I blinked, surprised. “Oh. Was it because you were worried I’d argue?”
“No, I wanted you and the others to argue with me. I didn’t want to hide my reasons.”
My eyebrows rose. “You were that confident you’d win?”
A deep chuckle rumbled in his chest. “Yes.” He paused. “But I’m not so sure we can win Calimber. We are eight warriors against Dracles, his army, and the guards in the mine. And I won’t let the prisoners become collateral.”
I laid my palm on his warm chest. He immediately pressed his hand on top.
“We’ll find a way,” I whispered. “Because we have to. That’s why we’re spying on it first. Perhaps there’s a weakness we can exploit.”
“Perhaps. But we will need more allies, eventually. For this battle. Or the next.”
I swallowed hard. “Is that why you wanted Frieda to send more runners? To rally more of the clans behind us?”
Aiden rubbed his jaw. “I thought perhaps Renwell destroying the Urzost village would be enough to unite the clans, butbad blood runs deep. Frieda is not hopeful and would rather preserve her clan than fight a battle that may swallow the Yargoths whole.” He turned his face away from me. “It’s what a good leader would do.”
I bit my lip, remembering the comment I’d made onMynastra’s Wings.And the guilt that I knew weighed on him for Mother.“You don’t needlessly sacrifice lives either, Aiden. Unless it’s your own.”
“You think my plan is foolish?”
I hesitated. An idea had taken root in my mind since learning that Renwell had told Aquinon there were no other heirs to claim the throne. The idea had only strengthened after I decided we should find a way to destroy Calimber.
“I think you’re desperate to win,” I said softly. “But it doesn’t have to be alone or with a distant alliance. What if... what if we sent word to my sister’s soldier, Henry? He’s a captain in the army, in charge of hundreds of Rellmiran soldiers?—”
“And you think they would join us so easily? Betray their oaths to serve the king? Destroy a mine they might benefit from? I wanted the Dag warriors because I trust them to see Renwell as an enemy who’s killed and imprisoned their people.”
“He’s afalseking who probably intends to use Henry and his men in battles they don’t wish to fight. Their fellow Rellmirans are imprisoned in that mine, too. They’d be freeing their people.”
Aiden shook his head. “Even if we got a message to Henry, neither of us actually knows him. We could give up our plan to someone who would then feed it to Renwell for a pat on the back.”
“My sister is in love with him. They’ve carried on a secret affair even when he would’ve been thrown in prison for such a thing. I don’t think he’d betray us.”
“Have we not been betrayed enough to avoid such a risk?” he asked gently.
The words pierced my heart like a well-aimed knife. My eyes prickled. “Have we not lost enough to risk everything?”
He brushed his fingers over my brow and slid them down to rest against my throat. “There are some things I refuse to risk,” he said roughly. “There are other battles I need to win.”
Was he speaking of me? Us?
I closed my eyes for a moment, breathing in his nearness, his words. My pulse raced beneath his fingertips.
“I will not be the reason you fail again,” I whispered.
His fingers slipped around my neck, pulling me closer. “I didn’t fail completely. You were the only reason I won at all.”
Oh, gods. There was no air. In my lungs, in the world, in the space between our lips. Some illogical, wild part of my mind insisted I would find it if I pressed my mouth to his.
Suffocating seemed easier.
“Breathe, Kiera,” Aiden murmured, as if he’d read my thoughts, caressing my throat. “You don’t need to worry. I won’t be stealing anything else tonight. Even if I am a dirty little thief,” he added with a teasing note.
Air rushed into my lungs, and I swallowed hard, my throat rubbing like a rock against sand.
“You like that name a bit too much,” I rasped. My heart still beat erratically as he kept hold of me.
His smile flickered in the dim light. “Now I understand why it made your eyes flare every time I said it to you.”
