Chapter84:

When Kit opened her eyes again, the sun was high in the sky, and her head felt as if it had caught the blunt end of Merek’s ax. She squinted at the open window and rolled over in her bed, trying to remember what it was she was hoping not to forget. The night before came back to her in tiny moments at first. She remembered the play, the dinner, meeting Pierce in her room. Once she’d gotten that far, the rest flooded in in a rush. An image of a bloodstained floor was followed closely by the realization that two of her favorite guards were dead. Eli had slain Merek; her mother had thought it was Pierce. There had been a sword in the room for some reason. Sometimes Eli called Avinia Vinny. Her mother was sending him away with a woman he’d previously pleasured. Kit’s hand immediately went to her forehead as the weight of it all pressed its way through a mind not yet ready to receive it. “Are you awake then?” Isla asked. “It’s nearly time for the noonday meal.” “I am not fully awake,” Kit re