I caught it, but only just. I started working at my hair with the towel as I stepped onto the bank. The stones beneath my feet were slick with silt. My balance shifted. I dropped the towel so I could catch myself before I fell. But before I could even try, Emrys was pulling me up.
My heart was pounding. How did he get here so quickly?
My sodden underdress had molded itself to my skin, and without the towel to shield me, my breasts and hips were on full display under the thin, clinging material.
Though he released me quickly, his eyes did all the exploring his hands had not. I didn’t think he knew he was doing it. I briefly considered what he saw—did he want it or was he afraid of wanting it? Gods help me, I felt both ways about him.
I was still smiling when he finally tore his eyes away.
He turned to Catrin. There was a grin in his voice, while his tone was set to startle. “Wake up! Sabha would beat you with a wooden spoon for falling asleep while attending to your lady!”
Catrin snorted awake. “Mmh? What—? Oh, gods, I did it again?”
“You did,” I said, suppressing laughter.
The smirk Catrin wore proved that she knew that neither of us were sincerely upset. She rose and rushed toward me with a second towel, holding it up like a screen. “Let’s get you dressed in dryclothes before you freeze.”
“Or scandalize a prince,” Emrys called out as he stepped away, back turned.
“Impossible,” Catrin quipped. “You’re a lost cause.”
“True,” he replied, his voice a blend of sadness and a new lightness.
Behind the towel, I dressed as quickly as possible, trying not to think about the press of Emrys’s eyes on my body. Or the way his voice had changed when he’d asked about the cold. Or the way I felt every time his magic brushed the edges of mine like they were two halves of a whole.
We returned to the camp in time for dinner. Since I hadn’t been able to cook, one of the soldiers had taken over the job. The food was edible, but I’d insist on taking over for the rest of the campaign to avoid another bland meal.
The campfire cast long shadows across Emrys’s tent as I stepped into it after dinner. My damp hair was freezing in the night air, but inside it was pleasantly warm. The faint, magical tingle was all it took for me to know Emrys had heated it for my arrival.
He’d asked me to speak with him in private, but what I saw now worried me. He stood at the center, body a coil of tension, mental walls back up. His inability to meet my gaze and clenched jaw suggested something was wrong.
“I received word from Gelida,” he eventually said, his voice kept low against any ears that might be open nearby. “Their general has offered parley. I’ll ride ahead of the procession when we reach the border and head out to meet him.”
Without a word, I reached for his hands. It was an instinctive gesture of comfort, given freely—one I probably should’ve thought about before offering so casually to a ruling monarch. But it was hard for me not to be impulsive when it came to showing him affection.
He took my hands without a second of hesitation.
“You want to stop the war before it starts,” I murmured, looking up at him.
He nodded once, face unreadable. “I have to try.”
Then came a pause. The moment felt like we were poised on the edge of something vast. He turned his entire attention toward me, his blue eyes showing an unusual uncertainty before he asked, “Will you stay with me?”
I blinked. “Of course, I’ll ride out with you—”
“No.” His interruption was soft but immediate. His eyes bored into mine, shedding layers of emotional armor for stark honesty. Still, the next came out as a growl. “I want you nowhere near that man. There’s too much history between him and my family to risk you.”
I tilted my head, confusion flickering. “Then what—?”
“I meant…tonight and tomorrow. In here.” Then the words spilled out of him like they were something he’d been holding back all day. “I’m not asking for more than your presence. Just…stay. Catrin won’t say a word. The men won’t see. I… You keep me calm, and I cannot afford to lose myself to the curse when so many lives are at stake.”
For a moment, I didn’t breathe from the shock of it. Emrys was the one who always withdrew, always hid behind duty and distance. Hearing him ask for my presence felt like the ground shifting beneath us.
And the fact that he was thinking about my reputation, of all things, made something warm grow in my chest. That part of it didn’t bother me—I’d already barged into his tent half-dressed—but I did appreciate his concern for my image if we were discovered. He asked me to stay with him without expecting anything or applying pressure, just offering an explanation.
My answer came easily. “Of course, Emrys.”
His eyes searched mine as if he didn’t quite trust his hearing.
