The afternoon light had mellowed to gold, the sun filtering in through the palace's high, arched windows as Calvera glided along the corridor.
She had just spoken to Darius, coaxing a faint, almost-smile from his tired features with soft words and a gentle brush of her hand against his arm. But even as she offered him comfort, her eyes had wandered elsewhere—toward Severin, who had left the training grounds with a storm written across his brow and shoulders held too stiff.
Her expensive sandals made no sound against the polished stone floors as she followed, not close enough to be noticed, but just near enough to catch the rigid set of his shoulders. He didn't know she was there, or perhaps he did and simply didn't care. That thought alone made her frown.
Was her presence unwanted?
Severin had always carried his burdens alone. Yet now, as the days darkened with unrest and the whispers in the palace grew louder, he seemed even more withdrawn.
Calvera reached him just as he turned down the corridor that led to his chambers.
"Severin," she called softly, her voice like a ribbon curling through the air. He paused, glancing over his shoulder.
She caught up to him in a few measured steps, hands folded primly before her. "The banquet preparations," she said lightly. "The stewards say the arrangements are delayed. Perhaps many nobles are growing too nervous to attend."
He didn't answer.
She tilted her head, a bit unnerved from his silence. "You were magnificent out there today. The way you moved, even Corvin couldn't keep up. The others watch you and know they are safe."
Severin's jaw tightened.
Inside, his thoughts churned.
It hadn't been precision or power that had fueled his blows on the sparring field. It had been something darker. A restlessness born of nights spent thinking of the prisoner locked beneath the palace.
Lenore.
He hated how her name lived behind his eyes, how her face lingered when he closed them. Even now, Calvera's praise meant little compared to the phantom pull of Lenore's voice in his head.
Calvera stepped in front of him, close enough to catch his gaze. Her brows drew together, delicate with concern. But he knew better; it was a knowing look. "You're troubled. I can see it. Is it... her again?"
The memory struck hard, as just nights ago, Calvera had sat beside him, her head resting on his chest, and whispered how she knew his mind wasn't with her as she circled the hard muscle with her finger. That he had been thinking of Lenore.
He didn't answer her now.
Instead, he reached out, tilting her chin with one calloused finger. And then he kissed her.
Not gently.
It was rough and fast, a collision of frustration and heat. She gasped into him, surprised and shivering, but welcomed it with an eager touch, fingers curling into his hardened muscle before they slipped upwards, entangled in his hair as he pulled her into his room.
The door slammed shut behind them.
In seconds, her back was pressed to the door, his hands running up her thighs, tugging up her skirts. Their lips locked together. Their tongues intertwined in a dance of heated passion. Calvera fumbled with the clasps of her dress, baring herself down to silken underthings as Severin pushed down the top, latching onto the pink hardening bud of her nipple. Her head tilted back against the door as a soft moan slipped from her lips. The pins in her bun coming loose.
He tossed her onto the bed. His fingers latched around her silk undergarments and pulled them down, tossing them off to the side. Calvera watched him as he undid his pants, following her in naked haste. Her once platinum styled bun now fanned around her shoulders, lips swollen from his kisses, chest rising and falling fast.
But his thoughts weren't on the woman beneath him.
Not truly.
Even as the head of his hardened cock slipped past her wet and eager folds, as he deepened and stretched her, as he moved with her, breathed against her throat, her breasts, the woman in his mind had strawberry blonde waves for hair and bloodied chains wrapped around her wrists.
Lenore.
The distraction burned. He kissed Calvera harder to chase it away.
But the fire beneath would not be quenched.
Not until he faced the truth of what haunted him in the dark.