All the while, I’d wondered how Kiera fared beyond her wounds.
Nothing distracted me from my work.Nothing.Distractions ended in death.
But I couldn’t resist her.
When I’d knelt to hand her the soap and she’d looked up at me, the water lapping at her bare shoulders, everything else faded away. My previous torment evaporated like the steam around us.
When I undressed to wash her hair and she gaped at me with raw desire, my own desire shone hard and bright, as if it’d always been there. Waiting. Until the clouds of fear and distrust shifted away.
But what had truly unraveled me was finding those scars on her back. Seeing her in such pain over that monster, Korvin. Holding her shivering body in my arms until she calmed.
She hadn’t told me why she’d been punished in such a way. Probably over some small infraction in her life as a personal guard—fell asleep on duty or looked at Weylin the wrong way. Whatever it was, it certainly didn’t warrant Korvin’s whip.
Perhaps it’d been foolish of me to share what I did about the mine and my scar. From the moment I met her, she’d carved my secrets from me, piece by piece. But this time, I wanted to let her. I wanted her to see more of me. I wanted to know what she would do with it.
When her lips had touched my scar, it made my heart twist with agony. Because, for the first time in a long time, I wanted to let someone else in. But my heart knew I didn’t deserve the kindness she showed me. She didn’t know what I’d done to earn that scar. Or what I’d done since then.
Soon—too soon—it wouldn’t matter. She’d be gone with her gold, and I... I would disappear as well. One way or another.
“Well, look who it is!” Maz’s loud voice roused me from my thoughts. “Hey there, lovely!”
My gaze latched onto the very object of my distraction.
Kiera had frozen in the middle of the crowded tavern. I drank her in, from hood to boot, pleased to see my sharp little gifts strapped to her waist.
But she looked at me as if I were the last person she wanted to see. My smile fell.
Oblivious, Maz waved her over, yanking another chair to our table. “Come, come, sit. Hey, Iris! Some Sunshine, if you please!”
Kiera trudged over and sat down next to me. Even though she angled as far away from me as she could get, our knees still brushed under the table.
She nodded a greeting to Maz and Ruru, but avoided my gaze with her head lowered. Iris appeared between us with a full mug of Sunshine, which Kiera seized with thanks. The mead sloshed over the rim.
I frowned. Was she trembling?
She took several long gulps of mead, eliciting raised eyebrows from Maz.
“Where have you been?” I asked, rougher than I meant to.
Her shoulder twitched next to mine. But she kept her chin tucked. “I... I just finished a task for Sophie. It was nearby, so I thought I would stop for a drink.”Alone, was what she didn’t say.
“An errand without me?” Ruru asked, his mouth bent in a frown.
Kiera drank more. “I waited, but Sophie said it was urgent. Medicine for the pregnant wife of one of the guards.”
“You went to the barracks?” I demanded.
She nodded.
“Gods damn it, Kiera, look at me!”
Three pairs of eyes widened at me, but I only cared for hers. Shadows hovered in them, and her face was drawn and pale.
I tried to gentle my voice. “What happened? Is it your wounds?” My gaze darted from her head to her chest.
She shook her head. “I thinkI just overexerted myself is all.”
It wasn’t all, but I didn’t want to push her. And I’d frightened her by behaving like a gods-damned brute.
