They were drawing close to the guard tower, so she slowed to a stop to answer him where no one else could hear. “That’s bullshit, Marius. I didn’t know you before. I watched you fight from afar. I’d never even spoken to you until the coronation, and I didn’t get to know you until we started working together. Frankly, if I had to compare, I’d say I like you better now than before. You seemed like kind of a dick when you thought you’d be king.”
She turned and started walking again. They passed through the gate where Marius exchanged a nod with the soldier in the guardhouse.
When they were out of earshot, Marius said, “I was kind of a dick.”
Refreshing, she thought, to meet a man who could admit it. She raised her eyebrows.
“Death is a humbling experience.”
“Do you have memories of that time? Never mind. That’s too personal.” She chided herself for going there. Was there anything more off-limits than a person’s murder and death?
She was surprised when he answered her.
“I have dreams… visions.” He took a deep breath. “They’re confusing.”
“Confusing… Like you can’t interpret what’s happening in them through the lens of a living body?” Her voice had dropped two octaves and came out in a chilling whisper.
Marius looked at her and broke into unbridled laughter. Harlow folded her arms defensively.
When he finally settled down, he said, “No. Confusing because the images are terrifying, but I always seem to be in charge and have the same goal. I’m leading a group of people… souls… through a dangerous place to get to a temple. But I don’t know why. The challenge changes, the topography changes, but the goal is always the same. And in my dreams, I never reach it.”
“That sounds awful.” How else could she respond to something like that? Three hundred years trying to accomplish an objective and failing.
“It is. Thankfully, the nightmares have almost completely stopped since I started training. I think you have a lot to do with it.”
“Me?” She pressed a hand into her chest.
He smirked. “You keep my mind busy. You are one of the few things in this life that…challenges me.”
His mind. Not just his body. Not just his libido. His mind. She loved that. “Hmm. You’re welcome.”
They walked on, discussing more common things. The weather, the unusual bounty of vaporfruit they were enjoying that season. Her love of the forest and the colors of twilight that time of year. Until they entered Hobble Glen and turned right, heading toward Swilton.
“Are you sure you want to come all the way to my place? This isn’t the Firedrake district. It’s no place for an heir.”
“Former heir.”
“Yes, Ambassador.” She rolled her eyes at him. “People may recognize you. It won’t be good for your reputation to be seen with me,” she said honestly.
His mouth spread into a roguish grin. “Then I definitely want to do it. Let them talk.” He reached out and threaded his fingers into hers.
“I knew there was a reason I liked you.” Although she wasn’t sure if he meant it as a joke, she didn’t release his fingers. Touching him sent a delicious electric charge through her, coaxing that flock of butterflies in her stomach into an absolute tizzy. Her heart joined in the fun, dancing inside her chest at the unexpected contact.
Thankfully, his hand wasn’t enough of a distraction to keep her from noticing a sign in a shop window: Room for Let. She took one look at the shoddy exterior of the little building and felt excited for an entirely different reason.
“I need to stop,” she said to him. “There’s something I want to see.”
“Lead the way.” He looked confused.
She led him to the store, only releasing his hand to push the heavy door open. It was a tailor’s shop. Several dresses hung on mannequins and on a rack that was pushed against one wall. A portly woman at a worktable spoke around pins clenched between her teeth. “Can I help you?”
“The sign said you had a room?” Harlow pointed toward the window.
The woman’s gaze raked over her dress. One of her nicer ones that wasn’t too frayed at the collar or the wrists. “It’s nothing special.”
“Neither am I.”
She didn’t miss the way Marius jerked at that admission, but he said nothing. The woman set down her work and pointed toward the back room. “Come with me, then.”
