Rise of Fire (Reign of Shadows #2)(47)

I eased out from my chamber, headfirst, relieved to see that there was no guard at my door and no one in the corridor. I crept along, heading in the direction I had last seen Luna and her escort take. I listened at doors, hoping for any indication of which room might be hers.

A door creaked open somewhere ahead of me and I ducked to the side, flattening against the other side of a beam that jutted out from the wall. Peering around the post, I watched as Chasan stepped out of a room and into the corridor. He turned back to look inside the bedchamber before closing the door. In that moment I glimpsed Luna standing a few feet from the threshold, staring in his general direction as he left her.

What was Chasan doing in her room? A wave of helplessness washed over me at the possibility that I was too late, that she had already changed her mind about me.

I gave myself a hard mental shake. She had just happened upon Maris outside my bedchamber. I had no right to these feelings. Jealousy, annoyance . . . the dark impulse to grab Chasan and stomp all over him wasn’t something I could give in to. It wasn’t something I wanted to feel.

The prince turned and I quickly pressed myself against the wall, pressing hard into the stone, trying to make myself invisible. Chasan passed by without glancing left, then turned the corner.

With a deep breath I collected myself and stepped away from the wall. I strode to Luna’s room, determination fueling me. I couldn’t be too late.

I knocked once lightly, so as not to frighten her, and then walked inside.

She whirled around as I shut the door behind me. There was a flash of panic on her face, and I hated that I made her feel that way. For all she knew I was a stranger storming into her room.

She sucked in a deep breath—hopefully not to scream—and the alarm subsided from her features. By scent or sound, she knew it was me.

“What are you doing in here?”

“Does Chasan visit your room in the middle of the night regularly?” I couldn’t help myself. The ugly beast that had stirred inside me when I spotted him leaving her room insisted on surfacing.

“I don’t know. Does Maris visit yours?”

I sighed. “That wasn’t what it looked like.” I stared at her, waiting for her to offer me the same reassurance. It never came. She crossed her arms over her chest and cocked one eyebrow.

I rocked back on my heels, fighting down the impulse to demand why Chasan was in her room as though it was my right to know. It was a battle lost. “Why was he here?”

“Are you truly asking me that?” Indignation hung on every word. Her implication was clear: How could I ask that after she’d just found me with Maris?

“Chasan is not Maris. He’s no harmless suitor. He is as manipulative and cunning as his father.” And I’d seen the way he looked at Luna.

“Is that so? And how often have you seen him exactly? Talked to him? You’ve scarcely risen from your sickbed, where Maris attends you ever so diligently.”

“I’ve seen it in his eyes. I know his sort.”

She inhaled swiftly, pulling her shoulders back, and I knew I had said the wrong thing. I hadn’t meant to make it sound like I viewed her as less in any way because of her blindness, but that was precisely what I had done. “Oh, that’s right. I’m merely a blind girl. I can’t possibly be a good judge of character.”

The word merely couldn’t be applied Luna. Not in any way. She would always be everything. Of course, if I were to tell her that right now, she wouldn’t believe me.

Sighing, I dragged a hand through my hair. “I didn’t come here to fight with you.”

“You shouldn’t have come here at all.”

“Oh, I shouldn’t, but it’s acceptable for Chasan to visit you in the middle of the night?”

“He wanted to make sure I was all right after what happened. He saved my life tonight.”

He saved her life? It made me resent him all the more. I should have been there for her. I didn’t want to think she might need him. “You don’t even know him,” I shot back.

“He’s my betrothed,” she replied evenly, but there was a stiffness to her voice that was impossible to miss.

I froze. Hearing this from her curdled my blood. “Is that true? You’ll marry him?” My heart raced at the possibility that she had accepted this as her fate.

“Is that not the expectation?”

Not precisely an answer. “I’ve never cared much about the expectations of others.” Nor had I thought she cared. I’d imagined that she’d be eager to leave this place. But if I were to believe her now, she wouldn’t be leaving with me.

She snorted and edged even farther away from me. “I just caught you kissing Maris, and here you stand wanting me to define my relationship with Chasan.” She flung out her words like a well-aimed arrow and tsked. “Hardly reasonable.”

“She kissed me.” The truth, but it rang weakly even to my ears.

Luna released a huff of hollow laughter and shook her head, clearly not impressed with my excuse. “You don’t owe me an explanation. I don’t own your lips.”

My chest swelled on a tense breath. “You know how I feel about you. I haven’t hid my feelings—”

“Fowler, don’t.”

“We need to talk,” I insisted, following her retreating form across the room. She used to listen to me, but now she felt distant.