Aya tilted her head, her eyes tracing over his features. “Like what?”
The right corner twisted into his telltale smirk. “Like you don’t trust me.”
“I—”
His hand darted out and grabbed her shin. Aya tensed, but Will chuckled, the sound light and warm and like a balm to somethingstirring in her chest that she did not understand.
“Relax, love,” Will laughed. “I’m not going to let you fall.”
Fall.
Aya frowned as the word echoed in her mind. She wasn’t sure why she expected to find bitterness in his voice or a haunted look in his eyes.
But…someone had fallen here. Hadn’t they? Wasn’t that why her stomach was clenched with dread, why she swore she heard the echoes of screams in the recesses of her mind? Someone had…
Will’s fingers flexed on her leg, and he gave a gentle tug. “Sit with me,” he murmured, drawing her back into the present.
Slowly, she lowered herself beside him. Her boots scuffed against the stone as she swung her legs over the ledge. “No strutting across the Wall today?” she asked as she peered down, swallowing at the drop.
Will’s laugh was loud and bright, and something in her chest lightened at the mere sound of it.
“I don’tstrut,” he insisted as he leaned back on his palms.
“How else would you describe how you walk around training?”
Will’s brows flicked toward his hairline. “Training? A term far better suited for a warrior than a merchant’s apprentice, surely. But you always do flatter me.”
Something tugged in Aya’s stomach, a thread pulling taut as she frowned. Will cocked his head, his hair messy and glinting in the sunlight. “Are you sure you’re alright, Aya love?” He straightened, his palm smooth against her skin as he cupped her cheek. “Shall I take you home?”
Home.Her mind went hazy with the word, the world around them fading as visions appeared through the fog in her brain.
Her father bent over the sink in the kitchen. Her mother sitting at the rickety table, a loaf of bread before her.
Aya blinked, her gaze focusing on the ships dotting the waters of the harbor. “My mother will be at home.”
It wasn’t a question, but Will answered anyway. “I assume so. She was this morning.”
This morning…
Another vision. Or was it a memory?
Tova chattering on animatedly as they walked through the Artist Market together, searching for a painting for Caleigh’s birthday.
Will’s hand slid to her chin, his thumb pressing in as he turned her head to face him. “Is that a problem? You said your mother liked me.”
She would. Eliza would love Will for no other reason than because Aya did.
Aya shook her head, fighting against the muddled thoughts in her head.
Another memory: her mother kissing her cheek before Aya left for the day.
It hadn’t been a dream?
“She does,” Aya finally answered.
Will wound an arm around her waist, tucking her into his side. “I cannot say that I blame her.”
Aya laughed. “Gods, you’re so—”
