I thought for a second, then traced a shape around my flower.
“A shield?” he guessed. Then, before I could correct him, his eyes sparked. “No. The head of a shovel.”
I grinned, pleased he’d figured out my intentions.
“Because you mortals have to fight for your magic, just as you did with the wyrms.”
“I was thinking we have to dig for it. Work for it.”
“There’s a fight ahead of you and every other mortal who wants more,” he promised. “Speaking of which, there’s a fight ahead of you this afternoon. We both need to bathe and dress for the next trial.”
The image of slipping into a bath with Fieran, with the water lapping around his chest and his broad arms resting around the sides of the tub, rose to my mind a little too easily.
“Right.” I sat up, climbing over him to leave the bed. But when I straddled his waist so I could get up, his hands rose and caught my hips.
His eyes looked soft in the gentle morning light as they studied me.
“What will happen at the selection?” I asked to distract myself from the dangerous temptation to kiss him. “What about Kiegan?”
“Oh, worried for him, are you?” The shift in his tone was sudden, sharp. “You should be worried about yourself after your little performance. Curling up like a pill bug and napping through the fight.”
His jealousy was unexpectedly pleasing. I slid off his lap, padding across the room. His enormous windows were open, as usual, and the salt-tinged breeze rifled my hair. I didn’t dare go any closer to them, but from here I could watch the rolling waves.
“I thought you’d appreciate my scheming,” I teased.
“Scheming? You got yourself hurt.” He was out of bed himself, picking up a shirt to pull over his head. “You picked the single most dangerous recruit in the field and fought him. And here I thought yourclevernessusually outweighed yourrecklessness.”
“If I were clever, I wouldn’t have fallen for your schemes.” I scowled at him, though I had meant to be charming. Belatedly, I smiled, tryingto soften my words; his brows arched skeptically as if he didn’t trust that smile one bit. “Kiegan’s worried no clan will take him. Because of what he is.”
“No one trusts an orc.” He perched on the edge of the tub, turning on the tap.
“I do. Youshould.” And I should go, rather than lingering in his room, but I couldn’t leave until he promised to help Kiegan.
Shimmering heat rose from the surface of the rapidly filling water, and I shuddered, remembering how it had felt at the edge of burning. Should I tell Fieran what had happened? What Maura had done?
“This is the first year an orc and a mortal have made it to the Trials.” His expression shifted, turned thoughtful. Even jealousy couldn’t distract his sharp mind from scheming for more than a few seconds. “Perhaps it’s for the best that you fought him. Onlookers will think there’s enmity between you.”
The thought grated at me when Kiegan was my best friend here. “How does that serve either of us?”
“Nothing frightens the Fae more than unification among those who are not Fae.”
“That knowledge makes me feel positively affectionate toward my fellow man,” I said.
His lips softened. It wasn’t a smile so much as an unguarded thought. “Towardme?”
“Let’s not go that far.” Though, even as I said it, I knew he wasn’t quite my enemy.
Still, Lidi’s magic had been torn loose. At home, she must be watching her beloved flowers wither, touching brown leaves that crumpled to dust under her once-magic fingertips. There was plenty to hate him for.
I combed through my hair with my fingers, fixing it in the large mirror he probably took for granted. “Don’t despise Kiegan. I talked him into fighting me. It was my fault, not his. He only did what I asked.”
“Is that so?” His eyes were sharp. “Plotting together, then? Do you think it’s better to be beaten by someone you care for? Or do you have some dreadful kink I ought to know about?”
Heat flared in my cheeks, and his smile widened as if that were confirmation enough.
I didn’t want to ask Fieran for anything. I didn’t want to owe him any favors. But I owed Kiegan, and that meant I would owe Fieran.
“Kiegan helped me. He knew it might reflect badly on him. And since you need me for your plotting…” My voice faltered.
