Cora counted to sixty, four times. Her heart pounded in her chest. She had wanted to wait until she counted a full five minutes. Surely that was enough time that Harriet would have made it down the hall. So that she wouldn't see Cora embarrass herself.
But her body simply wouldn't allow for it.
Cora leapt from her seat, dashing out the bedroom door. She was so fast, she didn't even recognize the blur of black and white that stood waiting by the door.
Harriet smirked as she watched Cora run toward Maren's bedroom, "Kids."
Cora's heels frantically clapped throughout the halls. She hadn't realized how antsy she'd been to hear about Maren until now. Until her limbs forced her through the halls. Until she found herself panting in front of Maren's bedroom door, collecting herself so that she wouldn't know how Cora rushed to her side.
Cora twisted the brass doorknob and creaked the door open without knocking.
Before Cora could take even a single step inside the room, cold steel sliced the air beside her throat. Lexi Raine stood in the archway, her raised blade was a barrier between Cora and Maren's chamber. Cora's gaze lifted to meet hers, and her eyes widened slightly.
It wasn't just the harshness within Lexi's gaze that sent the hairs on the back of her neck rising. It was what lay hidden beneath them, buried and guarded carefully and ferociously.
Lexi pulled back her sword. Her expression was flat and unreadable. "Apologies, Your Majesty," she said, her tone even. "There was no knock at the door. And as you know, we Knights must remain vigilant in the presence of the Starblessed."
She sheathed her sword, but not the one behind her eyes.
"Quite right," Cora cleared her throat, setting her eyes on Maren. "I apologize for my sudden entry. I came to see how you are doing after…"
Suddenly, memories flashed through Cora's mind. Her hot, bare flesh pressed to Maren's. Pinning her against the rock. The rising heat and the tension between them.
Cora's face flashed bright red, but she shook it off.
"I just wanted to see if you're okay. I thought perhaps we could talk." Cora finished, squeezing her eyes shut, thinking her own awkwardness would be the end of her.
Maren smirked. What could look like a cruel expression on some seemed rather gentle on her face. "Of course." She turned to Lexi, "would you mind waiting outside?"
Lexi smiled, her expression soft when she looked at Maren. "Of course."
She rose from her seat at Maren's bedside and turned away from her. Cora noted the informality this Knightess carried herself with around Maren. She remembered Lexi faintly from their time at the Academy. Lexi was several years older than them, and because of that, she had never once stood in Cora's way. Still, the closeness between her and Maren unsettled her.
But when Lexi turned, and her gaze met Cora's, the truth hit her like a village stoning. Whatever tenderness Lexi showed Maren was not the only thing this Knight wanted kept hidden behind those dark eyes.
Contempt masked within layers of discipline and professionalism.
Cora straightened as Lexi glided past her.
Cora was both Starblessed and born into royalty. She was never alone, always surrounded by the children of loyalists, the daughters and sons of tradespeople, allies to the crown of Garyn. Friends, her family called them.
But Cora knew — Maren possessed a charm far more magnetizing than anything Cora's family could offer others. It was like a spell, or perhaps a hex of some kind. A power that required no crown or command. A power that stole the hearts of others. If it ever came down to it, Maren's ruin would never truly happen. Not while the people who hovered around her stood ready to shield her, or to fight for her with none so much as a request.
Cora had once wondered if that was Maren's power.
But it wasn't until recently that she came to understand that it had nothing to do with magic at all.
When the door snapped shut behind Lexi, Cora and Maren locked eyes, the energy between them thick with tension. Cora's brows knitted together awkwardly as she searched herself for the right words, but they simply wouldn't come. Her lips parted in anticipation of physical speech, but nothing escaped her. She wanted to put it all out there; how she felt, how she acted the way she did, and why. But the words were lodged in her throat like a clogged pipe, waiting to burst.
"So," Maren began, watching Cora hesitantly from her bed. "You can release steam."
Cora grimaced, and walked to her bedside, taking the place where Lexi sat.
"I can release steam," she echoed.
Maren nodded, her mouth tightening as she stared down at her thumbs that laid in her lap. She picked at her nails that had recently been carved to perfection by her maid.
"I can heal others," Maren said, her voice barely above a whisper. "But I cannot heal myself."
Cora nodded, turning her head away. She had figured as much. With just a touch from Maren, she had regained her senses, but for Maren, the consequences of that night were far more dire. Guilt tore at Cora's insides, stabbing and piercing her heart with blades dipped in poison shame. What Maren had done was out of the goodness of her heart. She didn't have to stay and let Cora boil her alive.
And yet, she did.
The idea alone ripped Cora apart.
Her eyes burned, tears threatening to break and lay heavy in her eyes. But instead, Cora inhaled deeply, thinking\ carefully about her next words.
"I…" she began, the words breaking apart on her tongue. "I get very upset. And when I don't release my feelings properly, pressure builds inside me. Eventually, I reach a boiling point. That's what you saw last night."
Cora glanced up at Maren who sat there, studying her. Her face showed no sign of malice or pleasure in knowing this. She knew just how important this kind of information was — just as Cora did. Maren understood that this was Cora's way of leveling the playing field, as if to say 'these are my pros, and these are my cons. Please carry them gently and I will do the same.'
This was trust.
They held each other's gaze in a moment of quiet understanding, eyes locked as if breaking contact—even for a heartbeat— might cost them something crucial. Each of them reached the other for a cruel smirk or a malicious glint.
But none came.
Cora could hear her own heart in her ears, a continuous thud that rhythmically pumped throughout her body, so strong she could feel it in her fingertips. She blinked as the world began to close in around her and Maren, until it was just them and that sound.
Then, suddenly, Maren smiled. It was one of her award-winning smiles, so soft and bright, not even rabbit's fur could compare. Cora became aware of the light in the room. The curtains were mostly drawn, but a thin sliver of light slipped through, washing over Maren. The light seemed to cling to the streaks of gold in her hair, kindling the brightness in her eyes like blue flame. Tiny particles of dust drifted between the beam like stars sparkling between light and shadow, glittering around her.
Maren is so beautiful, Cora thought.
Then, something overcame her. For the first time in her twenty-one years, Cora's heart lurched. The pounding in her ears and fingers stilled for a single moment, and then resumed to a steadier, deeper rhythm. Warmth filled her chest, familiar to the sensation of the rising pressure within her, but lighter. This feeling bloomed, igniting into an inescapable fire, unwelcome but spreading uncontrollably across her flesh, and through her nerves.
Her lips parted, and her hand flew to her chest.
This fire felt different.
What…what was that?