Drake pulled his arm. “Let me do it. It would be best if you didn’t leave the party. It will look bad. Besides, Fenton Pryer doesn’t like you. We might get more information if I question him.”
Trev agreed, letting Drake take the lead on this one.
He joined his father on the dais, taking the throne seat next to him.
Carver fidgeted nervously with the end of his tie. “Let’s hope the worst is over.”
“What about Commander Pryer?” Trev asked. “Is it possible that he betrayed us? Carried on with the mission without your knowledge?”
His father shot him a look. “No.”
“Well, I know it wasn’t me. You claim it wasn’t you. That only leaves one man that could have given the order.” He looked at his father, hoping he saw the logic behind what he said.
King Carver slammed his hands on the thick arms of his chair, then pushed himself up.
Trev should have known better. His father never saw the logic.
“We’ll know more tomorrow,” the king said. “It’s late. I’m going to bed.”
Trev sat alone on the dais. The seriousness of the situation weighed him further into his chair. King Adler had consumed his thoughts for hours. He would never say the situation was a nice distraction, but it was a distraction, nonetheless. Now, in the quiet, he allowed his mind to drift. Seran had gone up already, saying she had packing to do for the honeymoon, and he’d lost track of Renna long ago.
45
Renna
The next morning, Renna knocked on the door, hearing Seran’s soft voice in the room beyond. Her maid answered the door, giving Renna a slight curtsey.
“Come in,” Seran said from behind her maid.
“I wanted to talk to you.” Renna stepped into the room and paused, looking at the pile of dresses sprawled across Seran’s bed. “Unless you’re too busy.”
“We’re just packing for the honeymoon.” Seran looked at her maid as if she understood the headache of it all. “The first few days we’ll spend in the mountains at the Trevenna family lodge. Summer is over and up in the mountains, it’s going to be chilly.” She pointed at a stack of colorful dresses with long sleeves. Next to them were bright jackets. “I have to be prepared for cooler temperatures, but then after that, we’re traveling around to several cities. The king thinks that showing the happily married couple will help with the election. So I have to have dresses that work for those occasions and temperatures.” She shook her head in annoyance. “There’s just so much to think about.”
Renna tried not to let the word honeymoon bother her. It was the first time she had heard Seran speak about what would happen after the wedding. The wedding ceremony had always been the culminating event—the final moment that loomed over her like death to the terminally ill. She hadn’t put much thought into Trev and Seran’s immediate future, into their honeymoon.
“So yes, I am busy, but not with anything I can’t do while talking.” Seran’s words pulled Renna out of her own head. “What do you need?”
Renna took a few more steps into the room. It was exquisite. The marble floor was covered with plush, striped rugs. Deep purple sofa chairs surrounded a large marble fireplace, the mantel molded and carved on the sides into ornate designs. Three French doors led to a spacious balcony that overlooked the city. Seran had all three sets of doors open, letting in the soft morning sunlight and the first evidences of Fall.
“I like your room,” Renna said.
Seran looked around while she continued to fold clothes. “I like it too, but I won’t be in it much longer. When we get back, I’ll move into Ezra’s chambers, and then after the election, I suppose I’ll have the queen’s suite attached to the king’s.”
More things Renna hadn’t thought about.
Things she didn’t want to think about.
“I’m leaving tomorrow,” she blurted. “I’m going to live at Wellenbreck Farm.”
“Oh?” Seran paused her folding, giving her full attention to Renna.
“I’m leaving before the ceremony.” Renna talked fast, the same way she always did when she was nervous. “I just wanted you to know, so you didn’t wonder where I was. Not that you would even think about me on your wedding day.” Renna frowned. Why did her words sound so weird? “I just . . . thought you should know.”
Seran set the dress in her hands down on the bed, then turned to her maid. “Vivian, will you give us some privacy, please?”
The maid curtseyed once then left the room.
“It seems strange that you’re leaving before the ceremony,” Seran said.
Renna’s voice came out a little too high. “Does it?”
“Well, yes.” Seran seemed a bit put out. “It will look bad if you’re not there. Like we had a falling out or like I asked you not to come.”
“No one will even notice that I’m gone.”
“Ezra will.” Seran’s lips tugged further downward. “He notices everything about you.”
Renna’s stomach began to churn, and suddenly it was hard to breathe.
“You know, sometimes I watch him watch you.” Seran gracefully sank onto the edge of her bed, squishing a pile of undergarments in the process. “His eyes always find you, but the look on his face is the most interesting part. Everything about him brightens.”
Renna swallowed back the rising bile in her throat. How long had Seran known about them? “Seran, I—”
She put her hand up, stopping Renna. “At first, I was angry with you. You’re not chained to a marriage alliance. You can fall in love with and marry whomever you want. Why did you choose the only man I can be with?”
“I . . .” Renna shook her head. Her chest tightened and it was hard to find her voice. She swallowed. “I didn’t choose him. I would never intentionally do that to you.”
Seran nodded. “Do you want to know the worst part?”
Renna didn’t dare answer.
“The worst part is none of us will truly ever be happy. No one wins in a situation like this.”
Emotion crept its way up Renna’s throat, but she refused to let it out, refused to let her own pain diminish the significance of Seran’s. She swallowed back the lump forming in her throat, willing herself to stay strong.
“I feel awful,” she managed to get out. “What can I do to fix this?”
Seran’s lips lifted into a small smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “There’s nothing to fix. You’ll go away, and I’ll pray that Ezra forgets you someday.”
Renna felt numb.
“I’m scared to marry him. Not just because he has feelings for you, but because I don’t have feelings for him,” Seran admitted. “I know that’s probably the last thing you want to hear me say, to complain about marrying a man you’d give anything to be with.”
Renna had thought she would give anything to be with Trev but seeing the hurt in Seran’s eyes ripped her heart wide open. Seran was right; no one won. “I wish you were free to do what you want with your life.”
“I do too.” Seran’s eyes dropped to her hands. “And what about you?” She abruptly stood. “Will you be happy?”