Jory blinks up at me. “Asher?” she murmurs.
“Shh,” I say softly. Without thinking, I stroke a hand across her hair, my thumb brushing over her eyebrow. “All is well. Rest.”
I don’t expect her to obey, but her eyes flutter closed again. This time she tugs the sleeve of the jacket into her chest and inhales deeply. It settles something in my heart.
When I look up, the king is watching me, and I almost wish I hadn’t touched her.
I ignore him and turn away. “Just sit,” I say, keeping my voice low. “Like I said, we’ll be out of here by nightfall.” Then I move away from Jory and sit against the wall where I was before.
The king watches this, but hedoesn’tsit. He studies the princess for a long moment, then crosses the short space of the room toward me.
I immediately go tense, ready to spring to my feet. “I told you tosit,” I say, fighting to keep my voice low.
“I am sitting.” He leans against the wall beside me, then eases to the ground, bracing his back against the wall. It leaves a foot of space between us, and his hands are still bound, but I’m locked in place, debating whether to flee or to stay.
I have no idea what to make of this.
The king nods toward the door. “If I try to talk to you from there, we might wake her.”
“I don’t want to talk to you.”
“You intend to drag the princess out of here in the dead of night, on foot, with no horse, no cloak, and no supplies.” He looks me right in the eyes. “You are going to talk to me, Asher.”
I set my jaw and turn to stare at the flickering within the stove.
“Even if you allow her to keep your jacket,” he says, “I doubt her boots have dried. She won’t be able to walk far.”
I say nothing.
“And it leavesyouwith nothing against the snow,” he continues. “Even if you manage to survive the weather, surely you know there will be guards and soldiers searching through the night.”
I draw my knees up to my chest and rest my arms on them. I hate that he’s right about all of it.
“Youcould leave,” he says. “Take my coins and flee if you so fear the other Hunters. You are right that I need the princess to finalize this alliance—it’s the very reason I followed you. And I truly can keep her safe.”
“I’m not leaving Jory.”
“Even if it means you put her at risk?”
That hits me like a sledgehammer, and I almost flinch. I hate that I might have put her in a more dangerous situation than she was in already.
I never should have agreed to this.
You said you would do whatever needed doing.
This didn’t need doing. But she kept staring up at me with those eyes, like I could be her savior. She’s the only person who’s ever looked at me like that. She could have told me to throw myself off a parapet, and I would’ve asked which one.
When I speak, my voice is rough. “If I leave, she’ll cut you loose. You’ll turn me into a pile of ash five seconds later.”
“No. If you choose to leave, I will not pursue you.”
“Shut up.” I glare at him. “Of course you will.”
He looks back at me implacably. “I won’t. You offered me a mercy. So I will offer you one in return.”
My heart gives a little thump in my chest. I jerk my eyes back around to stare at the fire.
“If you spoke the truth about my soldier,” he says, “then you’ve taken nothing from me but time.” His eyes flick skyward, and he gives his bindings a small tug, then grimaces. “Well. Possibly the use of my shoulders, too. But my offer stands.”
