“We’ll get there eventually. I have anapprenticenow, so I’ve been trying to give her some space to figure things out on her own.”
My eyebrows go up. “An apprentice!”
He nods. “She’s young, but she’s learning.” He pauses. “How are things back at Ironrose? You couldn’t have been there very long.”
“Barely a day,” I say. “It was urgent for Grey to know.”
Noah doesn’t say anything to that, and I can’t read his silence, so we continue walking. At the end of the gardens, there’s a path that leads to the training fields, and even though I really am curious about Callyn and Nora’s progress, it’s very likely the king will be there. No, thank you. I turn in the opposite direction, though it leads away from the palace.
Eventually Noah says, “Jake told me that Rhen offered Jax a position at Ironrose. How is that all going?”
“Ah . . . ?fine.” My cheeks warm a bit in the sunlight. “I was able to introduce him to Master Garson and get him settled before I left.”
I remember Jax’s eyes staring into mine in the early dawn light. The feel of his hands when I promised I would return as quickly as I can.
If Jake is already making inquiries about attacks, he might return with news by nightfall, and I can be on my way back to Ironrose in the morning. The thought gives my heart a little boost of hope.
Noah gently bumps me with his shoulder. “Sometimes getting information out of you is like squeezing water out of a rock. I didn’t know ifthat—you and Jax—was still . . . a thing.”
I smile. “Yes, Noah. It is.”
“It must have been hard to leave as soon as you got there. For both of you.”
Yes. It was.But I try to swallow that emotion. “He knows who I am and what I’m called to do. It’s never been a secret.”
“Sometimes you’re gone for weeks on end. Months. That’s a long time apart.” He shrugs a little, and he keeps his voice easy. “A lot to ask of something new.”
A bee drones over the path, and I wave it away. I don’t like the band of tension that his words are adding to my chest. Because instead of remembering my promise on the morning I left, I’m thinking of another vow I made to him weeks ago.
It will not be weeks or months or never, Jax. I swear to you.
But that was different.Thisis different.
Right?
Noah sighs, and to my surprise, he sounds a little disgusted.
I whip my head around. “What?”
“I know there’s a reason Rhen sent you, but sometimes I think he and Grey are lucky you don’t just chuck it all and take Mercy into some town somewhere and find a job that doesn’t force you to run yourself into the ground.”
I stop short on the path. Noah is one of the few people who speaks so openly about the king, but everything is too tense right now.
“I’m not running myself into the ground,” I say.
“You look exhausted,” he says. “You lookwrecked. And I can’t remember the last time you gave me ahug.”
I give him a look. He just raises his eyebrows and looks back at me. I frown.
“I’m just saying I’m worried about you,” he says. His voice turns careful. “I was wondering if you got your heart broken.”
My eyebrows go up. “Is that why you were talking about time apart?”
“Yes.”
“No.” I hesitate. “I mean, I didn’t. I told Jax I would be back as quickly as possible.” I glance his way, troubled now. “You think he’d break my heart?”
“I don’t know Jax yet.” Noah starts walking again, and I fall into step beside him. “But you have a hard job, kid. It would be hard on people who’ve been together for years.”
