He stopped her rebuttal with another kiss. “You were incredible. My ice queen and shadow queen.”
“Oh, don’t call Brela that.”
He grinned. “Never. I like my body parts where they are.” His nose teased hers. “I have never been more proud of the women I call my loves.”
Farrah wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning up on her toes to kiss him again. Soft and powerful, she sank into his body and the arms that held her close. Just for today, they could be happy. They could enjoy one another again, and leave their worries for another day.
A pointed cough kept Elias’s hands from exploring any lower than her ribs. With a grumble, he pulled back and glanced over Farrah’s left shoulder. “Prince.”
Farrah spun around to find Serill’s cheeks flushed, even with the shadows of his hood keeping most of his features hidden. She raised her brow. “Serill, why are you here?”
He lifted his hand, presenting a bottle of wine. “I snuck away for the night. I hope you don’t mind, but Brela invited me to dinner… if you will have me.”
“Is your captain going to crash the party?” Elias asked.
The prince grimaced.
Farrah elbowed Elias in the gut. “Shush, it’s not Serill’s fault.” She turned back to Serill. “Of course you can join us. We would love to have you. Brela should be home, and we were just getting ready to leave.”
Serill frowned. “I just came from there. She didn’t answer the door.”
“That’s not normal,” Farrah whispered. Elias stiffened next to her.
The prince shrugged it off and set the bottle on the porch. “She might have been in the bath or otherwise occupied.”
Elias shook his head. “Do you really think something like being in the bath would stop her from inviting you in? She’d know it was you.”
Farrah let out a sigh. “If she’s still with Ovir…”
“You don’t think they’re…” Elias started. He didn’t need to finish, and Farrah did not need that image in her mind. It ruined all of her happiness.
“She would never.”
“Something isn’t right,” Elias said, running up the stairs and into the orphanage.
Serill stepped closer. “What’s wrong?”
Farrah checked her sheaths and made sure her daggers were still tucked safely against her thighs. “She shouldn’t still be at Ovir’s. He’s an ass, but that meeting should have been over by now. And if she’s not at home, she should be here.”
“Do you think Ovir was upset about her paying off her debts?” Serill asked.
Elias answered for her, leaping down the steps and draping her cloak over her shoulders. “He might not be happy about it, but he wouldn’t do anything to her because of it. We’re just going to make sure nothing happened along the way.”
He slid his belt over his hips, adjusting his sword as Serill nodded and checked his own blade.
Farrah raised her brow at the prince who rolled his eyes and sighed. “If you’re about to tell me that this is going to be dangerous and I shouldn’t come—“
Farrah unsheathed one of her daggers and offered it to him. “I was going to ask if you wanted more weapons.”
* * *
Elias barely noticedthat Serill was following them. His steps were quiet through the brush. Maybe not effortlessly so, but the prince was a much quicker study than he had been. Serill wielded Farrah’s dagger with grace, even if he’d never fought with it other than some training he’d done with them on the road. Farrah had taught him well, and as much as he didn’t want to admit it, Cason had done a good job too.
Farrah, as always, moved with unnatural silence for someone who didn’t control the shadows. A steel dagger in her right hand, an ice blade in her left, the woman quickly took the lead and guided them carefully through the trees. Brela would be proud.
Where the hells was that woman, though?
If she’d been on her way home from Ovir’s, they would have run into her by now. She’d never take the main roads home during the day, but the closer they got to Ovir’s home, the more panicked he became. The air became thick, the humidity clinging to his nose and throat and making him gag. Unease crawled along his spine.
