Curse of Blades (Blades #1)

Chapter 23

She stared at him for a long moment. He certainly looked sincere, and everyone else seemed to think she was his lover or some such anyway. Being a queen would certainly be strange, but hopefully that wouldn't happen for several years and she could become more used to the idea.

"I accept," she said, even before she realized she was going to.

He smiled and kissed her lightly on the lips. "Thank you. I need to go deal with Rohan, but I'll be back here for dinner. You can ask anything you need to then."

She nodded, but as he turned to leave she asked, "What of Anil?"

He paused to turn back to her. "Don't say anything to her until I can ask her."

Myri smiled. "I'm glad you're planning to ask her, too. Don't keep Rohan waiting."

He gave her a nod before he continued to the door.

"Myri," Coulta said, his voice tight, "I will do everything I can to change his mind if you don't stop pushing on my shoulder like that."

She turned abruptly to her patient, ashamed to realize she had been using her hand on his injured shoulder to hold herself in a twisted position while talking to Wildas. "You deserve it," she replied, though not with as much annoyance as she had felt earlier. "I suppose that means I'll be marrying, you, too. Have you shown him that letter?"

"Not yet, but I told him everything I learned about our souls being linked."

She used the wash basin to wet a cloth and clean the salve from the wound. "Anil and I knew it was him that the letter talked about," she admitted. "We didn't think he'd be able to marry you, though."

"Neither did I," Coulta replied quietly. "I didn't even let myself believe it was him until last night. Apparently Shelton more or less told him that we were soul-partners, as Shelton's friend called it."

Myri nodded and placed more healing salve on his shoulder. "You should let him see the letter anyway."

"I plan to."

Neither of them said anything else until she had bandaged him again. Then she laughed and got up from her chair. "My life has changed more than I ever expected."

"You're not the only one."

***

Rohan looked like he was half asleep leaning against the wall outside Coulta's room. He straightened as soon as he saw Wildas, however, and gave him a halfhearted smirk.

"Wearing the same clothes you wore yesterday?" Rohan asked.

"So are you," Wildas replied, taking in his brother's rumpled and dirty appearance.

"Well, I kept mine on all night."

Wildas rolled his eyes. "Are you going to tell me what you found?"

Rohan started walking down the hallway and Wildas followed. "Someone had moved the bodies. They were buried in a shallow grave, with nothing but the clothes they'd been wearing. Even our arrows had been removed or broken off. We found their camp later in the day." He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "They built a lean-to out there, camouflaged with tree branches and mud. There were nine sleeping places in it, all of which looked to have been used recently. With three men dead, that leaves six more out there. We watched the place all night, but they never came back. I don't think they abandoned it, either. They left too much damning evidence."

He pulled a rolled parchment from the pouch at his side and handed it to Wildas. Pausing next to a lit wall torch, Wildas unrolled it to find a list of names, including his own and his father's.