2_-_court_of_mist_and_fury_a_-_sarah_j._maas

CHAPTER
36
The following day was torture. Slow, unending, hot-as-hell torture.
Feigning interest in the mainland as I walked with Tarquin, met his people, smiled at
them, grew harder as the sun meandered across the sky, then finally began inching toward
the sea. Liar, thief, deceiver—that’s what they’d call me soon.
I hoped they’d know—that Tarquin would know—that we’d done it for their sake.
Supreme arrogance, perhaps, to think that way, but … it was true. Given how quickly
Tarquin and Cresseida had glanced at each other, guided me away from that temple … I’d
bet that they wouldn’t have handed over that book. For whatever reasons of their own,
they wanted it.
Maybe this new world of Tarquin’s could only be built on trust … But he wouldn’t get a
chance to build it if it was all wiped away beneath the King of Hybern’s armies.
That’s what I told myself over and over as we walked through his city—as I endured the
greetings of his people. Perhaps not as joyous as those in Velaris, but … a tentative hardwon
warmth. People who had endured the worst and tried now to move beyond it.
As I should be moving beyond my own darkness.
When the sun was at last sliding into the horizon, I confessed to Tarquin that I was tired
and hungry—and, being kind and accommodating, he took me back, buying me a baked
fish pie on the way home. He’d even eaten a fried fish at the docks that afternoon.
Dinner was worse.
We’d be gone before breakfast—but they didn’t know that. Rhys mentioned returning to
the Night Court tomorrow afternoon, so perhaps an early departure wouldn’t be so
suspicious. He’d leave a note about urgent business, thanking Tarquin for his hospitality,
and then we’d vanish home—to Velaris. If it went according to plan.
We’d learned where the guards were stationed, how their rotations operated, and where
their posts were on the mainland, too.
And when Tarquin kissed my cheek good night, saying he wished that it was not my last
evening and perhaps he would see about visiting the Night Court soon … I almost fell to
my knees to beg his forgiveness.
Rhysand’s hand on my back was a solid warning to keep it together—even as his face
held nothing but that cool amusement.
I went to my room. And found Illyrian fighting leathers waiting for me. Along with that
belt of Illyrian knives.