Her name, on Ezer’s lips...
Kinlear felt like he’d been stabbed.
He saw Arawn flinch, too.
But while Arawn instantly crafted an apology, ever the pious Crown Prince...
Kinlear sunk into himself. He sunk deeper inside, until he felt like he was in someone else’s body, watching from the depths of their ruined soul.
Because the moment Arawn apologized, the moment he becamegentleandprincelyand so perfectly godsdamnedhim...
Ezer turned her attention away from Kinlear.
No.
No, no, no.
Because now she was looking right atArawn,and Arawn wasn’t just looking down at her, he wasgazing,as if...
Kinlear’s stomach turned.
He’d been away for far too long with his illness. He’d written her letters and sent her gifts, but Arawn had been there inperson.He’d shown up when Kinlear hadn’t. Oh, gods, Kinlear had been a fool to think his brother hadn’t stepped in during those times. It was what Arawn did.
The trainings?Damn their fatherfor forcing it to beArawnwho kept an eye on her, because how could any woman take one look at the Crown Prince, his muscles and his magic – however broken, a pain Arawn deserved – andnotfall for him?
And now that Kinlear looked at the two of them, he realized their masks were matching. Their outfits, too, almost as if they’d been designed as a perfect pair. By the gods, what had Izilldone?
Kinlear’s heart dropped to his toes.
He was going to be sick.
This was the past all over again, here to haunt him.
“Forgive me,” he blurted. “I’ve suddenly discovered I have somewhere else to be. Anywhere, really.”
He couldn’t stay here. He couldn’t survive watchingthis.
But he wouldn’t leave without making his mark. Before he spun, he leaned in. He pressed past his fears, his doubts...and left a bit of claiming from his dreams.
It was so simple, the act of kissing her cheek. It was sudden, and he surprised himself as much as he surprised her. But...it was the most he’d ever done to show her that he cared. That hefeltfor her so much more than he could explain.
He didn’t miss her small intake of breath when his lips touched her soft skin, nor the way she leanedintohim...not away.
The future,Kinlear told himself.You are focused on the future,and one Absolution won’t change it.
No, what he’d seen in his dreams was far too strong, far too undeniable, to fizzle and die like this.
And besides.
Kinlear was the one who’d be soaring across the Expanse with her when Realmbreak came.Kinlearwas the one in that cave...her hands in his hair, her teeth tugging at his lip, her fingers sliding beneath his tunic as if she couldn’t bear one more second without her body melting into his.
“Tomorrow, Raphonminder,” he whispered as he backed away. “We’ll take Six back outside and make certain we do not fail.”
He slid into the shadows, pushed himself as far as one could get from the dance floor. He paused only once to look back at them.
He couldn’t see Ezer’s face as she danced with Arawn. But he could certainly see his brother, as he dipped her low and held her steady, his face inches from hers.
Kinlear’s heart sank.
