His fingers traced gentle circles on my skin as the rain pattered on the tent. I let him explore my body, even rolling over for him when he asked.
I tensed when he pressed a kiss between my shoulder blades, on the bed of scars there.
“I owe you for that kiss in the bathhouse,” he murmured. “I told you I take back what is mine.”
His fingers swept down my spine, eliciting a shiver from me.
I turned back over and prodded the scar on his shoulder, remembering the falcon inked there. I wanted to see it again. “You embraced my scars. I wanted to do the same for you.”
His face hardened for a moment, as if an unwelcome memory had passed through his mind. He grasped my fingers and kissed the scars on my knuckles. “Such beautiful, dangerous hands.” Then he dipped his head and kissed the thin scar on my chest.
I tunneled my fingers through his hair and lifted his face. “Where will you go?”
I almost wished I hadn’t asked, but this might be the only time to ask it.
His brows drew down as he studied my face in the dim light. “You mean, after?”
I nodded, a lump already forming in my throat.
“I honestly don’t know,” he admitted. “For all my planning, I’ve never thought much about what comes after. At least not for myself.”
He shifted so that he was lying on his side, propped on one elbow. But our fingers played together on my stomach as if we couldn’t help touching each other.
“Maz will go home to Dagriel,” he continued. “Ruru and Melaena want to stay in the city and pursue a better life under Everett’s rule. Nikella will wander the world as she always does.”
“But what about you?” I asked again. “Will you go back to Twaryn? Be a healer, perhaps?” I added with a small smile.
His throat bobbed, his eyes darting to mine, then away. “I haven’t thought of where I’d go or what I’d do. But rather... who I want to be with.”
My heart pounded. I licked my lips. “And?”
“What is your plan?” he asked abruptly. “For after?”
“I’m not sure either,” I said carefully before giving him the safest answer. “Melaena offered to let me stay on atThe Silk Dancer.”
Aiden rolled onto his back, but his hand never left mine. “I see. I suppose you would be safe there. Especially if Everett rids Rellmira of Weylin’s allies.”
Worry tightened my belly. Everett was sweet and gentle, in love with his books. The idea of him ousting people like Renwell and Dracles from their positions didn’t sound like him. But if he was to be king, he had to.
“Would you be happy there?” Aiden asked, interrupting my thoughts.
I will never know.“I suppose. The dancers are nice. I could earn good money. I like to dance. And Melaena is a kind friend.”
Aiden said nothing, just stared at the tent roof.
“But,” I said slowly, “I’ve always wanted to explore a life outside of Aquinon. Before you found me here in the woods, I was contemplating running away through them.” I smiled to let him know I was jesting in part.
He smiled back at me. “I would’ve run away with you.” He brushed a strand of hair from my cheek. “More and more of late, I can’t seem to run in any direction that does not lead to you.”
My heart twirled even as my mind cautioned the impossibility of such a thing. I couldn’t leave my brother if he really did become king. And if he didn’t, if I thwarted Aiden’s plans for assassination, then I would still be chained to Father’s side for the sake of my siblings.
That wasifFather let me live when he found out his gods-damned gold was gone.
There was no way out for me. Even if I desperately wished that were true.
Either Aiden would leave the city defeated—or, gods forbid, dead—or he would be the man who killed my father.
But then another option occurred to me.
