“Ah, I thought so.”
She took a step closer to him, narrowing her eyes. “How did you know?”
“A guess,” he said, dipping his chin to look her directly in the eye. “Based mostly on your clothing and speech. I second-guessed myself because of your hands, though.”
“My—why?”
He took her hand in his, his fingers and palm dwarfing hers. She shivered, her breath catching when he brushed his thumb along the tops of her fingers.
“You have the calluses of a warrior. Princesses aren’t typically armed.”
She dared a glance up at him again. “They are where I come from. And you’re very observant.”
“Mm, only of things that interest me.”
Her heartbeat quickened when his hand tightened around hers, their fingers tangling. She let her eyes flutter shut, letting the solid warmth of his presence and the heat of the summer sun settle around her for just a few stolen moments. His lips brushed against her forehead, and she exhaled sharply.
“Tell me your name,” he whispered, his breath disturbing loose tendrils of her hair.
She lifted her head to find his gaze molten as he stared at her. A careless, thoughtless decision had her lifting on her toes, her hand curling in the waves of hair curling at the nape of his neck. She brushed her lips against his, and he groaned softly, affected by even her subtle touch.
“No,” she murmured just before pressing her lips to his.
He was ready for her, his broad hand sliding to the small of her back, the other untangling her hair from the loose braids. When he teased the seam of her lips with his tongue, she opened her mouth, moaning softly. He tasted like honey and smoke, and she found herself wanting more, wantingeverythingfrom him.
But she needed to let him go. She had already put him in enough danger by spending any amount of time here. And if Kronos ever found out…
She broke away, gasping. He didn’t let her go far, though, pressing her forehead to hers as his breath came in broken, heavy gasps.
“You’re afraid,” he said roughly, placing a hand lightly over her sternum. “I can hear your heart pounding.”
“Mortals cannot sense that,” she said, shutting her eyes. “So you know for sure now what you are.”
His lips brushed over her eyelids, and her eyes burned at the gentleness in his touch. She had to save him, had to run from this field and never look back. It was the only way.
“I’m not afraid,” he said quietly.
She opened her eyes. “You should be. If he were to ever find out about this, you would wish you were dead long before you took your last breath.”
He tensed, and she could sense the anger brewing in him like an inferno, rising to the surface of his skin. There was no mistaking it now, the fire that ran within his blood. She wantedto douse herself in his inferno, to burn with him. Instead, she stepped back, finally creating some distance.
“I’ll be alright,” she told him softly, holding his gaze.
She saw the understanding in his eyes—she was not coming back.
Still, he said to her, “Come back if you need a place to cry in secret again. I’ll always be here, waiting.”
She smiled sadly. “Don’t waste your time. Live your life and be happy. Goodbye.”
He opened his mouth, but she ran before he could stop her again. As she passed through the barrier between their worlds, she finally let the silvery tears fall, shimmering like starlight as she left the man and his fierce kindness behind.
Soren woke to find her pillow damp with tears she had shed in sleep.
Her dreams were becoming longer, more real. When she was younger, they had merely been flashes of a place or a person. Sometimes, they had even just left a feeling, but now, she saw this unknown goddess’ life play before her in clarity. She knew now that the visions had to be from the past. The veil between this world and that of the gods had been shut long ago.
She rubbed the sleep and tears out of her eyes before she dressed and crept out of the tent quietly. Last night, she had waited until the princess was asleep to enter the tent, instead sitting by the creek until the moon was high in the sky. She did not want to know what the princess thought of her now. In fact, the idea of facing anyone was daunting, Vane included.
When she approached the training field, she paused. He was sitting near the edge of it, cross-legged and facing away fromher. She debated calling his name, or even just turning and leaving altogether, but the deal Commander Eton had offered her weighed heavily on her mind.
