She turned to find Talon in the doorway, the top of his shirt undone and hair wet, as if he’d just emerged from a shower.
“Maybe.” She poured another.
Talon entered the room, stepping beside her to grab one for himself. “You’re going to be feeling that in about five minutes.” Probably faster, considering she hadn’t eaten.
Arianna shrugged. “Good.” Maybe it would drown out their grim reality.
Talon pulled a few cubes of ice from the air and dropped them into her drink. “That’ll make it better.”
She half-smiled, then moved toward the loveseat. Arianna curled her legs into the cushions before draping the blanket over them.
“You probably won’t need that in a few minutes, either.”
Arianna shrugged. “It feels nice for now.”
Talon downed his own glass before refilling it and settling into the chair across from her.
“How often are you in here?” Arianna asked.
“Nearly every night.”
“Do you drink every night?”
“Mostly.”
“Gods above, you’re an alcoholic.”
Talon smirked. “Hardly. If an alcoholic were in this room, those bottles would already be gone.”
Arianna took stock of the containers. Only one was nearly empty. She took another sip. He was right. The ice helped. “I assume that one was your doing?”
He shrugged. “Mine. Raevina’s. Rion’s.” Talon looked up briefly, likely to gauge her reaction to the male’s name. Ariannaonly hummed and took another sip of her drink. “Something happened down there. The guards say you two disappeared.”
She tilted her head. “Does it matter?”
“It might.” He waited, but when she didn’t explain further, Talon continued. “You’ve seemed better with him.”
“Apparently the anger wasn’t even mine.” She gritted her teeth. “It seems half of what I feel doesn’t belong to me.”
“You’re still you,” he stated quickly.
“Am I?” Arianna swirled her drink, watching the cubes clink against the edges of the glass. “I don’t feel like myself.”
“What do you feel like?”
“Like a piece of fabric that’s been stretched too tight. Like I’m unraveling at the seams one thread at a time. Like I’m not … whole.”
“Your decisions are still your own. You protected your sister. You fought to defend your people. You ventured into unknown danger in search of answers. Seems like the same Arianna I’ve always known.”
“Yeah.” She took another drink. It already tasted better. Her vision blurred at the edges. She couldn’t remember when her shoulders had relaxed. Arianna let one foot poke out from beneath the blanket. “What happened to us?”
Talon paused with the glass halfway to his lips. She looked up, meeting his surprised gaze. Talon looked off to the side and cleared his throat, shifting in his seat. “You fell in love.”
She tilted her head. “So you didn’t even try? Rion and I were separated for a while, right?”
Talon’s jaw clenched. “My efforts wouldn’t have mattered. Rion only left because of me. I convinced him you’d have a safer life without his reputation following you.” He took another drink, still refusing to meet her gaze. “You were a ghost with him gone. You barely left your room.”
“I’m sure it had absolutely nothing to do with being in chains for months on end.”
