“No—Jax—you don’t understand. I’m not worried aboutme. Well—not much, anyway.”
He finally looks at me. “You’re worried about me?”
A bit of warmth crawls up my neck. “A bit.”
“Why? I expected it. I know what I did.” He snorts. “Honestly, the bigger surprise is thatanyof them are nice. I’m sure it’s just because they know the prince himself hired me to work in the forge.”
“Exactly.”
He blinks at me. “Exactly?”
I forget that he has no experience at court, no history with rumor and gossip and how quickly it can spread like wildfire. His experience is only from the other side, the filtered stories that would make it all the way to remote villages, usually far from any sort of truth at all.
“You defended the king when it mattered,” I say, “and you supported the army when they arrived—without question. Grey knows that. Prince Rhen knows that. You were offered the position at Ironrose for your skills in the forge. Youearnedthis, Jax.” My cheeks are growing warm, and I drop my voice, abashed. “So . . . ?I don’t want anyone to start thinking the King’s Courier just brought you along for your skills in hisbed.”
“Oh.” His eyebrows go up. “Oh.”
“Yeah.Oh.” I pick the orange back up and begin pulling apart the pieces.
We sit in silence again, staring out at the darkening sky, but now my thoughts are on what I said, and my cheeks refuse to cool. Any soldiers who were lingering with the horses have moved off, and some of the tension that was clinging to my shoulders begins to ease.
Jax finally looks over, and he smiles mischievously. “So you think I’m skilled?”
I choke on the orange. “Silver hell, Jax.”
He laughs softly, and it’s a low rumble of sound that tugs at my heart again, but in a different way. A warmer way—because now I’m thinking about the exact skills he’s talking about. We’re so close that I can hear his breathing, and it’s full dark now. Moonlight finds his eyes, and I feel a clench in my belly. My hands want to touch him so badly. I’d pull the pin from his hair so it would spill loose, and then I’d drown myself on the taste of his tongue.
I realize Jax is gazing back at me, his lips slightly parted, waiting for me to yield.
I shouldn’t. I meant what I said.
But the night is so dark, the only sound coming from the horses casually stomping at flies. In the distance, the camp has mostly gone quiet as card games settle and others drift off to sleep. Another cool breeze blows between us, lifting those tendrils of hair around his face.
Maybe Iamweak, because I can’t take it. I reach out and pull the pin.
His hair falls around his shoulders, and Jax lets out a breath. Despite the chill in the air, warmth fills my chest, a flame flickering to life. Out here, we’re alone, and we could be back on the other side of the mountain, the soldiers and my worries and Rhen’s warnings all a distant memory.
But a man coughs somewhere nearby, and then I hear a low rumbleof another man’s voice, saying something about his stash of sugared spirits.
We snap apart so roughly that some of the nearby horses snort and throw their heads up before settling. Then we sit stock-still as two men, practically invisible in the darkness, dig through some saddlebags before their boots retreat through the grass to head back to camp.
I don’t know if they saw us. I don’t even know if it wouldmatter.
“What did they want?” says Jax, his voice barely louder than a whisper.
My heart is pounding so hard, and my entire body is practically vibrating with tension. Sparks and stars flare in my blood again, my magic ready to face a threat that isn’t there. I have to run a hand down my face.
“One of them had a stash of liquor,” I tell him. I take a rough breath, and it sounds ragged. “Forgive me. Now you see why I’ve given you distance.” My hand is still curled around the pin from his hair, and I hold it out on my palm. “Here.”
Jax glances down, but he makes no move to take it. His eyes hold mine devilishly, and he says, “Keep it.”
I don’t know what it is about the words, but I feel them all the way to my core. I close my fingers around the slim piece of metal and fall back in the grass, closing my eyes.
Jax laughs, the tone low and sultry.
“Stop laughing,” I murmur. “You’re killing me.”
“Stop lying there. You’re killingme.”
