Faron didn’t quite keep the resentfulness out of her voice, so she wasn’t surprised when Reeve stopped walking. She stopped, too, stomach churning. They’d been having such a good time that she thought she’d buried her feelings about that particular argument in the library. But maybe there was no burying anything that deep. Maybe she could only ignore her problems until they found a new way to ruin her.
“Faron,” he began and then stopped. Soft conversation wafted from the buildings. The nearby ocean waves hissed against the shore. Somewhere in Seaview, the music was still playing, inviting them back to the party. Reeve’s sigh was louder than all that, and he couldn’t meet her eyes. “I’msorry. For what I said to you. I really am.”
Faron’s pulse jumped. “Like I said, it’s how you feel. That’s fine. I’ve definitely said worse to you in the past.”
And she’d never apologized for any of it, she remembered with a wince.
“Youhavesaid some awful things.” Reeve’s acknowledgment was matter-of-fact, almost dismissive. “But I understand why. I’m a Warwick. Someone should pay for the crimes of my family.”
“Reeve, that’s not fair to—”
“But you have to know,” he said, and now his gaze seemed to be boring into her. “Faron, youhaveto know. Every awful thing I said about you… Everything I told you is everything I have to tellmyself. To keep myself from wanting the impossible.”
Faron’s heart stopped entirely as she stared at him. Like friends, romance was a sacrifice she’d made to be the Childe Empyrean. Ithadn’t mattered much to her until now, because Faron had figured out long ago that she didn’t feel attraction the way other people did. She had never looked at a random person andwantedthem. She had never seen the beauty of others as anything other than an objective observation. She had never pictured herself kissing anyone the way she’d seen her sister kiss Cherry McKay.
But she pictured it now. She’d feltsomethingfor a while, something like a silent yearning for Reeve Warwick’s touch, and in this moment, it screamed too loudly for her to ignore. Was this how romances began? Did Reeve want to start one with her? Maybe he’d felt what she’d felt in that field. Hehadwitnessed all the messy, dark, and selfish parts of her, all her bratty stubbornness, all her trembling social anxieties, and he was still here. Maybe he had stood on the wrong end of her sharp edges and still found her worthy.
Her heartbeat kicked into a gallop. Her eyelids began to slide shut.
And then he said, “Being friends with you felt impossible.”
Her entire face went up in flames.“What?”
“To me, you’re Faron. To you, I’m a nuisance,” Reeve continued, oblivious to the humiliation she was drowning in. “But to the rest of the island, you’re the Childe Empyrean and I’m Langlish and a Warwick. If we were friends, they’d think the same thing that you did: that I’m manipulating you for my father. They’d think I was evil and you were naïve. It would put a target on both our backs. It felt impossible before now. That’s why I told myself I didn’t really want to be friends with you, anyway. You and Elara are so different, and you seemed… you were…”
His words escaped him, and it was that more than anythingthat jolted Faron out of her embarrassed spiral. She’d rarely seen Reeve Warwick at a loss for words before. He always seemed to know exactly how his sentences would end before he started them, but now his hands were twitching at his sides.
“I’m the Childe Empyrean,” Faron said into the quiet. “There’s a target on my back no matter what. What makes it bearable is having people around me that I can trust. And… I trust you.”
Somehow, that felt more dangerous thanI like youcould ever be. She didn’t have to like him to trust him, but a betrayal of her trust would hit worse than a betrayal of her affections. Faron remembered her determination to never fall into the same trap as her sister, to never trust Reeve Warwick, Langlish spy. Almost two months in relative isolation, and here they were.
She wished Elara were also here to see this.
“I trust you, too,” said Reeve, a small smile on his face as he started walking again. It took Faron a second to trot after him.
In that time, two shadows slipped from the bushes to block the path ahead of them: Roger and Locs from the grill. Roger swayed a little as he came closer, visibly drunk, but Locs seemed scarily sober as his dark eyes dragged between them.
“I thought I recognized you, but I didn’t want to make assumptions,” he said. “You’re really the Warwick whelp. Eating our food, walking our streets,breathing our airas if you haveanyright.”
Roger sneered. “Your father set my entire company aflame with a single, silent command. Ninety soldiers—ninetypeople—gone. While you squatted in the queen’s palace.”
Reeve flinched as if they had shot him. He said nothing in his own defense because he never said anything in his own defense. Faron knew that whatever violence was in their eyes, Reeve wouldstand there and take it as penance for people who weren’t even sorry.
She slipped between him and the two men, dragging off her head wrap. Her braids tumbled over her shoulders and back as she stood as tall as she could in the face of their obvious confusion. “I’m the Childe Empyrean, and he’s with me.”
Roger scanned her face, and then his glazed eyes went wide. “So it’s true. Langley did manipulate you.”
“What? No, I—”
“You son of a whore,” he said, knocking Faron aside like an empty bottle on the edge of a table. She barely managed to stay standing over the sounds of grunts and bone hitting flesh. When she whirled around, it was to see that Roger had Reeve pinned to the floor, his bloodied fist drawn back to deliver another strike. “When will enough be enough for you Langlish?How much blood and land will satisfy you vultures?”
“Stop it!” Faron screamed, but a hand yanked her back before she could run over to them. It was Locs, twisting her arms behind her back until it was impossible for her to get free without breaking her wrist. “Let me go!He’s hurting him! He couldkillhim!”
“I’m sorry, Empyrean,” said Locs, tightening his hold even more. Her range of movement was reduced to twitching from side to side like a lizard in a child’s fist. “I don’t know what magic he’s performed on you, but we’ll take you to the temple once we deal with him.”
“I’m not under any magic! He’s my—He’s myfriend!” The only response was Reeve’s cry of pain. Blood flashed through the air, splattering against the ground beneath his head. Roger’s swings were wild but forceful; Faron could hear every crushing blow,every sickening crack. “Stop it!” she begged, her voice thick with tears. “Stop it! STOP IT!STOP IT!”
“Hold her still, Jarell,” Roger huffed, swiping his free hand over his sweaty forehead. “This will be over soon.”
