“Breathe deep. It’ll burn.” He scooped out some ointment and spread it over the cut. Elara winced, then relaxed back into his care. The longer he rubbed the wound, the more the burn would cool. It also helped that Elara softened with each stroke of his thumb.
“You’ve waited too long,” he said. “It’ll scar.”
“Add it to my collection.” She turned over her other hand, the same that had drawn him in the night they met. “You have some of your own.”
He followed her gaze to his chest, where he carried every slice of a thug’s knife, every whip of a shopkeeper’s stick after he stole, and every wretched factory burn. And then some.
“Reminders of who I never want to be again. It’s taken me a while to learn who I am.”
“Must be nice,” she replied. “To know who you are. Sometimes, I feel like I’ll never figure it out.”
He tilted his head. “But you’re so… so…”
“Brash? Insufferable?”
“Confident.”
She flushed again, and he was drunk on the power of causing it. “Do you want the truth?” She leaned in and whispered, “I have no idea what I’m doing.”
He pressed a bandage to the wound. “Neither do I.”
She gasped. “Really?”
He scowled. The kettle whistled before he could say something foolish. He got up and reached for the cupboard only for his mind tostumble. He needed to keep this going, to make her comfortable. Hewantedto not be alone for once.
“Would you like a cup?” he asked.
She smiled brightly. “Please.”
He ignored the annoying flip of his stomach as he prepared two drinks.
“I find tea goes best with cake,” she said.
“I’m sure it does, but I’m…” He chewed on the words. “I’m not terribly fond of sweets.”
She stared at him. “I knew you were a monster.”
She cut a slice anyway and brought it over with two forks. Two. They were supposed to share?
She dove in for a big bite and melted, eyes closed. Was this how she lived her life? All or nothing? It had to be exhausting.
And exhilarating.
Tempting enough to make him take a bite.
It was heaven. Delicate sponge cake melted into delicious cream with just the right acidity from a raspberry jelly to make his mouth tingle. Without thinking, he took another bite. And another.
“What magie did you put in this?” he asked.
“None. It’s just good cake.” She winked and sipped her tea.
No magie, and it was the best thing he’d ever eaten.
Eventually, she set her mug down and sighed. “I can’t win. I wouldn’t know the first thing to do as Souverain.”
“You could learn.”
“You said it yourself, all I can offer the Counseil is my unquestioning devotion. That’s not making change. That’s being a puppet.”
