“Spit it out already.” I grew weary of the evasion and the secrets and having to live like I was the problem.
“You’re the future Queen.”
“And?”
He laughed without humor. “Do you think any King would let his wife go to war?”
I blew out a breath, ruffling my hair. “Not when the King himself wouldn’t ever show his face on the battlefield. The coward.”
“Shhh.” He glanced around. “Do you want to get me hanged. I’m already in enough trouble.”
I almost wanted to laugh. Or strangle him. But I was still reeling. “So you’re going to just let them lock me up in the palace?”
“I don’t see what choice I have.”I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I could finally taste freedom, and it had come far too late. What was the Gods’ plan here? Bond me to my dragon when I was already promised?
“And you’re going to what?”
“Get as far away from you and the First Kingdom as I can.” He half sat on the rail, leaning away from me.
“Am I so intolerable? I’m sure I smell like dead fish, but I’ve spent days in the bowels of this ship.”
“I don’t think you’re intolerable.” I thought the exact opposite as it happened. “But do you think he’ll stand for his wife being bonded to another, dragon or not, when that bond would always come before all else?”
“I see your point,” I admitted.
“So what do you think will become of me when your intended gets wind of this?”
“Surely it’s not his right to question the Gods, or his Goddess, whatever nonsense he believes in?” I stepped closer, pressing into him. “And don’t tell me you think you can fight this connection.
His dark brows pulled, shifting the freckles dusting his cheeks, and his voice softened. “It’s better if we don’t make this worse.”
“You can’t just turn this off.” I poked a finger into his chest.
He dropped his gaze to where my finger stabbed his tunic. “I know.”
“And you wish to live this way?” He moved to grab my wrist like he suddenly forgot, but as soon as his fingers closed around my skin, he recoiled.
But his eyes dilated, and smoke filtered between his full lips. “I don’t have a choice.”
Why couldn’t he touch me?
Did he think we’d suddenly meld, and this would all be worse? Even I knew that wasn’t how it worked. If I had my facts right, the meld happened once our souls accepted one another. We’d said maybe five sentences to each other before this conversation. We were not there yet. There had to be more he wasn’t saying.
Then it hit me. Was he—were we?—?
I grabbed his wrist to test my theory.
He growled low in his chest. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
“Why not?”
“Because part of me wants to tear you apart for ruining my life, and the other part of me wants to take any innocence you might have saved for the future king.”
Warmth pooled inside me. “What if I want both?”
He flexed his jaw, closing his eyes again. “Do you want me hunted to the ends of the Twelve Kingdoms?”
“We can leave,”I said impulsively.
