It’s startling to see everyone clean and in fresh clothes. We were all so travel worn, even before the Barrows.
Elianna hugs me, Andras smiles and nods, and Trick throws his arms around my neck. His hug is so familiar, I’m almost overwhelmed and so glad he’s alive. That we all are.
“You’re safe,” he says, over and over. “I was afraid …”
“Me, too.” I touch his hair and step back. “When you flew away from the pit like that …”
“Draugrs,” he says grimly. “And that was bad enough, but then the Zhagarn and Fell showed up.”
I gasp then glance at the door, worried someone will overhear.
“Don’t worry. Elianna warded the room against eavesdroppers,” Trick says, touching my cheek and smiling. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
A crock of stew and loaves of bread steal my attention. I grab a bowl and spoon and join my companions in digging in, taking a moment to close my eyes and let myself get so absorbed by the savory combination of lamb, vegetables, and spices, that the hum of voices around me dulls to a murmur.
I survived the amulet. We survived the Zhagarn and Fell twice—no, three times now, from the bits of news I caught when Kaelen and Neville were talking. We defeated the draugr to retrieve the key.
We can do this.
Kaelen, taking a seat next to me at the long wooden table, nudgesme with his arm. “Are you sure you filled that bowl full enough? This is my third helping.”
I glance up at him, smiling, then freeze. The impact of Kaelen, the elegant courtier, and his beauty was bad enough. Even dirty and beat-up with cuts and bruises, the man is shockingly gorgeous. But this Kaelen—the deadly warrior who saved my life, who fought for me, who cared for me when the Gray Mind struck—this man is a danger to the heart I walled over long ago.
His thick, black hair is still damp from his bath, and his sculpted face is clean-shaven. When I look at him, I see the prince as well as the man.
Personally, I liked him scruffy. He looked dangerous with a hint of beard, like an outlaw, perhaps. He also looked more … human.
Less royal.
Less like someone I’ll never have a chance to … do or have anything meaningful with.
My heart literally aches in my chest—an actual physical reaction to how hard and how fast I’m falling for this man. Is that even possible? Sorchonne Parnour wrote quite a long chapter warning courtesans of the dangers of falling in love. But should ordinary people be afraid, too?
Maybe notordinarypeople.
As I’ve heard all my life, I’m not even close to rising to the level of ordinary.
If I don’t protect my heart, it could easily become one of the casualties of this journey. Especially since I never know which version of the prince will look back at me through his purple eyes.
“Soli?” His tilted head and raised eyebrow tell me I’ve been staring at him, but he’s smiling.
“You shouldn’t smile like that. It makes you unfairly beautiful,” I mutter beneath the covering sound of Neville’s hearty laughter at some quip of Chitai’s.
Kaelen leans toward me and speaks softly, his voice nearly a purr in my ear. “I’m not the one who’s unfairly beautiful, my Solitude. When we’re alone, we still need to continue our conversation from that nightbefore the Barrows. My … decisions would be different now.”
Heat rushes up from my toes, soaring through my body, and I reach for my mug of spring water and gulp some down. When I look up, I see Chitai studying me with narrowed eyes, but she looks away when I catch her at it.
Great. Yetanotherperson who wants to tell me I can never be with the prince. They should form a line.
“If you’ve all eaten enough, we should share our stories,” Sergeant Neville says. He ate with soldier-like efficiency and now nurses a mug of ale.
“Yes,” I agree. “Tell us everything that happened after we fell—”
“After the draugrs hurled us into—” Kaelen says.
“That horrible pit,” I finish. “First, though, I want to show you all the key and tell you what Artemisen said.”
I hold it out but don’t take the chain off my neck to pass it around. I’m not sure why, and I shrug uncomfortably when Elianna raises an eyebrow at me. I feel like the key and amuletwantto stay with me.
