Page 114 of Given to the Black King

“And you stopped when I asked.”

“That is not evidence that I will do it twice.”

Her hand leaves the map. Hurt sharpens her scent.

I hear what I said after it leaves my mouth.

She stands.

“You think loving me makes you less capable.”

“I think losing you would.”

“That is not the same thing.”

“It will be on a battlefield.”

I force the rest out before pride closes around it.

“If you stand on my wall, every man below it will know where to aim.”

I look at the cut beneath her jaw.

“I will know too. I will hear your heart above the fighting. If the wind turns, I will smell your fear.”

My claws press deeper into the table.

“Osk wants me looking up instead of forward.”

Iona comes around the table.

“You are asking me to take the southern road.”

“Yes.”

“You are not ordering me?”

The question costs her.

I make myself answer correctly.

“No.”

“Then ask.”

My teeth meet hard enough to taste iron.

“Take the road, Iona.”

She studies me.

“No.”

My claws stop at the edge of the grain-road mark.

“Why?”

“Because the treaty is signed but not ratified. Because men from my country paid Osk. Because I understand the paper holding his army together.”