Grounding the Storm ✓

Chapter 30

Our training session was canceled. As it was for the next two days after. Renit had a matter to deal with in the capital, one pertaining to a suspicious meeting location in the slums, leading back to assassins trying to claim the castle for themselves and take down the two princes in the process.

I watched from my window as the storm over the slums quickened until the clouds burst into lightning and thunder interrupting the smooth peace of rain. Wind tattered at whatever was below and it wasn't until Renit came back on that third night, covered in blood of his own and his enemies, that I knew he should not be bothered.

While he was away, I maintained kitchen duties and spent as much time with Dalis and Mills as possible. The old man can craft a meal in seconds with the perfect ingredients and can give the best advice on one or the other. Dalis keeps to herself most of the time but when she finds the nerve to strike up a conversation, the topic is always about the fear of rebellion and whether that ever took place in Arego. At least she keeps her voice down.

I do what Mills asks of me—usually taking empty trays and stocking new ones, filled with different sides for the breakfast meal. By now, I've grown tired of the complicated breakfast food served at the castle but I have put on weight, a compliment from Renit himself when he walked in on me pulling a shirt over my head. He said I'm strong enough now to be worth something in a fight. The visibility of my ribs was the transition he was waiting for. The man has no shame.

He didn't want to talk about what happened in the slums and I didn't, ask, only because Silas told me not to after he came to visit his brother and receive the latest report. The king arrived, clumping up the stairs to the tower and passing by my open door with nothing more than a glance. Having him that close was like having a monster lingering in the hallway. I tried to listen but with Renit's door shut, I couldn't hear a single word other than the muffled onslaught lasting for hours beyond my focus.

What happened in the slums was enough to force Renit into another raged state. As soon as he left the last one behind, he started up again and as usual, all that irritation was directed at me. Through no fault of my own. Silas keeps saying that but I believe he sees me as the cause for all these glitches.

I dress for another morning in the kitchens, pulling on a pair of fitting black pants stuffed into leather boots and a bejeweled tunic, much of the design bordering the collar. I run my fingers over my mother's necklace, the two black rubies fanning out like wings to take the opal into flight. Renit's eyes have drifted to it many times, but he has never asked why I continue to wear it or the meaning behind the design.

I doubt he has ever cared.

Across the hall, he sleeps soundly after three days of being away. Three days of kitchen duty, per his order, along with small bits of training in the clearing with Celestine—the only person he trusts to force me out there. At least he didn't stick me with one of the careless guards. Or Darius. I shiver at the thought of their relative and his morning pursuits. He begs for me to accept his offer every single day but I will never—not even when I've reached my lowest of lows.

He's so persistent, it's sickening.

And I have that to look forward to, not before I knock on the door to Renit's chambers and peek my head in. He sleeps soundly with a pillow tucked underneath his arm, at his side, with his lips parted slightly. His eyebrows furrow and twitch as he dreams. If I wake him from that blissful slumber, he'll kill me.

I shut the door quietly and tiptoe down the stone stairs. The kitchens, the hub of activity this morning, are bustling with commotion as I stride through, now used to the big crowds. They don't bother me and I've grown used to the stares—not only at the ring on my finger but at the titanium band Renit clamped on before he left that morning and the one Celestine bore the key to once he was away. My own sister wouldn't let me out of the hold, not after the threatening orders from the prince. After everything, he still doesn't trust me and Celestine can't do anything about that.