Pure, unfiltered darkness. I can’t even see Jax,but I can feel him.
I can feel himeverywhere.
The side of my head presses against his hard, wet chest, and his fingers tangle in my hair, holding me there.
The footsteps grow louder, and I cling to his shoulders, my nails digging into his skin, but he doesn’t so much as flinch.
“It’s okay,” Jax whispers against the shell of my ear, and I shiver, not because I’m cold—which I should be—but because of my proximity tohim. Andgods,does he smell good.Feelgood. “They can’t see us or hear us. We just need to wait for them to pass.”
His shadows.
They’re wrapped around us, forming a protective barrier, shielding us from everyone and everything and right now, in this moment, it’s as if we’re the only two people that exist.
With the fear of being discovered slowly leaving me, I allow myself to focus on other things, but the only thing to focus on ishim. His fingers cradling my head. The firm planes of his chest pressed against me.
Focus, Serafina,on literally anything butthat.
“If…if they were to see me…what would happen?” I ask, my voice louder than I feel it should be, but with his shadows concealing us, I suppose we can be as loud as we want.
His body stiffens. He’s as still as a statue.
“They’d tell the king.”
“Your father?” I ask, and what a stupid question it is, becauseof coursehis father. But I do find it interesting he didn’t refer to him that way.
“Yes.”
“And what would he do?”
He’s silent for a while.. I pull my head back, as if to look at him, but I can’t see him. The darkness is keeping him hidden so I can’t read his face, not that I’d be able to anyway with how good he is at hiding his emotions.
“What would he do, Jax?”
His fingers shift, moving from my hair to the nape of my neck, which somehow feels even more intimate, and my pulse quickens.
“I worry he might try to kill you.”
“Kill me?” My voice cracks.
“Try to,” he corrects, his tone even, almost unnervingly calm.
“Try to?”
“I wouldn’t let him.”
I can’t speak. My tongue feels swollen, and my breaths leave me in ragged pants.
“Butwhy?”I finally manage to ask because it doesn’t make sense. I’m not an evader, but perhaps he would still consider me one, and everyone knows such a crime comes with a death sentence, butstill.The prince—hisson—brought me here. Surely, that matters. Surely, itshouldmatter.
“Because of what he thinks you might see.”
What I might see?What I might see?
“You do realize we’re all more than well aware of how you people live, right?” I scoff, trying to pull away, but his grip remains firm, and suddenly, I don’t want to pull away anymore. But I’m still angry, so angry, and I try to hold on to that feeling. “We struggle. You don’t. We make a gallon of water last more than a week. You waste that in a single day. We ration our food, consuming small portions. You eat more than I could fathom in a single sitting. What Iseewill come as no surprise to anyone.” I feel myself losing control, growing hotter and hotter, and I’m not sure if his shadows will be able to hide my flames. “But he would kill me, regardless?”
His grip tightens on the back of my neck, steadying me,groundingme. “I will not let him,” he says again, “I need you to trust that, but more importantly, I need you to breathe, Nova. I need you to take a deep breath and breathe with me.”
Breathe.
