A dark incantation of three words. The magic slipped under my skin and battered at the last pieces of my armor. He’d meant what he’d said, and it was the truth that gave the words their power. I couldfeelthe veracity of his claim. It carried significant weight, already a living thing with a heartbeat of its own, pounding between us.And yet…
There it was. A fracture. A sliver of hesitation neither of us could hide from.
“But you’re right. The obstacles,” he rasped, confirming my certainty. “Even with sex off the table?—”
“And out of the room,” I mumbled.
“Yes.” He sighed. “Any kind of physical interaction will complicate matters.”
I nodded, my voice failing before I managed to croak, “I know.”
As much as I didn’t want to risk him, he didn’t want to burn. And even if he survived, my part in the death of his loved ones was a shadow we couldn’t outrun. Like his incantation, our past was a living, breathing force. It tethered our future to doom, turning it into a constant tug-of-war.
“Can we be friends?” he breathed, stroking my hair. “At least until I leave?”
“Ja,” I muttered, leaning closer. A much safer arrangement. “Friends who do not touch. Do not kiss. Do not pretend this is easier than it is.”
He squeezed his lids shut for a moment. “And in the spirit of our agreement, I’d like to admit my mind is currently a dumpster fire, everything jumbled together and doused in confusion.”
I snort-laughed. “Same, professor.” I forced my arms to drop to my sides as the dragon beckoned…
Time passed in silence. Then he let his arms drop, too, but he didn’t rise. He stared at me. Stared until he lifted a hand again, this time to trace my bottom lip with his thumb, as if the act alone could silence the ghosts between us. “I don’t hate you for what happened to my family,” he admitted quietly. “Not anymore.”
A beat of stunned silence. “You don’t?” I too reached out again. My fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt, needing something solid to anchor me.
His gaze searched mine, unflinching. “If nothing else, being with you, reallylearningyou, has shown me a side I never imagined existed. And it isn’t the bond making me want you, Lyssa. I don’t think it ever was.” He offered a wry, troubled smile. “You’ve haunted my dreams for as long as I can remember. At first, as the monster. But then…” He trailed off, and the silence that followed was full of unsaid things. Memories, regrets, and cries of a future we weren’t sure we could have.
“Am I interrupting something?” Adelaide asked, her tone infuriatingly casual.
I yanked upright with a sharp inhale. In my daze, I hadn’t even heard her approach.
My sister stood at the edge of the chamber, framed by stone walls and wood beams. Her hair was a mess of tangled curls threaded with twigs, and streaks of dirtsmeared her cheek and brow. She wore a blood-stained tunic and battered leathers, her entire presence crackling with leftover adrenaline.
Whatever she’d been doing, it had left a glaze of battle-heat burning in her irises.
“By the way, I took the liberty of gathering multiple teacups for your perusal. They’re in the throne room.” She informed us, her tone overly casual.
“You are absolutely interrupting,” Taron growled, pushing to his feet with stiff reluctance, his scowl thunderous.
Adelaide simply shrugged, unfazed by the moment she’d shattered. “Relax, lovers. We’ve got more important things to discuss. Actually, forget the teacups. There are problems waiting, too.”
Typical Adelaide, completely unmoved by awkward timing or after-kisses intimacy, able to change destinies. In a matter of hours—minutes!—Taron and I would drink the bond-breaker potion. My desperation to be near him, gone. Supposedly.
Would he want me anyway? The most delightful, effervescent flutters erupted in my belly. Until my next thought came. Desire me or not, he would still go home. Inside, I flinched. Our time together had come to an end. And that was good. For the best.
“Explain,” I said, and sighed.
Adelaide strode closer and flicked a glance between us, her mouth twitching with amusement. “For starters, Councilman Roland Hoffmann has fled the castle. Taken his son and several other soldiers. He killed Councilmen Ansel and Hugo, who tried to stop him, then hid their bodies and cut off Cedric’s hands, freeing him from our chains, and passed him on to Lorik.”
A heavy weight settled in my stomach. Of course, Roland was the traitor. My hands balled. Ducking his responsibility to the citizens of Mourfall. Challenging my rule. Trying to force me into a marriage with his eldest child. The signs had been there, plain as firelight, but I’d been too consumed by Taron to notice.
My sister thrust an envelope into my hands. “He left you a note.”
I ripped open the flap, not even caring that Adelaide was already reading over my shoulder.
Your Majesty,
I owe you the truth, even if it earns your hatred and changes nothing.
