Brody shrugged and quickly finished his dinner.
Leo tapped a finger on the desk. His spy wasn’t telling him everything. “Nevis, take his tray back.”
“Huh?” Nevis looked confused.
Leo gave him a pointed look. “Take his tray. I’ll see you tomorrow. Tell Edmund I won’t need him again tonight.”
“Oh.” Nevis picked up the tray, slanting a wary glance at Brody. “All right. Good night.” He wandered from the tent.
With a grimace, Brody refilled his goblet.
Leo frowned at him. “What are you not telling me?”
“I’d rather not say—I mean, she seems to be keeping it a secret, so I thought I should honor—”
“So you’re loyal to her now? Do I need to remind you that you work for me?”
Brody flashed him an annoyed look.
Leo tensed. “Are you … attracted to her?”
“No!” Brody closed his eyes briefly. “Yes, but not the way you think. She has a kind heart that reminds me of my younger sister.”
Leo exhaled with relief. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”
“I haven’t seen my family in years.” Brody gazed sadly across the tent, seemingly lost in thought.
“So you feel a need to protect Lady Tatiana.”
Brody visibly shook himself. “I’m following orders. You told me to protect her.”
“Not from me! I would never harm her.” Leo winced. “On purpose.” Dammit. He was the most likely person to cause her harm.
“I know that.” Brody gave him a wry look. “I actually think she’ll be good for you.”
“Then talk.”
“Fine. But I’m warning you. It’s … strange.”
“She’s my betrothed. I’ll decide what’s strange.”
Brody ran a finger around the rim of his goblet. “At first I feared she might be insane.”
“What?”
“Then I thought she might be a witch. But she’s too kindhearted to be a bad witch.”
“What?”
“Then I realized it must be a gift. A secret gift.”
Leo leaned forward. “What, dammit? Spit it out!”
“Fine! She … talks to people who aren’t there.”
“Aren’t where?”
“Here. As in … dead.”
Leo blinked. “She’s talking to dead people? Are you sure? I mean, perhaps she was talking to you. Or herself. Sometimes I talk to myself. That’s not strange.”
“This was strange. As far as I could tell, she was talking to a boy who died in a kitchen fire ten years ago.”
“Damn.”
“And then she ran up to a tower room and talked to someone else who wasn’t there.” Brody ran a hand through his shaggy black hair. “I could only hear half of the conversation, but she seemed eager to talk to her mother.”
Leo grimaced. “Lady Tatiana’s mother is dead.”
“Exactly.”
Leo shook his head. “This is crazy.”
Brody scoffed. “I’m stuck as a dog for most of my life. You shoot lightning from your freaking fingers. We’re not exactly in a position to judge what’s crazy.”
“We can’t help it. We’re Embra—” With a quick intake of air, Leo sat back. “Holy shit. She’s Embraced.”
Chapter Eleven
The next morning, Luciana woke before sunrise and quickly dressed in the simplest clothes she could find—a gray linen dress, black leather slippers, and a black leather cord tied around her waist.
When she opened the bedchamber door, her guard, Jensen, bowed. “My lady, did you have need of anything?”
“No, thank you.” She frowned at the dark circles under his eyes. “Jensen, did you not get any sleep at all?”
“I’m fine,” he assured her.
“I think you should go rest.” She started down the dimly lit hallway, but he followed her. “There’s no need for you to come. I’m only going to watch the sunrise.”
“I dare not leave you unaccompanied, my lady.”
She groaned inwardly. How could she find the message from Maeve when he was watching her every move? A soft woof drew her attention. “Pirate!”
The dog sat in front of her and lifted a paw.
She shook his paw. “Would you like to see the sunrise with me?” she asked, and he woofed in response.
“Good boy.” She rubbed him behind the ears.
She went down the stairs and out the door into the courtyard, followed by Jensen and Pirate. The sky overhead was still dark, but a few torches lent enough light for her to pass through the eastern gate. She hurried to the outer stone wall on the eastern edge of the promontory.
After climbing a narrow stone staircase, she arrived on the wall walk overlooking the coastline to the east. The two moons had moved west, the larger Luna reaching the horizon first and casting a silver glow over the sea.
Below her, she could barely make out the beach. Maeve had told her to watch the eastern beach at sunrise, so she could only trust that her youngest sister knew what she was doing.
Next to Luciana, Pirate was sitting and watching her curiously. Jensen glanced over the curtain wall and, after seeing no danger below, marched down the wall walk, surveying the keep and inner bailey.
She kept her back to him and focused on the eastern horizon. After a few minutes, a soft, golden glow inched into view. “May the Light shine upon us always,” she said loud enough for the guard to hear, then in her mind she sent a prayer to the goddesses to watch over her sisters.