A warmth spreads out from my chest. This damn boy. One minute he has me wanting to throttle him; the next second, I could kiss him.
‘Thank you,’ I whisper, feeling a sudden rise in my pulse.
Jonas smiles. ‘You know, we’ve still not had the conversation I wanted to have with you.’
‘We haven’t?’
I can’t even remember what that conversation was supposed to be about.
‘Maybe later, if you’ve got time.’
‘You don’t want to have it here?’
He glances around the room to the other figures still sitting at the tables, though they’re few and far between. ‘No, it can wait.’
His lips twitch and I wonder if he’s about to say more when he’s interrupted by the sound of my stomach growling.
‘Maybe I should let you eat,’ he says, grinning. ‘I was going to go do some training with Yeva anyway.’
‘I’ll be fine.’ I nod across to the far end of the hall. ‘Grenda’s still here. She won’t let Zara try anything.’
‘Okay. See you later?’
‘Possibly.’ I’m not going to make promises I can’t keep, and I don’t think I’m in the mood for a deep heart-to-hearttonight.
I watch as Jonas walks towards the door and out into the battle yard. He really does have a good body, and the memory of him shirtless lingers in my mind for a full ten seconds, until it’s interrupted by something – or rather someone – else.
Kyor has come up from the stairs by the kitchen, and all he’s dressed in is a pair of fighting leathers. No shirt. No shoes. But for once it’s not his shoulders, or arms, or any other part of his body that holds my attention. It’s the way he’s walking. Head down, warily glancing around him. He hassneaking aboutwritten all over his forehead, like I used to when I constantly got targeted by pickpockets in the market.
Kyor Knavin doesn’t want anyone to see where he’s going.
Which is why I leave my plate exactly where it is and follow him.
Chapter 34
Ifollow Kyor as he sneaks through the eastern arc. With every step I try to ignore the drumming in my chest telling me this is a bad idea.
There are two places he could be going. Either he’s going to leave the High Hold – which is forbidden for Rettlings, but I’m sure an exception would be made for him – or he’s heading to the guards’ temple. But if he’s going to the latter, I don’t see why he’d be acting like a thief in the night.
Grateful for the clouds that cover the moon and the practice I’ve had at going unseen, honed through many nights spent skulking through the slums, I trail him from a distance, watching as he passes the gate that leads out of the eastern arc and keeps walking towards the temple.
Maybe he feels embarrassed about needing to pray?I chew my lip and keep following.
Other than the shadow of darkness, there’s not a lot to keep me hidden, no trees or buildings to duck behind, so I wait, keeping as much distance between us as I can. At one point, he slows his pace and I hastily turn around, but when I glance back I see him striding once more towards the temple and slipping through the doors. I quicken my pace to follow.
‘What are you doing, Rose?’ I mutter to myself. ‘Do you really need to watch Kyor pray?’
At best, it’s obsessive. At worst … I don’t want to think about it. What I should be doing is heading upstairs, finding Jonas’s new room, and getting thoroughly distracted from any ridiculous thoughts about Kyor Knavin.
I purposely remind myself of his surname, of who his father is, of whoheis.
I need to see what he’s doing, whether that’s praying or something else. And I couldn’t care less if he’s using the temple as some sort of hook-up site, though who would be bold enough to fuck in the temple of the Gods, I don’t know.
And now I’m definitelynotimagining him pinning me down on the altar …
Gods help me.
As the temple door slams shut, I’m faced with the issue of what to do next. I can’t go in after him without being discovered, that’s for sure. So it’s time for a little climb.
