she said. “And I am Alaric’s longest–placed spy in the North”
My stomach twisted. “You’re lying
Her eyes glittered faintly, “Am I”
I didn’t answer.
She continued, voice low but clear. “My home is in the South. I was sent here almost a decade ago by His Majesty. I’ve seen kings rise and fall, wars whispered before they roared, alliances forged and broken.”
1 shook my head slowly. “Why now? Why show yourself to me?”
Ada’s mouth quirked, the barest hint of a smile. “Because, Luna, you’re doing a terrible job.”
I bristled instantly. “Excuse me?”
“You’re supposed to blend,” she said, plucking another tunic from the bucket with casual ease. “Be invisible. Let them forget you exist.”
I clenched my jaw.
“You,” Ada said, her voice warm but edged with steel, “are not blending. You are noticed. Watched. Marked.”
I scoffed. “Sorry if I’m not as polished as you.”
Her eyes crinkled faintly. “Oh, you’re not polished. You’re drowning.”
I wanted to throw the tunic at her face.
Instead, I swallowed back the heat in my throat. “If you really think I’m so hopeless, why are you telling me this?”
Ada wrung out the cloch expertly. “Because if you die, I fail And I do not likàfailing.”
I binked.
“And because, despite your stupidity,” she added with a hint of amusement, “you are still His Majesty’s Luna. That matters.”
I exhaled sharply. “You keep calling me that. What if I told you I’ve switched sides? What if I’m working for Harden now?”
Ada chuckled—a soft, throaty sound that made my skin crawl. “Then I wouldn’t be standing here.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Meaning?”
“Meaning I would’ve slit your throat while you slept.” She said it so casually, as if she were discussing the weather
She bent closer, lowering her voice so only I could hear “Listen carefully, girl. This castle is a snake pit. You trust no one. Not even me.”
Then why should I trust you now?” | demanded.
Ada similed, a slow, knowing smile “Because I just told
I stared at her, chest tight, heart hammering
told you not to
“You’re an amateur,” Ada sand lightly, shaking her head. “Unlike your sister”
Chapter 23
der eyes softene
ther cumming. if Hoadle her method.
But you
‘she gave a small sig
“Suck,” she repeated kindly “At lying At hiding Aridending And at realizing when the wolves are circling”
My hosts clenched
She placed the tunic neatly into a clean basket and straightened.
“Get better, Luna,” Ada said, voier dropping into something sharper, darker. “Fast. Or next time, no one will be around to warn you
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