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palace walls?
    The messenger bowed his head. “Thank you, Your Highness, but I must return at once.”
    Erick ’s eyebrows raised a fraction. “Are you sure?”
    “Certain.”
    “Very well. You are dismissed.”
    The messenger mounted his horse and disappeared into the trees, the pounding of hooves fading into a dull drum. After a long moment of silence Emmeline found she could breathe again.
    Erick told hold of Emmeline’s arm and guided her up the palace steps. “Are you all right?” he asked.
    Emmeline swallowed her apprehension. Mahlon was gone. No one would come for her again. She was safe. “Yes, why?”
    Letting go of her arm, Erick opened the door and waited for her to step through before following her from behind. “You didn’t take on any heat.”
    “How did you know?”
    Erick shrugged. “I know we haven’t seen a lot of each other as of late, but I’ve seen you shrink away from flames, even small ones. You never sit by the fire. In fact, you often leave a room if the fireplace has been lit. And I’ve found you, more than once, fumbling around the corridors late at night without the aid of a candle. I could tell you were uncomfortable tonight, reluctant even.”
    Emmeline grimaced. Considering his hectic schedule, she didn’t think he had noticed her aversion to the castle’s hearths. She hadn’t used her power since the day Mahlon escaped. It had been raining that day. She had won her freedom from him, and had filled herself with enough power to crush him, but when she had run out into the rain to fight, the water had smothered the flames within her. The rain had left her helpless, useless. And Mahlon had gotten away.
    “I understand why you might never want to use a flame again ,” Erick said. “You’ve seen more destruction than anyone should have to.”
    “But I can’t stand by and let you fight for me.”
    “I want to fight for you,” he said, taking her arm again.
    “I know and I love you for that. I don’t know what happened. I panicked, I guess. We had no way of knowing if that man wanted to control me. If he had, and I’d opened myself up to the fires, I wouldn’t have been able to stop taking on heat. The situation could have gotten dangerous for all of us.”
    Erick made a sly face. “I would have thrown a bucket of water on you.”
    “Very funny,” Emmeline said with a roll of her eyes.
    Erick shrugged. “I thought so.”
    But Emmeline didn’t laugh and neither did Erick. She bit her lip as Erick led her toward the grand staircase.
    “Aren’t you going to open the letter?” Emmeline asked.
    “I will.”
    “Now?”
    Erick laughed, but it sounded forced, somehow.
    “I thought I’d return you to your quarters first, My Lady,” he said. “There is no sense in keeping you awake with mundane communications.”
    Emmeline pulled back on Erick’s arm. “You should read it now. That man nearly killed himself to deliver it.”
    Erick swallowed and broke the seal, but before he unfolded the letter he glanced at Emmeline and took a step back, a look of apology on his face.
    Emmeline scowled. As much as it frustrated her to be kept in the dark, she knew he only meant to shield her from unpleasant news. But, the people of Dolmerti expected her to rule by his side, not from the sidelines. The sooner he realized she could handle all aspects of ruling a country, unpleasant or not, the sooner she could help him carry the burden he seemed so intent on shouldering alone.
    While Erick read, Emmeline examined her boot as it made swirling patterns in the carpet. A dull gnawing worked at her stomach, making her wonder if it was a new, foreboding anxiety, or a lingering emotion from the messenger’s somewhat strange arrival. What was so urgent a man had to push himself to the extreme in order to deliver it? And why did he insist on returning when he appeared on the brink of collapse?
    Erick took in a sharp breath and Emmeline brought her head up. “What is it?” she asked. “What