Aiden frowned. “Wait here.” He strode off into the crowd, keeping to the edges of it.
I fidgeted for a moment, then darted after him. The crowd murmured around me while a few of them broke off and hurried away.
“Gods, when did this happen?”
“May the gods find his soul.”
“I can’t believe the king?—”
“—no explanation?—”
Somehow, I knew before I saw it—Asher’s head on a spear in the square. A crude wooden sign with the word THIEF burned into it was laid at its base.
My stomach churned. This was why Father wanted the head sent back. As a message for everyone else. There was no explanation because the king didn’t need to explain himself. He was simply threatening the city with their fate should they commit the same crime.
I trembled next to Aiden, who stared at the head with an expression of barely suppressed rage. Did he expect this outcome? Would he have done things differently if he had?
A slight breeze lifted Asher’s limp curls, and I spun away, charging blindly through the crowd.
A warm hand closed around my arm and gently pulled me into a narrow alley.
Aiden didn’t speak. He simply wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. I slipped my arms around his back and buried my face in his chest. His heartbeat pounded like thunder, and he smelled like salt and sunshine, sea and warmth. He rested his cheek on top of my head.
He had held me several times—out of comfort, desire... threat. But this embrace felt fierce and desperate in a way that made me think he needed it, too.
We stood there for several moments, lost in our need to cling to an anchor in the storm.
“It’s not your fault,” he murmured.
A harsh laugh sputtered from my lips.
He drew back to pierce me with his furious gaze. “It’s not, Kiera. It’s Weylin’s. He didn’t have to execute Asher and display him like this.”
I closed my eyes, unable to look at him. “Did you think this would happen?”
He hesitated. “No. But with Weylin, it’s always a possibility. I thought we would have more time. I’d hoped Asher would be able to hide the theft if he discovered it. I only wanted to take what we needed—a pittance compared to what that vault should’ve held.”
I opened my eyes to see the sincerity in his. And the guilt buried deep within.
I wasn’t alone.
My fingers dug into the muscles of his lower back. His jaw clenched, and he nestled his forehead against mine, closing his eyes and breathing deeply.
“We shouldn’t linger,” he whispered.
I matched his breaths for one heartbeat. Two. Then I let him go.
He gave me one last penetrating look before walking further down the alley. The bell towers of the Temple and its massivewhite dome floated above the buildings. I didn’t relish the idea of going there either. I’d never been able to go back after Julian.
Mother had asked me time and again, but I refused. Eventually, she’d stopped asking. If I’d just gone with her to the Temple the night she was taken and murdered, maybe she’d still be alive.
It wasn’t the first time the thought had occurred to me. In my darkest moments, I’d had to wrestle with that gnawing guilt and reason it back into its cage.
But now, Asher’s death also had a stranglehold on me. I couldn’t bear the weight of any more. Ineededto save everyone I could.
The alley spat us out in front of the Temple in all its sun-bathed glory. Wide white marble steps rippled from the soaring doors to the cobblestones. A few people entered and exited the Temple while most bustled about their business under its great shadow.
I followed Aiden up the steps and let the heavy, ornately carved wooden door ease shut behind me. Instantly, all sound disappeared. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dim interior, lit here and there by candles and braziers.
