Before they could leave, though, one of the mothers approached them.
“Thank you, Prince Jasyn, for your kindness.”
Jasyn opened his mouth to stop the undeserved praise, but her next statement made him stop.
“You’ll make a great king.” She winked before nodding to Esi and Mych and then leaving. He held in his breath, unable to let the words worm their way in. He’d simply offered a helping hand today.
Even though Esi clearly was angry with him, she touched his cheek like she understood the effect those words had on him, how he had difficulty accepting them.
“Let’s go,” she whispered.
Thirteen
“Somewhere private,” Iskra requested. As Jasyn guided her, she felt the vibrations of his body. What had overcome him? He was moving quickly, and she could sense them losing Mych. Iskra didn’t think it was because the guard couldn’t keep up. She guessed he wanted to give the future married couple some space.
Their steps sounded on the stone floors of the castle, and she had to duck to avoid being slapped by leaves, branches extending towards them like eager arms.
“The throne room?” She raised one of her brows.
“No one goes in there unless we have official business.”
She sighed. It would have to do. She pressed her finger to his chest. “Just us. Make sure no one comes in.”
He didn’t hesitate as he reached up to a sconce right next to the door and revealed a key. Without stumbling a beat, he locked the door to the throne room, and Iskra couldfeelthe difference of that simple action. One second, they were two people together in a room, and the next, they were two people with the freedom to exist together without fear of disruption.
Iskra craned her neck up. She still wasn’t used to the sight of it, the way the arched, vaulted ceilings touched so high in the sky. The plants consumed the room, making it feel like they had an audience, but it was just them, hidden within the greenery.
“What happened out there?” she asked, her voice wavering. A part of her thought she had no right to push him like this. He was a prince. She was a nobody.
Jasyn wasn’t looking at her when he responded. “You could have died.”
“By whose hands?”
He whipped around away from the door, his hands up in frustration as he accentuated each word. “That’s not the point.”
“Why are you so scared?”
“Because I have lost so much, and I can’t lose you too!”
His chest heaved deeply, the pupils of those green eyes shot wide. Iskra stood there stunned. No words would form; no thoughts eddied in her mind.
“I have lost and lost. I cannot fathom a world without you in it, and that terrifies me.”
And again, no words would leave her mouth. She didn’t have them. How could she comfort him with lies? She would be gone. He would lose the person he had become acquainted with during the day and only have the Esi of the night. He would win the Undertaking—she would do everything in her power to guarantee it—and he would marry someone else.
It was grieving any potential of them together that pushed her off the ledge she had been tiptoeing on for days. Perhaps words were not needed right now.
“Sit,” she ordered as she pointed to his father’s throne.
She watched Jasyn’s throat bob, but he followed her lead, walking the stone path across the pond with ease. Even with her shoes off, Iskra’s own adrenaline made her stumble a few times. Once he was on the throne, she went to his lap and straddledhim. His breath hitched, and she liked how easy it was to affect him.
“Is this what you want?” she asked, her own breathing labored. Her body was pulsing with such a deep need; it scared her how Jasyn could do this to her, but there was a thrill to that fear.
He nodded, not a lick of hesitation.
“What if I’m not who I say I am?”
His hands were on her hips, and they tightened against her, as if making sure a body was actually there and he wasn’t dreaming.
