I kissed him.
Not only that, but I had been ready to take it further. All the way, if I was being honest with myself. The usual hesitation—the innate feeling which normally stopped me—didn’t intercede.
I would need to banish the feelings unfurling behind the walls around my heart, I couldn’t allow them to peak through. I was suddenly glad we’d been interrupted. Being forced to marry the king meant I couldn’t give anything to Shade, not in the way he deserved. It was as I’d feared—we were to be each other’s destruction.
My eyelids drooped, a sleepy fog overtaking my brain.
Tomorrow.
I would face reality tomorrow. Until then, I would bask in this feeling he evoked inside me. The warmth and comfort and safety. The strange spark that always flared in my chest at his nearness.
My next blink was long, far too long. When I forced my eyes open again, Shade let out a rumbling chuckle, the soundsending that pleasure-filled warmth and contentment through me. “Sleep now, Solis.”
The pet name set my stomach alive with the rapid beat of a hummingbird’s wings, but my eyes refused to open as sleep dragged me down. Lips brushed my forehead, leaving a tingling sensation in their wake, and unconsciousness claimed me.
The next morning, we were about to leave for the library in our first search for the escape tunnels when a knock sounded on the door.
“Lia?” Eleanor’s voice was muffled, and I leaned against the door, my gaze resting on Shade, who watched me with a soft expression. The door handle rattled, and my sister called my name again.
“I’m here, Eleanor,” I said through the closed door.
“Lia? Why won’t you open the door?”
I couldn’t let her see me. Although Wista’s tea had helped with the pain and aided the healing, the bruises on my face were a deep, ugly purple and my ribs twinged with each breath.
“I’m unwell, I don’t want you to catch it.”
She snorted and rattled the door handle again. “Come on, Lia. This is ridiculous, I’ll be fine. Just let me in.”
“It’s quite horrible, vomiting day and night. I can’t keep anything down. You’ll be bedridden for days and won’t be able to attend your classes.” She’d always said vomiting was the worst illness you could get. If she was to be sick at all, she preferred a chill or fevers.
An exasperated breath sounded from the other side of the door. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, I’ll be better in no time at all.”
At her pause, I questioned everything. If I was doing it right? If I was keeping my promise the way my mother intended?
“You’re sure?” Her words were filled with concern, and I rested my forehead against the white timber.
“I am, I promise.”
“Alright. Harkin mentioned a gallery of paintings he wanted to show me today. Have Wista fetch me if you need anything.”
Despite her earlier seriousness, excitement laced her words, so I immediately felt better about lying to her. She should be out enjoying her time, not worrying about me or the future. “Of course, and Eleanor?”
“Yes?”
It was my turn to pause, mulling over what I should say, and finally settled on “Be careful.”
She snorted again. “You worry too much, Lia.”
I waited until the sound of her chatter to a silent Pierce faded away before I slumped against the door.
Shade stepped closer, trailing a finger down my arm and leaving gooseflesh in its wake. Everything about the touch was comforting and electrifying. “You could tell her.”
I met his gaze, the questions in them clear. “She doesn’t need to know, to see me like this.”
I would shelter her for as long as I could, to ensure she experienced the childhood I never did.
