His heart is beating against mine, though, and I can still feel each breath he inhales. I finally let my fingers move, running my thumb along his lower lip. My vision goes blurry again, and my breathing shudders so hard that I can’t catch myself, but I don’t want to blink the tears away this time.
“I don’t want you to disappear,” I say, and then I realize I’m crying in earnest.
“I won’t,” he says. “Never again. I swear it.” He leans down to kiss me. “I swear to you. Never again.”
And then I’m glad thatheis the one who moved, becausethisfeels real, the brush of his lips against mine, the way he kisses the tears off my cheeks, the scent of his skin, the rasp of his voice in my ear. “We really do have to stop meeting like this.”
It makes me huff a laugh through my sobs, and I grab him around the neck, clutching him fiercely. “And to think I almost killed you.”
“That was a good strike,” he murmurs against my neck.
“I’ve been practicing,” I say, and my breath refuses to stop hitching.
“I can tell. I’mveryglad you were blindfolded.”
I know I need to find out what happened in the hallway, or where Erik went, orwhyCorrick is a part of this—but I can’t stop clutching at him. Inhaling his breath.Feelinghim.
But then he sits up, pulling me with him, tugging me into his lap. Before I can ask him anything at all, his hands find my cheeks, and his mouth lands on mine. Every emotion pours through his kiss, andthisis what finally convinces me he’s real. I can feel his longing. His loss. His worry. His fear.
His love. His hope.
For the first time since arriving in Ostriary, I feel settled, like my world has been righted. I have Corrick back, and I can face any challenge.
Then he breaks free, his blue eyes filling mine. His hand presses to my cheek, his thumb brushing along my lip. “Don’t fight him. I’ve told you before what people will do with me.”
A jolt goes through me. “What?”
But he’s looking up, past me. “Are you still going by Captain Blakemore? Or should I address you as Your Majesty? I have a hard enough time keeping track of my own identities, honestly, so you’re going to need to help me with yours.”
I scramble out of Corrick’s lap to see that Rian is in the doorway of my bedroom, a crossbow leveled. Sablo is beside him, an identical weapon in hand.
“Call me whatever you want,” says Rian.
Corrick climbs to his feet more slowly than I did. “I rather doubt you want me to dothat.”
“Do it anyway,” a strained male voice calls from the hallway, and I’m shocked to realize that the male voice I heard earlier wasLochlan. “It’ll make you feel better.”
“Was this a trap for me the whole time?” says Corrick.
Rian shrugs. “Only since I knew it was really you.”
A cold wind blows through me at those words. “What?” I whisper again.
“So you double-crossed me?” says Corrick. “I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“I’m not sure you’re in a position to be pointing fingers. I’ve heard a dozen reports that you’ve been torturing people for Oren Crane.”
“You’ve heard wrong,” says Corrick. “Any torture has been by his own hand. I specificallysparedthe man he told me to execute.”
A muscle twitches in Rian’s jaw. “I know who you are. I know what you’ve done in Kandala. I don’t believe that for a minute.”
I’m not even listening to him. “Did you know?” I demand. “Did you know he was alive?”
Corrick looks to me. “He knew. I specifically asked him to tell you, to verify my words.”
I think back to the day we met Rian on the road. He pulled that parchment out of his pocket—but he never showed it to me.
I don’t even need to ask what it said. I know exactly what Corrick would have written to prove it was him. “So I reallywasbait,” I finish.
