“Ozias.” I move faster and catch up to him, walking quickly to match his stride. “Does Thrace act as a shield for Zhoric now?”
“From what I can tell,” he says. “Why do you ask?”
“I threatened Zhoric by telling him I would reveal his weakness after whatever meditations he does at night. That seemed to concern him, but if Thrace is his shield…why would it?”
Ozias furrows his brows and in the next instant, his face lights up. “The babies. Your sister.”
My eyes widen with his. “Thrace’s power is pulled too thin?”
Ozias nods, a smile lighting his face. “Exactly.”
“Which means my threat isn’t empty. He might actually be considering bonding with me after all.”
“Which means,” he says stopping me on the stairs, “that you have power to control the situation.”
He’s right. Whether to keep me silent or to use me, if he wants to bond with me to have my power, that means he’ll be open and accepting of it when the time comes. I feel like I could sweep up the moons with my own hands to bring the night. My smile is untouchable; I couldn’t contain it if I tried.
Ozias’s face softens as he looks at me with so much tenderness it almost feels sad. “Is it possible, I wonder?”
“What?” I ask, getting lost in the intensity of his golden eyes.
“If there will ever be a time or place when you and I make sense.”
I reach out, hand touching his elbow to trail down his arm. I want him. I enjoy his company. I don’t know if I believe in love like Thrace says he and Kalixta have. Like the delicate thing blossoming between Ninon and Issa. But I know desire. I know friendship and companionship. I don’t know what Ozias’s reservations are, but it’s clear he has them. “It doesn’t need to be anything more than what it is.”
“Attraction? Certainly,” he agrees. “And, perhaps, a potential?”
“For?”
“Bonding.”
My breath is stolen from my lungs. “Between us?”
Ozias lowers his head, catching me off guard with how seriously he’s looking at me. “There’s much work that will need to be done when this thing with Dyeus ends. The world will need to be brought into balance. We’ll need bonded pairs.”
I drop my chin and silence falls between us, the birds seeming to quiet as we stand before one another. All that exists now is me and Ozias. In a place I once thought brought death and danger, but is now possibly my only salvation. “I like the idea of that potential,” my heart twisting as I answer.
“Then let’s keep that possibility between us.” He takes my hand and kisses the back of it again, and this time, it feels like enough.
CHAPTER TWENTY
WHEN I MANIFEST in Zhoric’s chambers, he’s already on the balcony. He’s shirtless, his pants, looser than usual, sit low on his waist. I realize this is how I saw him that first night I came to him. I approach with slow steps and when I reach the threshold, his head falls forward, the long line of the back of his neck exposed. I shore myself up for night, ready to be open and winsome. Ready to let him feel something for me.
“Tonight would be a fine night for you to show yourself out,” he murmurs wearily.
“You sound as tired of those words as I am,” I remark, crossing my arms and leaning my shoulder against the threshold.
Zhoric rolls his head over his shoulder until he’s looking at me. “You could at leastgive me some space.”
“I’m waiting for an answer,” I say, raising a brow.
He holds my gaze, but then his shoulders bristle and his eyelids flutter closed. A small line burrows between his brows, like he’s in pain.
A lump lodges in my throat. “Are you unwell?”
He scoffs in response and turns his head to once again face the open sky.
I blow out a breath as I push myself off the threshold and out onto the balcony.
