Midnight Jewel (The Glittering Court #2)(104)

I let the bolt fly, and she grunted in approval. “He told me how important it is to him. How it’ll get him back to his people. Is there . . . is there any other way he could do it?” I’d been troubled by this, the more I thought about Sirminica. I understood more of his reasons but was still bothered by the idea of him holding a grudge for so long.

“Nothing he’d get anytime soon. And certainly nothing with this kind of a status and legitimacy. It really is a rare opportunity to go home. There have been Balanquan ambassadors in the colonies before, but no reciprocal offers until now. My guess is that this ‘bonding’ isn’t so much about friendship as it is giving the Balanquans a direct line of communication to what’s happening down here.”

“Is the status Grant will get as important to him as going back?”

“As important? I don’t know. But certainly important. His uncle dismissed him as nothing. I’d want to confront him too. And I understand the call to reclaim his birthright. Our family branches are ingrained into us. It becomes part of our identity. Having that taken away—or walking away from it—is hard.” Aiana stared off at the trees for several moments, her eyes darkened by troubling memories.

“Will you visit him?” I asked as I loaded another bolt.

Her lips turned up in a bitter smile. “No. No one can. He’s trying to get there; I’m trying to stay away. The arrangement is strict. Only the ambassadors and their families are allowed—wives and children, people like that. No friends or well-wishers. Not even servants or bodyguards. My people have strong beliefs about protecting ambassadors, though. That’s part of why they’re given such a high status.”

I lowered the crossbow. “Won’t you miss him?”

“Of course. I wish he’d stay. But maybe he’ll have something to hold on to, instead of going through life wearing mask after mask. Maybe it’s better he’s gone. I’m wanted by my people, and if they ever found me and tried to take me back, Iyitsi would get himself killed trying to stop them.”

“I didn’t know that—about you, I mean.” I mulled over the last part of what she’d said. “I’m not surprised he’d do that for you. You’re his friend. He’s gone on about how dangerous attachments are, but I’ve seen how he cares about you.”

“Oh, yes.” Her eyes sparkled both with amusement and affection. “Don’t be fooled by that gruffness. When the time comes for hard choices, he always does the right thing.”




Not long after that day, word came to us that Warren had returned to Cape Triumph by water after a successful land journey. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing Adelaide and Cedric had made it safely. Tamsin was glad too, but her fixation soon shifted to her uncertain future with Warren. She paced anxiously around the house and constantly watched the front door for any couriers. When someone finally came, it was Warren himself. Tamsin had been watching from the top of the stairs and ran back to our room.

“It’s him, Mira.” She clutched my sleeve and looked like she might hyperventilate. “In person. He asked to talk to Jasper. Do you know what that means? He’s going to make an offer! This could be it! What I’ve been waiting for.”

I didn’t know what to say. I wanted her to be happy and fulfill her dreams, but was Warren the right person?

Not long after his arrival, Tamsin was summoned to the office as well. She came back to our room an hour later, elated. “We’re not engaged,” she announced.

“You . . . aren’t? Then why are you so happy?”

“Because I’m going to Hadisen! Warren says he doesn’t want to lock me in until I’ve seen exactly what I’ll be facing. So I’m going back with him in two days by boat. The wife of one of his associates will come stay with me in Warren’s house while I’m there, so it’ll all be very proper. We worked out the details with Jasper.”

“Two days.”

She was too excited to know just how hard those words struck me. First Adelaide, now Tamsin. I was going to be alone again, just like I’d been in Osfro after Lonzo left. Grant was . . . out of the picture. I had no one, except Aiana, I supposed. And the looming potential of becoming Rupert Chambers’s bride.

If I stopped delaying, I could marry Rupert now and have a whole new world open up to me. Freedom from Mistress Culpepper’s rules. Lonzo back in my life. The ability to visit Tamsin and Adelaide in Hadisen. What was I waiting for?

Who was I waiting for?




Tamsin left on the hottest day we’d had since coming to Adoria. The air hung thick and heavy with humidity, and Mistress Culpepper was at her wit’s end trying to keep us doused in powder and relatively sweat-free. Tamsin was supposed to have sailed in the afternoon, but some delay on Warren’s part pushed them into an evening departure.

“I’m sorry,” he said, when he finally arrived. Two of his associates accompanied him and loaded her luggage into a carriage. “We’ll have to make part of our trip in the dark, but we’ll still arrive tonight. I hope it’s not too exhausting.”

“No need to worry. Our Tamsin can handle anything,” said Jasper, eager for the prospective deal.

Tamsin hugged me, and just like that, I was alone. Both of my roommates were gone, off to glorious futures with the men they wanted. I went upstairs and gazed at my friends’ beds. It was selfish to feel sorry for myself. After all, they were alive and happy. But I couldn’t help it. The room seemed ten times bigger than it had before, and I felt very small.