Elysia paused. The Crown Prince of Kava was leaving his own kingdom beneath the floorboards of an old carriage. Well-founded trepidation had her whispering. “Is he after you?”
Topp’s fingers dug into her waist reflexively. “I’ve never seen him like this before. It’s bad, Lys, really bad.”
She nodded, chin against his chest, his coat rubbing against her skin while his masculine scent tried to confuse her senses. For the first time though, it wasn’t sweeping through her like a relaxing or enticing drug. Instead, a quiet hesitation labored over her internal brakes. Maybe her body had finally come to the realization that Topp Blatz wasn’t a poison to the masses, but he was hers, and she didn’t have time to play in toxic waters.
“Where exactly are you wanting to go?” she asked as if this was a perfectly normal position to be having a conversation.
“Bellia, to start.”
Another bump in the road had her cursing as her skull cracked against the floorboards above. Still wincing, she made a fast decision. “Tell me exactly where you want to go.”
“Saarspur.”
He didn’t deserve her helping him. She would be well within her rights to leave him beneath the floorboards of the carriage, escaping his own kingdom, and the pettiest part of her soul wanted to do exactly that. But the newly emerging, awkward part of her that wastryingto be a better person who cared about what happened to her kingdom knew that Topp’s chances of getting out of Kava were slim to none. He didn’t deserve her help, but Kava deserved a chance at a different future, and for better or for worse, Topp Blatz was going to play a role in that.
Aidan had never clarified if she could travel with more than one person, but she was about to find out. Elysia gripped Topp around the middle and whispered their destination, Saarspur, Bellia’s largest city, aloud three times for good measure.
Elysia landed in a crouch, snow crunching beneath her boots and skyward pines all around her. The crisp forest air was a relief even as her ears burned from the cold. Head snapping to the right, a loud thud reverberated into the woods. Encased in snow, Topp let loose an impressive string of curses. Stunned, he remained flat on his back, staring up at the trees until his broad face finally broke into a wide, genuine grin. Elysia tilted her head back as well, taking it in. The branches and needles of the trees above inhaled in unison, appearing to sway and pulse as if they were all one system instead of endless separate trees.
Still sprawled in the snow, Topp threw her a look. “So, that’s how you found me. You can travel now.”
She nodded, but he was distracted. He was still staring at the sky, grinning. “Gods, I love this forest.”
Brushing snow off herself, she stood. “Been here before?”
Topp pulled himself out of the snow and nodded. “Many times.”
He carefully examined their surroundings, likely trying to determine where in Saarspur they’d landed, and while he studied the land, she studied him. Cool bright light bounced off his skin, highlighting tired smudges and green eyes that were not nearly as electric as she knew they could be. Tension pulled at his shoulders, creeping up into his neck and thinning his lips. Faint lines had started to settle into his skin, marking the price of these last few months and years.
Unaware of her observations, Topp lifted his broad chest, pulling in a giant lungful of forest air with a grin. “Forest smells proper here. Unlike Kava.”
Elysia shoved her cold fingers into her pockets, nodding in agreement. “Who knew a forest could smell like anything other than decay?”
Grabbing her hand, he locked his eyes on some distant edge of the forest she couldn’t see or sense. “Come on, civilization is that way.”
Elysia gently dislodged her hand, and Topp’s eyes flicked to the movement, his brow creasing before resignation came over his face.
His mouth tightened. “Right, habit.”
Habit. A single, loaded word that set off the loneliness she could never quite kill. It emanated from the cavity in which her heart was supposed to reside but, per the fates, was in the pocket of the man beside her.
Now that she was here, stomping through the snow with Topp Blatz only a hand’s reach away, she wondered how in the realms she could ever steal it back, when giving it had never been voluntary.
Snow swirled gently through the air. A single snowflake landed on Topp’s pink nose, chasing away her thoughts and bringing a smile to her lips.
Wiping it away, he opened the conversation with an air-stealing statement. “You stuck a dagger into my father’s guts and disappeared.”
She froze, her hand shooting out to grab the nearest tree.Fuck. She’d been so caught up in seeing Topp, she’d forgotten that she’d tried tomurder his fatherthe last time they’d seen each other.
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, his breath huffing out in tiny white clouds. “You went to the death realm, I presume, andnowyou almost ruined my escape—which took a lot of work for me to organize, by the way.”
Elysia tugged the collar of her jacket up higher, ensuring the Reyez branding was hidden, and let her hair fall over her ear, feeling extremely conscious of all the new marks on her body. Feet moving again, she fixed her gaze ahead.
“That covers it.”
He grabbed her shoulder, bringing her to a jarring halt again. They were never going to get out of the forest at this rate.
“No, it doesn’t.”
