Page 84 of Given to the Black King

The wind is cold. My face is hot.

“You are not an assignment anymore,” I say.

“What am I?”

“I will tell you when I can say all of it.”

His finger tightens over mine.

I leave Torgan at the wall and find Vess in the lower stair, where she is questioning a runner about the gate ledgers.

She dismisses him, then looks toward the yard. “Your western gate sergeant has new boots.”

“I noticed,” I say.

“He paid off a moneylender yesterday and bought those boots with coast silver.”

Torgan’s body goes still.

“Take him,” he says.

“Not yet.” Vess folds her arms. “He is being paid by someone who wants the envoy outside the walls. I would prefer the person holding the purse.”

Torgan’s claws slide fully out.

Vess looks at me. “Do not walk the night garden alone.”

“Was I planning to?”

“You are always planning something.”

She leaves before either of us can ask more.

Torgan turns to me. “You stay inside after dark.”

My body answers the command before my temper does.

He smells both reactions.

“No,” I say.

His eyes narrow.

“I will not make myself easy to steal,” I continue. “But I am not spending the rest of this treaty locked in my rooms.”

“You heard Vess.”

“I did.”

“Iona.”

I step closer.

“I want to know what it feels like when you stop waiting for me to cross the room.”

His breath slows.

“What are you asking?”