We will need to evade them, but as for whether or not Thyra needs to wear the circlet so soon, my throat tightens.
I don’t want to put that fucking thing back on her.
It’s a startling realization.
She peers at me, as if she’s also having a hard time understanding my reaction. “Why the hesitation?”
I try to come up with a lie, but the truth pushes through first. It sounds so simple, bare and raw, as I speak it. “I don’t want you to wear it.”
Her face falls. Not the reaction I was expecting, and itshocks me. That damnhollowdrains the light out of her eyes, and I can’t understand why.
She takes a quick step back from me. “You’d rather dangle me in front of your mother. That way you can play her game, make her think she can win?—”
“No.” My hands close around Thyra’s arms, causing her to stiffen, but I’m suddenly aware it isn’t purely because of my sudden movement.
Now that she’s taken a step back, I can see the black bruises around her neck, the worst on her left side. Another bruise darkens the skin on her forearm, right below where I grabbed her.
Carefully, I peel my hands away, only to discover I was gripping another bruise.
Anger boils within me, and not only at myself. If I could kill that fucking assassin again, I’d tear him apart slowly and make him beg for mercy.
But whatever rage I’m feeling right now, I can’t let Thyra believe I’m directing it at her. As much as it might be to my benefit to intimidate her, and probably I’ll have to employ that tactic again…
I have to keep communication open between us.
“No,” I say again, softer this time, and it’s hard when my whole life I’ve shouted and commanded and reprimanded and threatened.
Even harder is the challenge of explaining my reasons to her when I don’t fully understand them myself.
I have no fucking idea why my chest feels heavy at the thought of wrapping her wrist in this chain or why I suddenly loathe the idea of her being constrained.
I try to put logic to it, to reason it through. “I chose the ruby circlet to keep you by my side. I thought only of how it could play out at Court. Last night, it prevented you fromescaping an assassin. I didn’t consider that scenario. Even though I should have.” I grimace, although I know she can’t see it through my armor. The only way she can read my emotions now is to search my eyes. “I can’t anticipate every situation. On balance, the circlet is more likely to keep you safe than not, but it could become a serious liability.”
Her lips softly part as she listens to me. “Oh.”
A little of the light returns to her eyes.
A little of the heaviness lifts from my chest.
“Well. I thought it through while I was eating,” she says. “Yes, the chain meant I couldn’t escape that man last night, but it was also a useful weapon. Without it, I’m not sure I could have held him off, so?—”
“We need to do something about that.”
She tilts her head. “What do you mean?”
“What combat skills do you have?”
She hesitates. Of course, she won’t want to tell me, a possibility I’m surprised she confirms a moment later.
“Although I’d prefer you didn’t know, because I’d rather you thought I could kill you if I wanted to… I’m only trained in basic defensive combat.” She demonstrates, jabbing at my armor without making contact. “Eyes, mouth, throat, groin. I know how to hold a dagger and a sword and how to deflect a strike. I’m quick when I need to be, but fear has that effect on me.” She tips her chin defiantly. “I can run.Fast. Faster than some highborn.”
My focus falls on the spot at the top of her right arm where she bears the scar from Ember fire.
“Running,” I murmur, fighting the boil of my blood again. I wonder who that Ember Fae was and hope I have the chance to find out. “You must have gotten good at it.”
She says, although hesitantly, “If itmakes any difference, you should probably know the circlet won’t cut through my arm.”
I raise my eyebrows. And though she can’t see that, she reads my silence accurately.
