A thoughtful silence falls over the room before Nurai offers an inconceivable option. “Take her back to La’tari. Surely if that is where she is from, that is where you will find the answers you seek.”
“It’s a good plan, Xey,” Riesh says, “And it will get her out of Vos’s reach.”
“Vos cannot easily reach her behind these walls,” the general argues.
“You underestimate her if you think that’s true,” Nurai says flatly, confirming all my fears about the female that hunts me.
A hush falls over them, the general considering all they have said.
“I will accompany you,” Awri offers, “A glamour to hide what you are, and you will be free to move about the southern continent unhindered.”
The general’s voice is full of far too much hesitation when he answers, “All right. We will take her to La’tari. Riesh, you will come with us.”
“I will join you as well,” Nurai says, and I really wish she hadn’t.
“I will alert Toren,” Xeyvian says, “Awri, tell Caden that he will be joining our party and send Riah to my chambers. Have a ship prepared for the crossing and well stocked with supplies for our landing. We leave tomorrow, on the earliest possible tide.”
There is a moment I am a coward. A moment I tell myself maybe there is a life to be had in the midst of this lie. I can leave with the male, put myself far from any harm I could cause his king. Savor whatever time it allows us to share.
But it wouldn’t be real. Not any of it. Not until he truly knows what I am.
It is Riesh who first exits the war room into the general’s chamber. I don’t try to pretend I haven’t overheard them. The pause the male gives me when he meets my eyes only speaks of the relief he feels in that knowledge. With a shallow nod he leaves to see to the general’s orders. Awri follows shortly after, a relieved smile adorning her face as well when she rushes out to see to her task.
“Take theglierif you must but leave the others,” Nurai says, and I bristle at the demand in her tone. “A small party will be far easier to conceal.”
“If that were not the case,” the general responds, his voice low in warning, “I would have Toren beside me as well, a fleet of ships sailing south, and a legion aboard them. Trust me when I say that this is the least I will allow to accompany us, and far from my comfort. Where she is concerned, I have not found my limit, and I would give everything to see her safely through this.”
“Careful, Xeyvian,” she says simply, “The fates may choose to test that declaration.”
She smiles at me when she leaves the room and I’m not sure why it feels like a taunt. I tell myself that it is only that I do not like the female and push every thought of her from my mind.
The general is the last to join me in the main room, cloaked in gloom. It’s clear by the look on his face, he is not at all surprised to find me awake. I, on the other hand, am unaccustomed to seeing him with dark circles beneath his eyes. As the others had, he offers me a smile but only looks worn out as he pulls me against his chest, resting his chin on my head.
“Did you sleep?” I ask, knowing that nothing as simple as a night awake would be enough to wear on him like this.
“A little,” he says, dropping a kiss on my head before taking a seat on the edge of the bed, pulling me between his legs.
“So,mi’ajna, will you travel to La’tari?” he asks without pretense.
“Do I have a choice?” I ask.
It’s a fair question. After all, he made his plans without consulting me, and all the arrangements are well on their way to being complete.
“I will never take your choice from you,mi’dair’a.” His brow dips as if he can hardly believe he has to explain it to me, and maybe I shouldn’t make him. “If you want to stay, then we will stay, and find another way.”
Another way to what? To unbind her. To unbindme.
I remind myself that he promised to help me undo the bargains I hold with the fea, but I don’t ask him what Nurai meant when she said it, afraid of what his answer might be.
Today is for us, tonight for the revealing of myself, and tomorrow, a new beginning, no matter which threads of my life the fates choose to pull upon.
“You’ve only just asked me to remain in A’kori,” I tease, a small deflection.
He pins me with a hard stare and says, “Allow me to make my intentions clearer. It would please me to have you by my side, always. A’kori, Brax, continents unknown to the feyn. Let your home be here.” He grasps my wrist, placing my hand over his pounding heart and I want to choke on every lie I have let the male believe. “Your heart is my home. Every piece of what you are decorates the halls of my life in a vivid splendor I never dreamed to possess.” He cups my jaw. “You are so much more than I ever hoped for.”
I hide my sorrow in a kiss, savoring the taste of him as my throat burns and my chest aches.
“If you still feel that way tomorrow,” I say, “ask me again.”
