She blew out a breath. “What about Brune and Nevin?”
“Do you want them to stay?” I asked, cocking my head to the side, eyes narrowed on her.
“Brune,” she said, looking down at the water.
“Not Nevin?”
“I—I don’t know him well enough,” she replied truthfully. “But it’s up to Brune to decide. Maybe this has changed things for him. Maybe he wants to return home.”
“And what about you?” I asked, curiously. “What do you want?”
Her gaze connected with mine, steady. There was something in her expression I couldn’t read, something that made my brow furrow in confusion.
Finally, she said, “I want to see all the hatchlings born. I want to see Kyr fly for the first time. I want to see Samryn healed.”
A gruff sound fell from my throat.
“If I left before then,” she said, “it would feel unfinished…for a long time. Maybe even forever. I don’t want that. But…it’s becomemorethan I thought it would. With you.”
“Because of your heartstone magic,” I guessed. When her face flushed, I asked, “Or something else?”
“There’s a lot here for me, Alaryk. That’s what I’m trying to say. You’re included in that.”
I inclined my head, a swell of something I didn’t want to give a name to rising in my chest.
“I know I said something different earlier,” she added. She sank down into the bath, the surface of the water lapping at her lips. Amaia looked like she had in Ny’am, when she’d fallen into the water at the base of the stone walkways—like a goddess as she’d emerged, her magic prickling over my skin, electrifying the air as desire had pumped hotly through me. “But I wanted you to know how I really feel.”
Was it a little fucked that I’dlikedher temper? That I’d liked that she’d submitted to me, trusting me, at the very least, to give her some relief? That she’d been passionate? That she’d been unafraid of stoking my own temper?
Amaia of Rath Savenal had surprised me at almost every turn.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” came her soft question, which floated across the arm’s distance we were apart.
“Like what?” I asked, a challenge.
She shook her head, not giving a voice to what she was thinking. Shy now? Maddening female.
“What does this mean for us?” she asked after a brief lapse of silence.
“Sex, you mean?” I asked to clarify.
She nodded.
I wasn’t going to stop—that was all I knew.
“It doesn’t have to change anything,” I answered. “Besides your living arrangements.”
She frowned.
“I already told you before—I don’t trust anyone to keep you safe,” I said. “You’ll live here with me. You can go about your duties at the hatchery during the day, but I’ll have a guard assigned to you throughout the village. One of my own riders.”
Her lips parted, an indignant flash crossing her features.
“After today’s meeting,” I added, “it’s best that you have a guard with you anyway. Not just because of us.” I gestured between our naked bodies. “I expect you won’t like this arrangement, but I think it’s necessary. Elysom knows about you now, about your ability.”
“Someone told this councilmember?” she asked, frowning.
“Gevanth.” I inclined my head. “It was what I didn’t want to happen, but now that it has, we’ll deal with it. That means I want you near. I’m committing myself to the Arsadia through the rest of the riding season. And if you decide to stay beyond theexchange agreements, you’ll return to Grym with me after the choosing.”
