Chapter 9

For the remainder of the day, I stayed in my room, brooding, and not sure what I was supposed to do with myself.

I almost regretted not accompanying Allera and Brentley on their walk. Then again, I also didn’t. Who would want to tag along for that kind of awkwardness?

But it all left me distinctly alone.

A servant brought lunch to my room. I ate it by myself, not knowing the name of any dish on my tray. The food here didn’t taste the same as it did in High Cliff. It wasn’t worse, but the flavors were definitely different, rich with foreign spices. If I were in any other frame of mind, I probably would’ve enjoyed the explosion of new flavors. But I mostly just picked around with my fork, shifting the meal from one side of my plate to the other. It was hard to concentrate on food when the urge to seek out my one true love took up so much of my thoughts.

When dinnertime came, I planned to do much of the same, moping around my room, but the servant who showed up at my door didn’t bring