“Are you alright?” she asked without thinking.
He turned his head toward her. “What about this situation is right?”
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
The king turned his head back to stare at the ceiling. She tried to scoot back to give him space, but he caught her knee and held her in place.
His sharp jaw flexed. “Just stay with me in this moment. Just a few more minutes, until we have to face the world once again.”
Dahlia nodded. She tried to slip back into the lull of sleep, but all she could think about were the mistakes she’d made, the way his warm palm sent the good kind of shivers down her spine, andthat if she wasn’t careful, he’d steal all her secrets and she’d lose everything.
He huffed. “I can hear you thinking again.”
She couldn’t tell him her thoughts. Instead, Lia went with something else. “Why do you think we find it easy to lie like this now? With everything that lies between us?”
He laughed, but it was hollow. “Because neither of us are hiding in this moment. We both know what the other is and what this is.”
“What is this?”
He turned to her. “Survival. Retribution. Fate.”
“Fate is not real.” She refused to believe there was a creator in the world that would be so cruel as to plan her life the way it had turned out.
“Maybe so, but somehow you ended up back in my arms despite what you’ve done.”
A lump formed in her throat. She should just say it right now.
I’m sorry.
It was just two little words, but they weren’t enough to cover her mistakes.
“I’m here because I made a choice.”
“You’re here because Olwen discovered you.”
So, the berserker had tattled on himself. “I’m here because I want to make a deal.”
Interest and anger filled Neve’s face, his pleasant rumbles turning darker. “And what do you have to bargain with? This?” He teased the outside of her thigh suggestively. “Because I do not need you for that.”
She deserved that, but it still stung. Had he found solace in another person?
It’s not your business.
Lia slipped into her practical self and shut away her emotions. She had one shot to secure Lo’s and Cosmos’ future,and this was the moment she was waiting for. “I’ll help you with the one thing you’ve always wanted.”
“And that would be?”
“Peace.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
DAHLIA
They’d trussedher up like a warrior queen.
Dahlia wore thick black leathers, over the knee boots with silver buckles, and a thickly knitted tight sweater that looked lacy and delicate but was the warmest thing she’d ever worn. She ran her fingers over the pauldrons and vambraces cut to look like the feathers of anastrylle. Flyka had tried to outfit Lia with a chest plate, but it wasn’t created for someone with breasts, so it was tossed in the pile of unusable garments.
She fiddled nervously with the hem of her sweater, sitting on the table while Flyka braided her hair. They’d come to an understanding.
