Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 41

A new normal
The question caused Anaisa to blush wildly, and Trace couldn’t bring himself to regret asking it. He needed to know for sure… upon waking, would she call it a nightmare, or a pleasant dream?

Anaisa visibly swallowed, but otherwise laid still as she looked down at Trace from the bed.

“I slept very well indeed, thank you. And yourself?”

He barely stopped the grin that would have given him away entirely as he heard her answer, forcing it to stay as a polite smile on his face. Her words filled him with hope.

He was still playing the dream, and her answer, over in his mind later as they walked to the palace together. Anaisa was giving Trace a curious look as they took their things to the palace. He belatedly realized he was whistling, and pressed his lips together.

This was a serious situation, hunting a potential traitor in the palace and trying to avoid being perpetually in the web of a blackmailer. Whistling was inappropriate, and she was right to stare at him as if he were crazy.

“Is there anything in particular I should look for today?” Anaisa glanced at him. “Anyone with secrets I should try to talk to?”

He didn’t like involving her this much, but there was no way he would see the woman he suspected with the same frequency or ease his wife would. He felt strongly mixed emotions about the fact. On the one hand, there was an additional observation point to glean anything suspicious Yemi did, but on the other, he was intentionally letting Anaisa get closer to a traitor.

It was a calculated risk. One he wasn’t entirely comfortable with, but his wife seemed confident that it was the right course. He had to trust her judgment at least a little; she’d grown up in this city and he had not. There was likely a lot she knew that he didn’t, and that knowledge might be very useful.

Besides, it was both their lives on the line. Excluding her would make him happier, but leave her powerless to change her fate should things go poorly for him.

He noted that she had her hair covered and drawn back again, and as they approached the gate she changed her posture slightly to make herself seem shorter.

“Keep an eye on the magic user you mentioned, if you can,” Trace murmured. “But if it brings too much suspicion on you, do not meddle.”

Anaisa nodded eagerly, but her mood sombered considerably as they approached the gate.

The guard recognized Trace from the day before, but he squinted at Anaisa, who admittedly looked rather different. She kept her face lowered despite his scrutiny, confusing her husband.

“The Horse master told me to let you in this morning,” The guard said to Trace, “but no one told me–”

Anaisa drew some token from her pocket and flashed it at the guard, who leaned close before backing away from her rapidly.

“Oh, come right in, Miss, I’m sorry!” He stammered, confusing Trace further.

The guard practically leapt back from her, ushering them both in, and Trace sent his wife a concerned look. Just what had she done? What was the token she’d just shown the guard?

He glanced down, but she had already slipped it back into her pocket, out of view.

“What is that?” He whispered.

She smiled blandly in return. “I have to go. I’m not sure when we’ll see each other again, but–”

Her eyelashes lowered slightly as she struggled to finish the sentence. There was a lot of emotion in her voice. Clearly, there were some things she desired to say, but couldn’t.

Trace wanted to take her hand, or to hug her as they had embraced in her dream, but there were too many eyes around.

“Be safe,” He told her softly. “I’ll find you.”

She nodded, swallowing, and looked into his eyes. “You too. Be safe.”

He searched her gaze for more behind the words, but was unable to really decipher what she meant. Or perhaps he was imagining any additional meaning, and there was none to find at all. Anaisa was far more vulnerable than himself. He watched her disappear inside before he turned toward the stables with conflicted feelings. Trace sighed and set his mind to work once again to the blackmail, the plots, and the schemes. To his assignment.

For now, the best thing he could do was imbed himself deeper in the palace. He needed clues about each piece of the puzzle, to solve one or more of the mysteries plaguing his life and his family.

Before he had finished grooming the first animal, the Horse master came through in a hurry.

“Quickly, groom and saddle those two,” He pointed to two mares, one the fine palomino he’d groomed the day before, and the other a simpler chestnut. “Hurry!”

The urgency in his voice set Trace on edge, but he did as he was bid and made sure the pair were presentable for whatever riders they would bear as quickly as he could. Didn’t he say one was a princess’s? The saddle for the palomino was ornate and more decorative than the other, but still functional.

He led the mares out to the courtyard to wait. The palomino tossed her head with impatience. The Horse master ceased pacing and looked at him with some relief.

“Good work, you made it here first.” He nodded. “I would have helped, but there would have been hell to pay if I did not wait here for her arrival.

Trace frowned and opened his mouth to ask what the problem was, when the door from the palace slammed open.

Toward him strode Anaisa, clad in fine royal clothes with a golden tiara on her head. He gaped at the haughty, disdainful expression on her face. Something was wrong.

“I have to open doors myself now??” The young woman screamed at Issachar, who ducked behind a barrel in fear.

As she stomped closer, Trace’s eyes slid past her to the pale servant at her side, whose hair was drawn back and hidden under a scarf. Cornflower-blue eyes begged him for silence.

Anaisa!

He looked between the two women, startled, and barely gained his composure before ducking his head and bowing to the approaching royal.

He cut his eyes up at his wife as he did. Confusion gave way to frustration and hurt. It seemed the more he trusted her with responsibility and parts of his secrets, the more he discovered she was still keeping from him.