Black Crown (Darkest Drae, #3)(7)

Lovely.

“She’s busy,” Tyrrik drawled, tugging on the hem of my aketon.

“Too busy to learn how to project a shield that will hide us from everyone but other Phaetyn?” Lani asked.

Tyrrik’s eyes narrowed.

Point one to Lani. I bounced off the bed, patting my hair and adjusting my aketon as I walked toward the door. My lower lip felt distinctly swollen, and I could still taste nectar on my tongue. I hadn’t felt so sheepish since hiding from Mum when I was six to drink a whole jar of honey syrup. Or maybe getting caught by Dyter.

“I’m here,” I called, halfway to the door.

“I know. I could hear your heavy breathing from the level below. Get dressed, and meet me in the garden.”

Get dressed? I stopped so quickly I tripped over my own feet. What did she think we were doing in here? I blushed even though there was no one but Tyrrik to see.

“I love when you blush,” he said, crossing the room in a blur to stand next to me. I love it even more when I’m the reason for it.

“I’m still here,” Lani called. “I’m pretty sure your breathing is getting heavy again, Ryn.”

The burning in my cheeks intensified as I glared through the door in Lani’s direction. I knew for a fact that Phaetyn didn’t have super-hearing; that was a Drae power. I listened to the Phaetyn retreat down the passage, her musical laugh echoing in her wake.

Pretending to wipe my nose to hide my burning cheeks, I turned back to Tyrrik. “Looks like I’m . . . needed.”

“Looks like.” He smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “We need to find some time alone, uninterrupted, when you get back from Zivost.” He tugged on my aketon again. “Maybe without so many clothes.”

Whoa. My heart thundered in my chest, and I gaped at Tyrrik a moment and then sputtered, “Umm-m, yeah. Yes. Right. Awesome.”

He arched a brow.

I stared up at him, mind blank. I jerked my thumb at the door and said, “Well, people to see, tricks to learn.”

I hightailed it out of the chamber, congratulating myself on a mostly seamless exit from my M-word.

When I reached the royal garden, the workers were still harvesting chunks from the massive pumpkin I’d made. Of course they were. I’d made it. The air smelled of winter squash, and the bread-loaf sized seeds were scattered in the dirt. More than half of the gourd remained, and I smiled. A lot of people were going to bed with full bellies because of me.

I rounded the corner and spotted Lani cross-legged on a high ledge.

“I need to teach you how to veil before we leave,” Lani said.

“Yeah,” I replied, plopping myself on the ground below her. “When were you going to fill me in on that?”

“Now.”

Helpful. “Is that how you remained hidden for so long?”

Lani closed her eyes, tipping her head back to bask in the stream of sunlight pouring into the garden—one of the perks of its location at the top of the mountain.

“It is, but I got careless. I was out foraging to replenish my supplies, and a group of Druman came over a hill and saw the disturbance in the water. One of them caught the scent of my trail. The gold veil has the obvious perk of keeping you hidden but only where it’s covering. It’s probably a smaller version of the golden barrier you described that previously protected the Phaetyn in Zivost. But as you’ll see, erecting and maintaining a veil is taxing, and using it can leave you weakened until you get used to the effort.”

Honestly, hearing that Lani knew how to put the golden barrier up was a huge relief. When I killed Queen Alani, the barrier came down, leaving the Phaetyn exposed to the emperor from above. While the royal family could move the rock barrier circling the perimeter of the forest up and down, no one else knew how to put the veil up—Alani had only been able to sustain it, and barely at that. Ancestral powers were the strongest, and while I had ancestral power, my attempts to resurrect the wall hadn’t been successful.

“You have to put the barrier up when we get to the forest,” I blurted. I was not risking a repeat of last time.

“Yes, so I’ll need my strength. Which means you’ll need to cover us on the journey there. I think it’s a good idea if we leave Gemond under veil so any Druman around can’t see us.”

Definitely. Even after our victory, I still hated the crossbreeds. And if the veil cloaked us from everyone but Phaetyn, that was the only defense I’d need.

I thought of Lani out on her own for the last twenty years. “How did you find out you had that kind of power?”

Lani smiled. “I drank a whole jug of honey syrup one time—”

Huh. I wondered if that was a Phaetyn thing.

“I heard my aunt arriving back before I’d hidden the evidence. Next thing I know, there’s a golden net around me. My aunt strolled right by where I stood in the middle of the cellar, covered in honey. Learning to control the net beyond myself took time, but for what you want to do . . . You should be good to go within a minute or two. Protecting ourselves from danger is one of the strongest instincts we possess.”

“It is?” I wrinkled my nose, wondering why the net hadn’t worked when I stole honey syrup. Perhaps actually knowing I was Phaetyn would’ve helped. Still, Lani had hinted at more. “What else?”

“Hate being another”—she tilted her head, a smile dancing on her pink lips—“Love being another again. So first,” she said, drawing my attention back to her and her lesson, “you need to really want to be invisible. Just like all your Phaetyn abilities, your desire will make the power much stronger.”