He carefully places something in my palm. The object snakes into my hand until I feel something unusually hot hit my skin.
“Open them.”
When I see what it is, all breath escapes me, and tears instantly prickle in my eyes.
“My necklace,” I gasp. I whip my gaze up to meet his, stunned. “How did you— I mean, where did this—”
“I took it back.”
“What do you mean?” I stammer.
“The day we left Meriva, when you made a stop in the refugee center,” he begins. “I went to the pawn shop and spoke to the owner. Told him to give it to me or I’d cut every single one of his fingers off.”
“Oh my gods, Thane. Seriously? He’ll remember my face. He’ll probably think I set him up.” I don’t want to laugh, but I can’t help it. I’ve clearly been hanging around him for too long if I find threat of dismemberment deeply romantic. Then something dawns on me. “Wait a minute. How did you even know which pawn shop I went to?”
He gives me a knowing look.
“Of course youfollowedme that night.” I scoff. “You are quite the stalker.”
He shifts in his chair. “I told you, I had to make sure you were serious about going to the temple. After hearing that it was a gift from your mother and seeing you go to the refugee center, I suspected you were an orphan. But then hearing what you said in Frevella’s cave about the attacks in your kingdom…” He shook his head in disbelief. “Selling something that important just to hire me proved that you really wanted this journey to happen.”
“Oh.” I drop my line of vision to the necklace. “I didn’t think you were listening when I first told you it was my mother’s.”
He shakes his head with a lopsided smile. “I wouldn’t be any good at what I do if I didn’t listen to the important details.” He studies the necklace as I finger the gold ribbons. “I’m always listening to what you have to say, Zaira. Your opinions matter more to me now than I want to admit.”
I blink my tears away, smiling at him as I curl my fingers around the pendant. “Thank you, Thane.”
He nods, then stands as he reaches for the necklace. “I’ll help you put it on.”
I let him take it as he circles my chair. As he brings the chain down, the pendant lands on my chest. It’s still hot, so Analla must be alive. I take that as a small comfort. The familiar feel of it around my neck makes me want to cry. When he clasps it, he walks around me and sits again.
“If you’ve had it all this time, why did you wait so long to give it back?” I ask.
“Wasn’t sure if I wanted you to know that I followed you that night.”
“You mean you didn’t want me to consider you some kind of stalker before I actually got to know you?” I tease.
He cracks a smile. “Guess you could say that.”
He leans in so close that I can feel his breath swim across my skin. I lower my eyes to his lips as he grabs my hip and his fingers dig into my waist.
“Any regrets?” he asks in a low voice.
“About last night?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know yet.” I pause. “You?”
His lips press to mine, and he kisses me lightly. “I don’t know yet, either.”
He kisses me again, drawing me closer and coaxing my lips farther apart. My knees slide between his legs, and I clasp his face in my hands, moaning as his fingers drag up my spine. Before our kiss can deepen, the bells on the ceiling ring loudly. I pull away with a gasp, looking up as they thrash back and forth.
“What the…?” Thane stares up, breathy and confused. Something hard slams into the boat, and we teeter sideways. He catches us, and I cling to him as the mugs fall on the wooden floorboards.
The door of the cabin bursts open, and Rynthea appears with her scythesword in hand, eyes wide with alarm. “Thane, get out here!Now!”
“What’s happening?” I call as Thane hops up and snatches out one of his swords.
