“Softly, softly,” Fortiss continues, and I look up to see him grinning from ear to ear, one of Kreya’s hummerlets now perches on his shoulder, looking half asleep as her head nods down over her softly glowing belly. Another equally glowing one rests on a nearby table.
“What are you doing? What’s wrong with fire?” I hiss at him, my eyes going wide as I get used to the illumination. “And how did you make themdothat?”
“I asked.” He grins, gesturing at the long-guttered torches. “I didn’t want to risk leaving a trace that we were here, and after Nazar told me about what he saw the hummerlet do in the forest, I decided we might need them. They certainly don’t seem interested in returning to Kreya in the Blessed Plane. Miriam had three hummerlets hanging from her curtains all afternoon, and another one snuck into her cape on the way to dinner.”
Now it’s my turn to grin. “I thought I heard that.” Then I swivel around, trying to pick out the details of the room. “I still can’t understand how he’d leave this room open if the crown and talonstones were here.”
“Not the crown, I think.” Fortiss shakes his head. “If it still exists, it would almost have to be guarded. But these…” He leads me over to a wall where a heavy chest sits, its lid propped open. I stare at what’s inside.
“But…how can they just besittinghere?”
“Because Daggar doesn’t fully realize what they can do, that’s how,” Fortiss says. He scoops his hand into the box and comesup with a handful of polished stones, each of them shaped like curved talons. “Think of how many decorations we have in the First House that look exactly like this. Made out of every type of stone and metal imaginable. They’reeverywhere.”
“Well, they don’t look like these,” I say, holding one up to the hummerlet’s belly. It glints in the light, deep blue shot through with gold. “I don’t even know what this stone is.”
“Daggar told me that the Imperial delegation hauled thousands of these across the open plains on their way west, to the point where they stopped even collecting them, there were so many. After your vision, their purpose makes so much more sense.” He grimaces. “I’ve seen these at the coliseum too—and you can bet they’re in some of the oldest houses in Trilion. Nowhere near as beautiful as these, but they clearly got the job done.”
“Do you think Daggar knows the truth about these stones, though? Did he only tell you about them so that you could make an attempt for them, and he could, what, arrest you for stealing? You’re the lord protector—literally the law of the land. Only the Imperium is higher. What’s his game?”
“I don’t know if he has a game.” Fortiss sighs. “He’s definitely skittish, but his men seemed loyal enough out on the plains, for all that most of them didn’t follow him into the Eighth House. Did you notice that? Other than a few guards and his generals—the rest didn’t get close. The whole place seems empty.”
“We didn’t let them know we were coming, and they’ve been through a lot recently,” I point out. “Perhaps they really are patrolling up and down the border. I would be, if people kept showing up dead.”
“Fair…” Fortiss reaches into his pocket and pulls out a silken pouch that smells of aromatic tobacco. “Nazar offered this up for our search when I told him what we were looking to do, andwhy. He didn’t want me to draw any attention by trying to steal anything, And the scent could throw off any casual search.”
“Not for very long if these talonstones don’t clink together,” I point out, but dutifully we fill the pouch with enough stones to visit all twelve houses of the Protectorate three times over. Then Fortiss tucks it back in his belt. He glances at the hummerlets, then back to me. “I’m, ah, going to let them go dark now. With the torches guttering outside, we should have enough light to see by.”
“I mean, I guess…?” I bite my lip as Fortiss whispers something comfortingly to the hummerlets, then opens the door of the room. He peers out and seems to come to a decision.
“Here you go.” He pulls one of the talonstones out of the pouch and hands one each to the tiny birds. With delicate fingers, the hummerlets grab the talonstones as Fortiss murmurs “Kreya.”
The hummerlets disappear.
“What?” My jaw drops in surprise as Fortiss shuts the door again firmly—this time locking it from the inside. The room descends into utter darkness.
“What are you doing?” I squeak, hearing him breathe out a long, shuddering exhale. I stick my hands out into the darkness, grateful when I brush the table beside me. This much blackness is disorienting.
“Do you trust me, Talia?”
“What?” I blink, but before I can recover, I hear him step toward me. A moment later, he wraps his arms around me, pulling me close. Naturally, instinctively, my body melts toward him and his lips come down on mine.
Our kiss is nothing like the stolen, aggressive embrace I shared with Tennet. That was a battle, I realize—this feels more like a war—of wits, of twining hearts, of kindred souls, a war that might be fought over years, decades, generations to come. And Iwant that war—needit. I have fought with and against this man, I have trusted and been betrayed by him…and I’ve betrayed him as well, yet here he is, holding me—kissing me.
It's…glorious.
In that moment, that breath, I know in the deepest, secret places of my heart, the world will never, ever be right if Fortiss is not with me. We barely know each other, but I know enough to want to learn and grow with him, to explore and lead with him. To rise and fall and face every new danger by his side. I want to see him at his pinnacles and depths—I want to cheer him and heal him, I want to hold him in my arms and soothe away his nightmares when he can do no more than sleep. Fortiss is everything the Protectorate has been and everything it will be. Like me, he was held down, discounted and ignored by those who had no interest in letting him soar. Like me, he turned himself into something entirely different, built himself into a leader and dared to explore a magic that had been left dormant and lost for centuries except for Rihad’s corrupt dabblings. The Protectorate will be remade because of him. Because of me, too.
And Iwantthis—want it all. More than anything I think I’ve ever craved in my life. More than everything I thought I could be allowed to even dream.
“Fortiss…” I manage against his mouth, even as something cracks inside me, the glass-thin hold I had on my emotions, my fears, my identity, myself. I sway a little more into his body and he growls against my lips, then wrenches himself away from me.
And shocks me to my toes.
“Do you want him?” he gasps, the question making my heart seize up. Though I can’t see anything in the utter darkness, I can feel the desperation coming off him in sudden waves. “If you want him, Talia, if you want to be Tennet’s wife—if you want him to take you away and be your partner in anything you do, I canmake it so. I can ensure that you get whatever you want. You deserve to get whatever you want.”
I gape wordlessly as he huffs in frustration, then paces across the room. I can’t even pick him out in the darkness, so how he can see I have no idea, but I turn my head to follow the sound of his footsteps.
“I thought I’d have more time,” he mutters. “But I don’t. Everything is happening too fast, too fast! But this, if this is what is decreed and you want it, if you want it?—”
