He nodded. He’d suspected as much. Not on the first ship, but on one of the two after. “How’d you know your ship would get through the Wards?”
“I didn’t,” she said. “It wasn’t the first time I’d tried. I was a stowaway on the ships anyway. When they didn’t make it, I used my power to return to the continent.”
“How many times did you try? And why were you so determined?
She smiled, a small thing that told him she was enjoying this little game. “I believe it’s your turn to give me a truth,” she said.
“Fair enough,” he acquiesced.
“Where do you go at night?”
“I already told you. I have another study.”
“Butwhereis it? And what do you do there?”
He slid his hands into his pockets, debating. He could tell her, and she’d still never find it without him. There were too many glamours and Wards around it.
“Beneath the castle,” he answered. “There is a network of catacombs. I have a study there. And what I do down there is work.”
“On what?”
“I think that’s enough truths for today,” he said. “But I would enjoy your company on the balcony. Beneath the sun.”
“Only if you tell me that Razik will still be my guard,” she said, lifting her chin.
He was too exhausted to argue about the male right now, but even if that weren’t the case, it wouldn’t have mattered. “Just…no more tavern brawls, please.”
She was fighting a small smile when he extended a hand to her, and she slowly slipped the tips of her fingers into his palm. “I make no promises, husband.”
Chapter 30
Razik
“Where did you put your bowl?”
Razik glanced up from the book he was paging through. He sat at his desk, while Kailia was across the room in another area of his study. Barefoot, her knees were bent, and a book of her own was propped against them.
“That is very random,” Razik said, returning his attention to the book. It was written in the Celestial language, which was a pain in the ass to translate.
“Sort of,” she admitted. “But after the conversation about the tavern brawl with Cethin?—”
“The one you weren’t supposed to mention,” he interrupted, half listening to her as he worked on translating a word.
“Yes, that one,” she continued. “It reminded me you went there for a bowl, and I haven’t seen it since. I’ve been in this study a lot recently, which leads me to believe you keep it elsewhere.”
“I like you a lot more when you’re quietly observing and trying to go unnoticed,” he muttered, making a note on a piece of parchment.
“It wasn’t small. I think I’d have seen it if it were here,” she mused. “Is it in your rooms downstairs?”
He sighed, setting down his charcoal and leaning back in his chair. “By Sargon, Lia. You’re especially annoying today. You never talk this much.”
She appeared to contemplate that for a minute before she said with a frown, “You’re right. I don’t.”
“Then what’s so different today?”
“I don’t know,” she murmured, almost more to herself than to him. Her gaze connected with his once more. “It is strange.”
“Save it for Cethin,” Razik grumbled, picking up his charcoal and leaning over his book once more. “He’d love to hear you talk more.”
