The door opens, and Ronan enters, looking unamused. I imagine he felt my wandering eye from the other side of it.
Good.
“Leave us,” says Ronan. Taran exits back into the hallway, and I take a shameless glance at his ass as he leaves.
Then I flash my eyes back at Ronan, who is doing his best to conceal the fact that he’s seething.
Even better.
“When did you realize?” he asks tersely. He stands across the room, arms crossed over his tunic. He’s still wearing Soren’sclothes, and in them, it’s so obvious that they’re the same man, I can’t believe I ever doubted it.
“Realize what? That the king of Selara was prancing about darkened alleyways posing as a war-wounded?”
“I wasn’t posing. I was a war-wounded.” He turns, and Soren’s face flashes onto his so quickly it makes my stomach queasy. “These are my own scars. Or they would have been, if the healers hadn’t gotten to them.”
I suppose he wants me to feel sorry for him.
I don’t.
“They did incredible work. I suppose that’s what happens when all of the best healers in the land are at your disposal.”
“Unlike your own sister and brother, who have to wear their wounds on display for all to see,” he says sarcastically. Adria and Seth have no scars either despite the fact that we lost the war.
“When you left me because the bells were ringing,” I say, returning to his question. “You winked.”
He raises his eyebrows in surprise, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. “Did I?”
I roll my eyes. “You know you did.”
“I hadn’t realized…well, that probably explains why I lose so often at cards. It seems I have a tell.”
“Or you’re bad at cards when you’re not cheating. Why do you even need to cheat if you can feel what everyone feels?”
“I’m not a mind reader. As amazing as I am, it is actually possible to deceive me. If you play your cards right.”
Another wink and a gods-awful joke.
“I can’timaginewhy anyone would try to deceive you.” I need to rein in the sass, but he’s really pissing me off right now.
“Are you angry with me?” he asks. He takes a seat on the bench across from me, leaning forward a bit in my direction.
“You truly are an idiot. Of course I’m angry, Ronan. You lied to me—”
“Youlied tome—”
“And you dragged me into something that could have gotten us killed—”
“I told you it was dangerous. I told you not to come. Youforcedme to take you—”
“And you acted like you were my friend, and you tried to kiss me! How did you think that was going to go, exactly? When I touched your face and realized the scars weren’t real? What was going to happen then?”
Ronan leans back, and a soft blush blooms across his golden cheeks.
It’s really, really attractive.
Fuck.
“I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t,” he says as I start to protest. “No one has ever come onto Soren before.”
