Eyden’s breathing had become erratic for a whole different reason now. His heart swelled in a way that was almost too much to handle. “I choose you too. In whatever way you’ll have me.” He dropped his head against her forehead, tracking the tears building in the corners of her eyes.
Pulling back, Lora wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I have to survive all of this first, then we can talk.”
His heart cracked another inch. “We have a plan now. I’m going with El and Amira to get that artefact.” Their plan was far from risk free, but he would take any risk to free Lora.
“That’s a good idea. You can get them out of there if anything goes wrong. I wish I could go too, but you have to take me back to the palace.”
“Don’t worry about us. I’m sure stealing an artefact won’t be that difficult for a skilled pick-pocketer such as myself.”
Lora laughed quietly. “Your proudest title.”
“We can’t all be princesses, Your Highness,” he said, a smirk on his lips. She went to hit his shoulder, but he side-stepped easily, laughing at her angry expression. “Not very princess-like.”
“You haven’t seen the half of it,” she said.
Eyden let his gaze wander over her. “Oh, I think I’ve seena lot.”
Lora blushed, which only made him smile more. That blush did interesting things to him, and given their current situation, he needed to defuse the tension. “Before you go, I got you another WiFi cube.”
Lora turned pale. “I can’t use it anymore. Karwyn broke my phone.”
That fucking bastard. Eyden pulled her into a hug without even thinking. If Lora was surprised, she didn’t show it. Her arms went around his neck as if they’d hugged a million times. But they hadn’t. Somehow, this hug felt even more intimate than sex.
“I’ll get you a new one,” Eyden whispered against her silken hair. “Marcel left a letter for you.”
Lora pulled back enough to look at him. “A letter?” The look in her eyes said she was afraid of what it would say. He didn’t know what she’d written, but he could imagine it was a difficult situation to navigate.
Eyden reluctantly left her embrace and took the letter and WiFi cube from his drawer. Going back, he handed them to Lora. She hid both underneath her shirt, securing them with the band of her trousers.
“I keep thinking about how Saydren knew about you. How he knew to describe me,” Eyden said, voicing another constant thought. “If he saw us together, wouldn’t he have mentioned me to Karwyn?”
Lora grasped her pendant tightly. “I think the only explanation is that Saydren never actually saw us together. That someone else told him how to get under my skin.”
“Layken?”
Lora seemed to consider it, then shook her head. “He knows too much and hasn’t taken advantage of it yet.” At Eyden’s questioning gaze, she added, “He caught me sneaking back into my room after the masquerade ball. He could have told Karwyn, but he didn’t. I can’t figure out his motive.”
Eyden didn’t trust Layken one bit. “Try to stay clear of Saydren and Layken. You’ll be out of there soon.”
A faint smile brightened her face. “You know not to underestimate me. I’ll manage.”
Oh, did he ever. He smirked at her, wishing she could stay, but knowing she couldn’t. “Ready to go back?” he said. He wasn’t.
“One more thing,” Lora started, “you need to fill Ilario in on all of this. It’s time.”
“Everythingeverything?” he asked.
“You trust him, don’t you?” Lora searched his eyes.
He did. He hadn’t let himself trust anyone except Elyssa for most of his life, but now he knew that trusting wasn’t always going to be his downfall. Someone had betrayed his father all those years ago, but that didn’t mean that Eyden was meant to meet the same fate.
“I do,” he agreed.
Lora smiled as if she knew exactly what that meant to him. “And I trust you, which includes Ilario by extension.” Before he could get completely lost in her eyes, Lora tilted her head to where Elyssa sat on his sofa. “El?”
His sister perked up from the couch when Farren pointed in Lora’s direction.
“I’m going now, but I’ll see you soon.” Her eyes moved to Amira and Farren. “All of you.”
