“They’re all fine. Sergeant Neville told me that Elianna used some of her potion to heal the minor injuries they got during the escape. The draugrs apparently tried to avoid hurting the horses.”
I laugh. “Even monsters have their soft sides. Do you … do you want to walk with me?”
He nods, and we fall into step, strolling down the road. Away from the inn, away from the musicians, and past the sleeping village.
“I need to apologize. For earlier. Talking about you like you weren’t there. I find myself bristling whenever Trick tells me what I should do when it comes to you.”
“What?” It’s like he’s speaking ancient Altarran. I hear sounds, but the words don’t make sense.
He grins at me. “Sometimes I forget you’re so—”
“Reasonable? Female? Not drowning in manly, bullheaded belligerence?”
“No,” he says through gritted teeth, his grin gone. “Yes. Okay, yes. Reasonable. I’m having such a hard time being reasonable about you. It sets something inside me on fire that you can be so unaffected by me.”
“Unaffected?Are you kidding?Unaffected?I can’t take a single step without considering whether it will turn you hot or cold, on or off. You affect meconstantly. Anyway, never mind. I’m fine.” I raise my chin. “I’m not a child you need to teach about the world. You’re not even the only man I’ve ever kissed.”
With that, I speed up my steps, leaving him gaping behind me. And I’m petty enough to be delighted.
When he catches up, he slants a narrow-eyed glance down at me. “So. Who did you kiss? Was it Trick?”
I stop walking and put my hands on my hips. “No! We’re just friends. But anyway, that’s none of your business,PrinceKaelen. Unless you want to tell me the names of all the women in the palace you’ve kissed?”
“Not really,” he mutters.
“Not really,” I repeat, deepening my voice to imitate him. “This is a ridiculous conversation. Maybe we should just go back to the inn and—”
The amulet glows, interrupting my thoughts completely.
“Oh, no. What do we do? I can’t explain the ‘special glowy necklace’ without giving us away.” I put my hand over the locket, but the light shines through my fingers.
“Why is it doing that? Are we in danger? Are wolves about to show up?” Kaelen smiles at me, despite his obvious concern.
“Better than Artemisen herself, right here in the middle of town. We need to get moving. Fast.”
Luckily, we’re almost at the edge of town. We speed up until we’re out of sight of the village, and then I pull the locket and key from beneath my shirt and hold them out in front of me.
“What do you want, um, Lady Artemisen?” I realize I have no idea how to address the goddess who sometimes uses my mouth to speak. But it doesn’t matter, because she doesn’t respond.
Instead, the amulet’s light focuses into a single beam that aims out into the burned fields that border the road.
“Great. Are we supposed to go in there?” I sigh, then realize I’ve become far too comfortable with thepossession of a goddess.I’m moreworried about my clean clothes getting dirty than I am about what the amulet is up to this time.
“Let’s check.” Kaelen grasps my shoulders and gently turns me to face back toward the village.
The gem’s beam immediately shifts to point again at the same field, now on my left. “Guess that answers that.”
“We should walk out there,” he says, and I waste a moment wishing I had his confidence, instead of second-guessing my every move.
“Sure, let’s do it,” I say with no enthusiasm whatsoever.
“Hey, cheer up. What’s the worst that can happen?”
I slap a hand over his mouth, but it’s too late. The cursed words are out there in the air between us for anyone to hear. Too late to take back.
“You never say that,” I whisper. “Never, ever. It’s like you’re daring fate to smack you in the head.”
He takes my hand in his. “Maybe let’s just go, before we scare ourselves out of it.”
