No spark burned between us. Was that because of my glamour or because of the Queen’s hold on my former lover? Or was it because I hadn’t known what true fire was until I met Aveen?
Aveen…
My stomach twisted. I’d gone to the spare room to speak with her only to falter when I heard her crying through the door. How could I offer words of comfort and promises when I hadn’t a clue how to navigate this situation?
I smiled at the woman I once loved. “I haven’t seen you here before, Leesha. Do you live close by?”
“My family protects the portal in the border cottage on the edge of the Forest.” She scooted the tray of cinnamon buns closer to me. “Have one. They’re delicious.”
“I really shouldn’t. They go right to my waistline.” One wouldn’t hurt though. I pulled apart the sticky treat and popped a bite between my lips. Eava truly worked miracles in this kitchen. “What brings you to the castle?”
“I’m visiting my fiancé, Prince Rían.”
Had truth ever tasted this bitter?
“I didn’t realize he was engaged. Congratulations.”
She beamed. “Thank you.”
“You are a brave woman. I have heard such wretched stories about his mother.”
Leesha’s expression softened as she bit off a tiny corner of bun with straight, white teeth. “I’ll admit that I was terrified of her at first. I foolishly tried to cross the Forest without permission. Today was Rían’s birthday, you see, and I desperately wanted to give him my present.”
My heart stuttered. She got me a present?
Don’t let her sway you. She’s a spy.
Only…she didn’tlooklike a spy.
I studied her clear, green eyes, the only hint of black in her wide pupil. If the Queen was controlling her, surely her dark influence would show somewhere. I licked my dry lips, the dessert in my hand forgotten. “What did you get him?”
With a quick glance around the kitchen, Leesha stuck her hand in the pocket of her skirts and withdrew a small package wrapped in a simple handkerchief. I set down the bun and wiped my sweaty hands on my skirts before taking the gift.
A pair of gold bar-link cufflinks.
“They belonged to my great-grandfather,” she said.
I smoothed my thumb over the mother of pearl inlay. Leesha had never had a coin to her name and yet she’d wanted to give me a priceless family heirloom. “They’re—” I cleared the lump from my throat. “They’re beautiful.”
“Maybe you should change out of that dress and put them on.”
My head snapped up, meeting Leesha’s smiling eyes. “You think I wouldn’t recognize you beneath that glamour, Rían? I’d know those eyes anywhere.”
Shit.
I dropped the glamour. Although the corset and dress were replaced with my usual shirt and breeches, the tightness around my chest remained, squeezing the breath out of me as Leesha leaned closer.
“Here. Let me.” She turned over my free hand and plucked one cufflink from the handkerchief to slip through the buttonholes and fasten in place. “They look beautiful,” she said proudly, tracing the pearlescent ovals. Her finger trailed down to Aveen’s ribbon around my wrist.
I pulled out of her grasp, my heart in my throat, choking me.
She wasn’t a spy.
Meaning the Queen had given her back to me for some other reason.
There was only one person who could tell me why.
I made some pathetic excuse about needing to run out for a moment and bolted out the back door. Shit. Shit.Shit. Leesha was really sitting in the castle kitchens. My soulmate was crying upstairs.