“I’ll throw you in the lake.”
She beams. “You’d have to catch me first.”
------------? ? ? ? ?------------
Koen
My gaze follows Serenya as she returns her sword and storms away toward the palace.
Torin chuckles. “You lasted longer against her than I thought you would. That’s usually a good sign.”
“Except when it ends with a sword at your throat,” I mutter, rubbing my neck.
“You didn’thate it,” Alira sing-songs.
“I didn’tloveit,” I say flatly.
She gives me a knowing look, her blue eyes gleaming. “Sure you didn’t.”
“Well, she didn’t kill you. That’s the nicest thing she’s done so far.” Torin grins. “That’s practically affection.”
I shake my head, but I can’t help the small smile that tugs at my lips. I turn my eyes back toward Serenya’s disappearing figure.
“Thinkshe likes me?” I ask dryly.
Alira gasps. “Oh, Koen, you sweet delusional thing.”
“She’d feed you to a hellhound if it would improve her day,” Torin adds.
I let out a slow exhale. Even as they laugh, my mind replays that earlier moment. Her eyes softening, her breath catching. Like she’d seen something in me she didn’t expect. Like, for one moment…she hadn’t seen me at all.
The worst part? For that same moment, I hadn’t felt like myself either.
Later, dinner in the great hall is uneventful. The queen, high lords, and nobles don’t join us tonight. But Serenya does.
When I step into the room and see her at the head of the table, relief floods me in a way I don’t understand. I shouldn’t feel this drawn to her, but I do. My eyes keep straying to her, no matter how many times I force them down to my food.
She’s laughing at something Lioran said, the sound soft and bright, striking something deep inside my chest. When I first arrived at the palace, I told myself not to like Serenya. A princess who seemed to have given up on her people? I wanted nothing to do with her. Yet, from the moment we met, something in me has been calling to her.
I fight it; I swear I do. But when her face lights up like that, when her laugh spills from her lips like music, my magic stirs restlessly, like it longs to go to her.
I tear my gaze away and focus on the food on my plate. My thoughts keep straying to the other night. The way her eyes had dimmed with sadness when she spoke of her father. The way she rolled her eyes at Torin’s teasing, yet a smile was always tugging at her mouth. Their love for each other had been obvious. It was like siblings squabbling, but underneath it all, the unshakable truth that they’d die for one another.
That glimpse of who she is beneath the mask startled me. It was impossible to look away. Then, seeing her after healing us…how weak she’d looked, how hard even just walking had been for her. Guilt lodged sharp in my chest. I had the urge to scoop her up and carry her to her bed, but she wouldn’t have wanted that. She didn’t want me there at all. Didn’t want me to see her vulnerable. I hadn’t pushed. She had every reason to dislike me. I was rude when we met, and since then, I’ve done nothing but get under her skin. Of course she didn’t like me.
It’s for the best. Truly. I don’t plan on staying, even if I make it through all trials. I just want to return to the Hollow and leave all of this behind.
One by one, people begin leaving the table. The scrape of chairs, the low murmur of parting goodnights, pull me from my thoughts. I glance up just in time to see Serenya walking out beside Osric, looking slightly uncomfortable. My jaw clenches. Something about him has been off since the first day, though I can’t quite put my finger on it.
Before I can think better of it, I push back from the tableand follow. The corridor beyond the hall is quiet, torches crackling faintly on the walls. They’re gone, no trace of them. My gut twists. I don’t even know why, but my feet carry me toward the gardens. Some instinct tugs me that way, strong and insistent.
I push through the doors and into the night air. The gardens stretch wide, fragrant and shadowed, and for a moment I don’t know where to go. My gaze settles on the path toward the fountain, and something in me justknows. My heart hammers, already sensing danger.
I weave between hedges and overflowing blooms, the air thick with their perfume until it nearly chokes me. I slow when I hear voices, ducking behind a hedge where I can see without being seen.
She’s smiling, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. Her body is tense, her arms crossed tightly in front of her. He steps closer. She steps back. Again. And again. Until her legs meet the stone edge of the fountain.
Rage slams into me, hot and unrelenting. My fists clench and unclench as I take a step forward.
