“Feels like months. If it weren’t for our balconies facing each other, I don’t think we’d have seen much of each other at all.”
So many nights, I’d step out onto my balcony, just as the sun was setting. It was the only time Indira would leave me alone. Dante made it a habit to go onto his balcony as well, but he was too far away to speak to. We’d spend many sunsets—when he wasn’t trapped in meetings with the council— simply gazing at each other over the empty distance between us, unable to communicate, unable to comfort each other. It wasn’t much, but when the timing worked in my favor, it had quickly become the favorite part of my day.
“True. Luckily no one caught on. I’m sure the king would have made me switch rooms if anyone had seen us. But it was frustrating not being able to talk to you. I almost—” I cut myself off with a laugh.
“You almost what?”
“I almost attempted to write you a note. To find a bow and attach the note to an arrow so I could shoot it at your balcony.”
“I would have loved to see you attempt that.” He chuckles. “You might have hit me instead.”
“Maybe. I could aim better with my dagger, but I don’t think it would have made it that far.”
“We’ll have to test your theory and see.”
As we gaze at each other, our smiles slowly fade. All the questions I have come back to press down on my resolve.
“How… are you?” It sounds completely ridiculous when I say it out loud, but it’s the most pressing question on my mind. “I mean, we haven’t really spoken since…” I swallow back the lump pressing into my throat, feeling the urge to apologize. For what, exactly, I can’t be sure.
For him losing his brother to the tsar.
For my part in it.
“Dante, I’m sorry.” It comes out in a hoarse whisper.
He steps closer, his eyes searching my face. “Celeste, listen to me. It’s not your fault.”
“But Ipushedhim.” Whatever Torbin became in the end—cruel, power-hungry, dangerous—there was a time when he and Dante were nearly inseparable. Brothers in blood. Best friends in everything else.
“You had no choice. I was there, don’t forget.” His voice is softer than I expect, cutting through the stillness like a blade sliding from its sheath. “He could have killed me. He almost killed our father. I didn’t lose him when he fell from that tower; I lost him way before that. I see that now.”
I release a breath as a weight lifts from my shoulders. I hadn’t realized until this moment how important it was for me to hear him say those words.
“I can see that this has been troubling you.”
I shake my head, not wanting to make this about me. “Dante, your whole world has been turned on its head. I’m worried about how you’re handling it all.”
A muscle ticks in his jaw. “This isn’t the first time my life’s taken a turn, Princess.” The words are even, but I don’t miss the edge beneath them.
I swallow hard, wishing I could ease the tension that never seems to leave his shoulders.
He comes nearer, and I lift my head just as his hand rises between us. He brushes back a strand of hair that’s slipped free from my braid, hisfingers lingering when they find my cheek. “But it’s good to finally know what’s been going on in that pretty, little head of yours.”
I shiver, helpless against the soft drag of his thumb across my skin. The air pulls tight around us, thick with everything we’ve left unsaid. If we were at Ivystone, if anyone were watching us, I would have to step back, put the space between us that the king demands. Instead, I reach for him. My palm presses flat against his chest, and beneath my touch, his heart beats as fiercely as my own.
His gaze softens. For all the armor he wears—on his body, on his heart—this is the piece of him no one else gets to see.
His hand covers mine, fingers warm against my chilled skin. “What about you?”
I let out a humorless laugh. “What about me?”
He drops his hand to my waist and pulls me closer until we’re mere inches apart. “This whole ordeal with Torbin can’t be easy for you.”
“He’s not dead, Dante.” At least that’s what I suspect. “And even if he is, I’ve killed before.”
“In battle. Or defending lives. But I highly doubt you’ve pushed someone you once cared about off a castle tower.”
My brows scrunch together as my gaze lowers.
