The Blood Spell (Ravenspire, #4)(56)

Especially his sister. All the more reason to keep the charm flowing, watch his words with care, and hide his intentions until the night of the ball, when bloodshed would be pointless because the announcement would already be made.

“The worry must weigh on you,” Gen said softly, and he gave her a startled look. She hurried on. “I’m sure you must be starting to care for some of them, at least as friends.”

“Of course I am.”

She smiled. “Does the choice feel impossible?”

Yes.

He couldn’t bring himself to answer, so he smiled and spun her into the final measure of the song.

When she returned to his arms, red hair flying, cheeks pink, she said softly, “If the choice feels impossible, ask yourself which person, besides your mother and sister, you’d be most heartbroken to lose.”

Blue’s face flashed across his mind, and he frowned as he bowed to the girls, thanked them for the dance, and turned away.

He couldn’t think about his complicated feelings for Blue. Not now, when he needed to guard his every word, expression, and move.

The tea lasted for another hour. By the time Kellan made his way to his suite, he was exhausted, and a headache was brewing behind his eyes. He allowed his valet to remove his tea coat and cravat, then sat on the bed and unlaced his shoes.

Movement caught his eye, and he looked up to find Nessa in his doorway, her fingers already moving.

Send out your valet. We have to talk.

“Thank you, Bayard, that will be all,” Kellan said. His valet nodded, laid the folded coat over the back of a chair, and backed out of the room. Nessa shut the door behind him and hurried to her brother, her expression distraught.

“What’s wrong?” Kellan was on his feet again. “Did something happen? Did someone do something to you?”

He was going to kill whoever had put this expression on his sister’s face. Avoiding bloodshed be hanged. If one of the head families had threatened Nessa, they were going to discover their future king had a sword for a spine.

I’m all right. But Blue isn’t.

Slowly he sank back onto the edge of his bed, his heart still thunder in his ears. “I know she isn’t. It’s going to take a long time, Nessa. You were really young when our father died, but it’s the kind of pain that lasts.”

It still hurts you.

He studied his hands. Of course it still hurt him. It was his fault. He deserved to have it hurt him for the rest of his life.

She sat down next to him and leaned against his side, her curls pressed against his shoulder. He wrapped one arm around her. “Yes, sometimes it still hurts me. I expect it always will.”

She lifted her hands and signed. You could talk to me about it.

His heart squeezed, and he pulled her closer. “You would be the very best person to talk to, little bird. You know I love you, right?”

She snorted. Of course you love me. I’m amazing. Now how do you feel about Blue?

“Blue?” he pulled back so he could look at her face. There was a gleam in her eyes that made him uneasy, though he couldn’t put his finger on why. Carefully, he said, “I feel sorry that she lost her father and glad that we’re all friends.”

You protected her at the funeral. Helped her cry.

He shifted his weight. “Someone had to.”

Maybe, but you’re the one who saw what she needed.

“Is there a point to this, Nes?”

She turned to face him. Blue’s in trouble, and I need the right person to protect her.

He straightened, his heart pounding again. “What kind of trouble?”

She made a sign he couldn’t interpret. When he frowned, she changed the movements.

Head family. Woman. Widow. You danced with her daughter.

“Dinah?” He mimicked the first sign she’d made. “That’s your name sign for Dinah Chauveau?”

Yes. Dinah is making Blue afraid.

“Afraid of what?”

Afraid of Dinah. Blue had a bandage on her arm when she came to the castle yesterday. And when I showed up at the shop today, there was a bruise on her face, and she said tutoring was canceled.

Kellan’s blood felt too thick, his pulse too fast, as he climbed to his feet. “How did she get those injuries?”

She told me not to ask questions and to stay away from the shop until Dinah was out of her life.

He reached for his coat, his jaw set.

You’re the right person to protect her now, aren’t you? Nessa’s eyes were fierce as she watched her brother button his coat.

“We’re the right people. Get your shoes on. We’re going to find Blue.”





TWENTY-FOUR


IT WAS PAST the dinner hour, and Blue was working on yet another attempt to turn lead into gold. She’d lost count of how many times she’d tried in the past few days. The shop floor’s inventory was depleted, and she was behind a full day in fulfilling orders for delivery, but Dinah didn’t care. She was obsessed with Blue’s success, and while Blue couldn’t blame her, she flinched every time Dinah came into the room. She had bruises in multiple places now, a burn on her arm, and a shallow cut where Dinah’s nails had pinched the skin of her arm when yet another experiment ended in failure.

Earlier in the afternoon, Blue had sent Nessa home without a tutoring session for the first time in three years. Even though Dinah had been gone from the shop as she was every day, Blue hadn’t been sure when the woman would return. There had been something wild, something dangerous, in Dinah’s mood that morning, and she didn’t want her around the princess. And the truth was, Blue didn’t want anyone to see her new reality.