The queen didn’t flinch, but the hand that rested atop the table had balled into a fist. “Don’t leave us waiting too long, son. It is your father’s dream to have a second heir to the throne.”
“Don’t nag him, Ailith.” The king wiped his mouth with a cloth napkin and stood. Garrin and the queen stood as well, followed by a startled Lex. “You will meet with me tomorrow, Garrin,” he said, and moved swiftly to the exit.
Garrin touched Lex’s elbow and escorted her toward the door as well, the food and drink abandoned upon the king’s departure.
But his mother stopped them before they could leave. “A gift,” she said, and extended a ring with a sparkling yellow stone secured in a basket-weave gold setting.
Lex’s mouth parted and her eyes widened. “I-I don’t know what to say. This is beautiful. But I have nothing to give in return.”
Ailith slid the ring onto Lex’s finger. “For my future daughter-in-law,” she said, and walked away, sending one last sidelong look as she did. “I’m certain in time you will give me far more.”
22
Lex watched the queen leave and clenched the hand that held what had to be the biggest freaking gemstone she’d ever seen. “Did your mom really just give me a ring the size of a bird’s egg… Garrin?”
His face had gone pale. Once the queen turned the corner, he carefully placed Lex’s hand with the ring on his forearm, as though to escort her away.
But that wasn’t what he did.
Angling his body, he hid her arm from the soldiers who had maintained a steady presence behind them since the king’s summoning. Then he slipped off the ring from her finger and tucked it inside his breast pocket. “A lovely gift from my mother.” His expression held no happiness. In fact, the look on his face was so dire it sent tremors down Lex’s spine.
This man had kept her alive through freezing conditions no human could survive—and now he was scared?
They made it to Garrin’s quarters. The soldiers maneuvered on either side of the door, but they didn’t try to enter.
Garrin closed the door and gently pulled her toward the far end of the chamber. He backed her against a wall and leaned in, his forearm braced above her head, his mouth inches from her own.
Lex’s heart fluttered and her breathing turned spastic. She’d been terrified around the king, who she swore had entered her dream with that awful crown on his head. But Garrin oozed charm, even when his handsome face was stressed. No matter the danger they were in, every moment with him was seductive.
“What’s going on?” Lex couldn’t begin to imagine how powerful something had to be to scare the Dark Prince.
His head dipped even closer until his lips brushed her earlobe. “Someone wishes to track your presence in our land. The ring is charmed.”
Lex jolted. And not from Garrin’s mouth on her ear—though thatwasdistracting. “Your mother?”
He touched his finger to her lips and shook his head slowly as though reminding her to remain quiet. “I don’t know,” he murmured. “But the ring contains magic.”
She peered up past his full lips to his crystalline eyes. How could she have ever thought them cold when they held so much warmth? “You sensed it?”
“Someone didn’t want anyone to know the ring was charmed. The magic has been masked, but it’s there,” he said quietly.
“What do we do?”
Garrin swallowed, his muscular neck bobbing in a nervous gesture she wasn’t used to seeing from him. “We get you out of here.”
“That was already the plan after what we learned about your father,” she whispered.
He shook his head slowly. “After meeting with my father and mother… I don’t know how, but they are several steps ahead of us. We must go immediately.”
She reached up and curled her hand around his arm. “Don’t you leave me,” she said.
His gaze dropped to her mouth, and he looked away. He didn’t speak for a moment, and then he said, “I’ll do whatever necessary to keep you safe.”
Lex frowned. “Garrin, I’m not kidding.”
He touched her chin, his warm gaze tracing the outlines of her face. “Em will bring clothes more suitable to your tastes,” he said quietly, though loud enough that the men stationed outside the door could hear.
She tilted her head and crossed her arms. “The clothes…? You’re very selective about what you listen to.”
