“Because I won’t want to march to Magnice to finish the job,” Bala replied. “To be honest, I do not know how many people in my kingdom right now would agree and want to go with them. And if they do find Nyssa and Dorian, they will try to kill them.” She paused and met Lex’s gaze, the words she was about to speak stilling in her throat for a moment before she said them.
“They cannot stay here together.”
Lex looked as though she would fight Bala right then—chest visibly caving, jaw tightening... The last she'd seen such a look on the Second Sun's face was when Bala had tried to refuse to leave Magnice.
“What are you saying?” Lex asked, voice tight.
“I’m saying they can stay for a few days, but not indefinitely. If rumor finds the rebel Hunters that they are both here, they will march in here for their heads, and not because of what happened to Draven, but because they will see it as finishing what they think Draven started.”
“You told them they were welcome here.”
“And they are, but... I cannot watch as either of them is murdered. They are my friends.”
“What would you have them do?”
Bala looked back down at Dorian and Corbin sitting at the fire. “Nadir will be here tomorrow. You and Nyssa should go to the Umber. She is the only one capable of walking in that room with these strangers and reading them so as to not walk into an ambush. She has to help Nadir negotiate with the strangers to keep them at bay, at least for the winter. We need time. A ceasefire can give us that."
“You want to separate them?”
“It’s not what I want—”
“Their sister justdied,” Lex argued as she stood. “I will not pretend to think how either of them will handle being separated. They’ve not been away from each other except a few weeks at a time their entire lives.”
“I understand, but… It’s the only way to keep them safe.”
“What about Dorian?”
“He needs to go to the mountains,” Bala said. “I would go, but I cannot leave my people with the threat of the rebels on our doors. He has to go to Dahrkenhill. He has to speak with Hagen and the rest of their Elders. He has to salvage the damage the Bedrani enthralled upon the relationship we just solidified.”
“Do you truly think the Blackhands will welcome him into their towns when they could very well think he was part of the conspiracy to put the High Elder’s best friend to death?” Lex spat.
“If he doesn’t go, and we end up needing their aid because of these ships, we will not have it. He has to try to repair the relationship. If anyone can do it, he can. He's been there before. He knows them.”
Lex stared at Bala a moment. A moment long enough that Bala straightened fully off the railing and lifted her chin. She waited on Lex to lash out, throw her empty cup on the ground and demand Bala come up with a better plan.
“You’re telling them,” Lex said, pointing in her face.
“As King, I would expect no one to do it for me."
Lex sighed her back against the railing and slumped on the ground again. Bala could feel her gaze on her when she stretched inside the home to change her clothes.
"You're welcome to share my cot tonight," she called to Lex. "It's not much, but it’s more than the floor."
This time Lex laughed, but she laid her arms over her knees and glanced back down at the fire. "Should probably keep an eye on my Prince for a bit longer,” she replied. “And I feel I can be honest with you... I'm not sure how much company I'll be tonight."
Bala changed into only her nightshirt and strode back out to the deck. Lex's stare poured through her as Bala moved, and Bala could see the dilation in Lex’s gaze despite the words she'd just spoken. Bala ached for the comfort and familiarity of arms of someone who understood.
Lex had always made her feel wanted. With every smirk and sideways stare… the confidence of her entire being. Bala had shaken her head at her the first time she'd called her stunningly violent.
Seeing the Second Sun in pain there on that porch, Bala knew Lex could also use the comfort.
Lex watched as Bala sank straddle over her lap, hands hesitantly grazing Bala's bare thighs as Bala wrapped her arms around Lex's neck.
For a few moments, neither spoke. But Bala inhaled the ashen scent of the woman sitting before her, and she sank her forehead onto hers. The noise of her people echoed in her ears as distant as the Ulfram howl had earlier in the night.
Lex's arms wrapped around her, and the next thing Bala knew, Lex's cheek was lying on her breasts. A silent submission of herself that Bala was sure no other, say for perhaps Aydra, had ever witnessed. The tear that hit her skin made Bala's jaw clench, and she realized maybe Lex had not had a moment to allow herself to pull down that royal guard face and grieve for the loss of her best friend.
So Bala decided she would hold her there, her arms tucking around the Second Sun, and she would hold her for as long as they both needed.
