Unlocking Fire: A Bluebeard Retelling (Tales of Bones and Roses) by Liv Strom

Author:Liv Strom [Strom, Liv]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SM Press
Published: 2023-09-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter seven

Alexei

I stumbled back to the palace through the pure snow as dawn tinged the sky and Spirits evaporated. The night was supposed to have been a fun distraction, an impulse that allowed us both to escape our current situations for a moment. Holding her on the barge after delivering my findings, I had longed to stretch the night for after I delivered on my debt there was no longer a reason to met again.

It had been a twirl of colors and time spent making Ansa laugh. I had kept us to the main areas where clothes still were mandatory and senses less impaired, but even there, lords and ladies who usually judged anyone who stepped out of line let go, as I had thought Ansa needed to.

It was perfect until I, like an idiot riding the wave of drink and touch, saw Mariska coming with stars in her eyes. I panicked. Badly. But I had wanted to kiss Ansa since I laid eyes on her. The spark that lit me up as our lips touched had been no more a lie than how we had danced ever closer.

My feet took me back to my own room; I did not have the energy to seek another bed. Surely, no one could be watching all the time. And if they were, I was too tired to care.

I fell asleep still dressed, Ansa’s damning words echoing in my mind. One thing she had gotten right: there was no more time for distractions or using others to avoid my problems. I could not live waiting for the ax to fall. I needed to face the king’s judgment and make the best of the situation—before I got myself into even more trouble hiding from it. I needed to be in a position to help Dimi get his revenge when he returned. For after hearing his rage and grief as his father ordered him into exile, I had no doubt my friend would seek it.

After a few bells of sleep, I awoke with a pounding headache to a knock as a letter emblazed with my family sigils slid under my door. It must have been sent by griffon at an exorbitant cost to reach me already. Seemed the news had traveled to my mother faster than I had anticipated, as if the world itself conspired to make me face my problems. Worse, somehow, someone knew I was here. The ever-ticking, finely crafted clock in the corner, a gift from Dimi on my name day, reminded me time was running out with each pendulum swing. Ansa could look after herself. She was probably better at it than me anyway.

I wanted nothing more than to throw the letter into a drawer and forget the summons it was bound to contain. Instead, I clenched it tight. No matter how well I could predict the content, it would haunt me until I read it. And I had just decided to face my problems. Seemed this would be the first test.

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