She was on her side, her back against the raphon’s belly, her head on Six’s front paws like a pillow. Six’s wing was still tucked over her like a blanket.
‘I can see that,’ Kinlear said.
He looked truly shocked to see her.
‘I wasn’t certain I would lay eyes on you again.’
‘I considered leaving,’ Ezer said.
He inclined his head. ‘I … had a feeling the thought crossed your mind.’
‘Which is why you left the cage door unlocked,’ Ezer said.
He shrugged. ‘I’ve never been much good at persuasion. Six, however … seems to be quite the talent at it, if the bareness of my hands is any indication.’
He had but a single ring left today.
At that, Ezer smiled.
‘I have a gift for you,’ Kinlear said.
Ezer sat up, blinking blearily as he held something through the bars. A new cloak, with a fur-lined collar, to match the one he wore now.
‘What’s this for?’ She held up the cloak.
She caught a glimpse of the blade on his hip and instantly felt a pang of panic race through her.
He won’t hurt you,she told herself.It’s just a dream.
She wanted it to be, more than anything.
‘That, dear chosen one, is my apology.’
She frowned. ‘You don’t know me very well if you think a bit of clothing will make up for your hiding the truth of my fate.’
He sighed. ‘I would have told you if I could. But I am bound to certain parameters, as is every other Sacred in this place. And for all my stretching of those boundaries … there are some even I cannot cross. And for that, Iamsorry.’ He looked truly earnest. ‘I would beg your forgiveness, if it were easy for me to take a knee.’
And then it looked like hewouldkneel before her.
‘No,’ she blurted. ‘Gods, don’t do that.’
To make a dying man beg.
To make a prince bend a knee before her …
‘If I put on the cloak, will that suffice for forgiveness? Or is it better that I toss it to Six to curl up with?’
She held it out, like she would drop it on the shavings.
Kinlear’s head snapped up. ‘That’s a magicked thread count, Raphonminder. It defies all others in Lordach. Please, don’t?—’
She smiled wickedly.
Because she’d forgiven him already. His fate was twisted with hers. She had known it from the moment she met him in the woods, and if they were to fly together … there was no sense in hating him.
She slid the cloak on, earning a sigh of relief from him. Gods, the fabric truly was stifling, in the very best of ways. It was not missed on her that Kinlear wore his runed cloak even indoors.
‘Are you going to tell me what this is for?’ she asked.
