“Voluntary test subject.”
Selene’s laugh echoes off the stone walls. “Whatever you two are doing, keep doing it. I haven’t seen either of you this happy in weeks.”
She disappears down the corridor. Aisling and I look at each other.
“She has a point,” I say.
“She usually does.” Aisling reaches up and plucks the parchment from my hand—I let her, surprised by how close she’s gotten. “My turn. Stargazing.”
“That’s on my list.”
“Then we both win.” She tucks the paper into her pocket. “Meet me on the east ramparts at sunset?”
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
The grass iscold beneath my back.
We’re lying in the meadow beyond the eastern wall, staring up at a sky dense with stars. The stargazing session has devolved into comfortable silence—my astronomical knowledgewas deemed “criminally fictional” after I named a constellation “Steve.”
“That one.” I point at a cluster near the horizon. “That’s the Dragon’s Revenge.”
“No.”
“You didn’t let me finish.”
“I didn’t need to.” She’s laughing softly, her shoulder pressed warm against mine. “Every constellation you’ve named has been made up.”
“How do you know ancient dragons didn’t name them?”
“Because you called one Bob’s Soup Bowl’ and claimed it was used for navigation to the best feeding grounds.”
“Bob was very hospitable.”
She snorts. Turns her head to look at me. In the starlight, her eyes are dark and warm and full of something I’m afraid to name.
“Thank you,” she says quietly.
“For what?”
“The list. The cliff diving. The terrible dancing.” She smiles. “For making me remember that I’m allowed to enjoy things. That surviving isn’t the same as living.”
“You were always more than what happened to you.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it’s true.” I turn onto my side, propping my head on my hand. She mirrors the position, and suddenly we’re facing each other, close enough that I can count her freckles in the moonlight. “From the moment I saw you—terrified and furious and refusing to break—you were already more.”
Her breath catches. She doesn’t look away.
“Rurik.”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t think you’re terrible.” The corner of her mouth curves. “For the record.”
“High praise.”
“Don’t let it go to your head.”
