“Are you fucking serious?” She narrows her eyes.
I lean my head on the tip of my pointer finger. “You can’t tell anyone.”
“Don’t worry, I’m your personal vault.” She rolls her eyes sardonically. I expect a flood of follow-up questions, but Marideth keeps me on my toes, inspecting me for a long while before opening her mouth.
“This all makes sense now. Your sudden arrival at court, that bullshit story about the temple and the priestesses, your ‘courtier lessons.’”
“I’m not a cousin of the king. I’m not from the temple, I’m just…me.”
“You and Jace have spent more time together than you’ve been letting on.”
“I’ve spent nearly every morning since I’ve been here training with him so I could bond my dragon.”
“Your dragon?” she sputters.
“Prophyria,” I supply, running a hand through my hair. “Jace and I just got back.”
“You just got back from bonding a dragon?” Her eyebrows nearly reach her hairline.
“Mar, this information cannot leave this room.”
She nods. “We all have secrets. I understand. No one will know.”
We sit in silence for a long time after that.
* Cue:Ode to Conversation Stuck in Your Throat…by Del Water Gap
34
Jace is quiet as we take cover beneath the brush, waiting for a deer or wolf to appear in the forest. I hold the bow and arrow, trying to still my hands. I’ve missed three shots so far this morning because they were shaking so badly. I didn’t sleep at all last night, my heart and my conscience weighing heavy.
A twig snaps thirty yards away.
A large deer with great antlers slips around a tree, grazing in the grass. Jace nods sharply to me. I try to steady myself as much as possible, but when I release the arrow, its trajectory is subpar. A strange wind, however, lashes out and corrects its line. It lands in the deer’s heart, and he goes down instantly without so much as a yelp.
I turn to Jace, frowning.
“Hey!”
“If I let you keep that up all day, your poor dragon will starve.” He slides on a pair of leather gloves. He’s barely looked at or spoken to me all morning, clearly still pissed about last night.
“Jace?” I call as he heads toward the fallen deer. He dips down to rip the arrow free from its unmoving chest.
“Please don’t be mad at me.”
His golden eyes dart up to mine. “Why would I be mad at you? You only led me to believe you cared for me, all the while envisioning someone else.”
“That could not be further from the truth!” I protest.
“Look, this conversation is pointless. It was never going to work. What we did, what we’ve been doing—Marideth was right. It needs to be over.”
“Is that really what you want, or are you just trying to punish me?” I stalk toward him. “Look, if I had told you, would it have changed anything? I know who you are, and you know who I am.”
“Who you are never fails to surprise me, little witch.” He sighs, assessing me for the first time all day. “I understand why you kept it from me, although you might want to have a conversation with your guard dog about that. As for what we did…I’m the one who’s practically engaged. I should have been stronger. I shouldn’t have?—”
“What? Kissed me?”
“Yes.”
