I rub my arms. I’d tried to put on a brave face for Farron, but I’m scared, too.I just got this world back. I can’t lose it.
The men are preparing Farron’s room as best they can, in case Caspian’s bargain is bullshit. But somehow, I know it will work. There was something about Caspian that seemed… sincere.
You’re a fool like them, Rosalina,I chide myself.
I should go back inside and check on everyone. But I can’t tear myself away from this sunset, the apple-scented breeze that makes my white sleeves billow like wings.
Metal clinks behind me. I turn to see Ezryn leaning against the doorway. Somehow, I get the feeling he’s been there for a while and only shifted so that his armor would alert me to his presence.
“Hi,” I say softly.
He doesn’t reply but moves to rest against the balcony railing beside me, staring out at the horizon. The sun gleams off his armor in a way that makes me think of legends of Sir Lancelot riding into battle.
“How are you doing?” he asks slowly, almost as if he had to think about those words for a long time.
My stomach twists nervously. I haven’t really had a chance to talk to him since our kiss in the pantry where he’d walked out, leaving me stunned. My fingers trail over the railing, and I try to forget how good they felt tangled in his thick hair.
“I’m okay,” I answer. “I’m pretty used to being imprisoned by faeries, you know.”
He snorts. “At least you didn’t have to spend a night in the dungeon this time.”
“True.” The wind catches my long hair and sends it tumbling across my face. I stare at him through the waves. His shoulders are slumped, body heavy. “Are you okay?”
Why do I get the impression no one ever asks him that?
“Princess Niamh mentioned she sent word to Spring but never heard back. My father is the steward there. It borders Winter on the other side.” His dark cape flutters in the wind. “My father’s been sick for a long time.”
I place a hand on his arm. “Do you want to go to him?”
He shakes his head, littletingsringing in the air. “Farron and Kel need me right now. Besides, my brother would send word if something were wrong, I’m sure.” He reaches into his chest plate and pulls out a piece of parchment. It’s filled with the same beautiful handwriting I saw on the jars in the healing pantry. “But I’m writing to Father to be certain.”
I notice now he’s not wearing his leather gloves, his large, tanned hands delicately running over the paper. My breath quickens as I remember their firmness on my waist, the strength as he pushed me back into the shelves.
With quick and elegant movements, Ezryn folds the parchment over and over again, then holds it up in his palm.
“A bird!” I gasp. “That’s magnificent. I was never good at origami. Mine always came out looking like someone sat on it.”
He quirks his head in the way I’ve now learned means he’s smiling.If he ever takes off his helmet in the dark again, I’ll ask him to smile. I’ll feel it with my fingers, memorize how far up his face it goes.
He cups the little paper bird in his hands, palms sparkling with green light. He brings it up to his helm and murmurs in a language I don’t understand. The bird springs up, flapping its parchment wings, and leaps off into the breeze.
I gasp, then clap my hands. “Ez! That’s incredible.”
“It’s not very hard. A little trick my mother taught Kai and me.”
“Kai’s your brother, isn’t he?” Caspian spoke about him at our dinner.
“Yes. Kairyn,” he murmurs. “But I don’t want to think about him right now. I came because I wanted to ask you something.”
Heat springs to my cheeks. “What is it?”
Ezryn turns to face me. When we’re chest to chest like this, I remember how huge he is, how tall and broad in his armor.
He delicately takes my left hand. His calloused thumb trails over my skin to the wrist bone. I become conscious he’s drifting his fingers toward my forearm, and try to jerk back, but he holds me firmly.
With his other hand, he touches the cuff of my sleeve, then stares at me. My breath catches, eyes lost in the dark visor within his helm. He’s asking my permission to look at what I’ve kept covered for years, at what I can barely look at myself.
I nod.
