He watched me, his thoughts hidden behind the veil of his eyes. Angry? Vengeful? Sullen? Bitter? I couldn’t tell.
I leaned to the side, intent on delivering some space between our joined bodies. Sensing my actions, he tried to rotate his hip and knee, offering me an escape.
Then sucked the air into his lungs, teeth clenched.
“Don’t move,” someone said. “The physician’s on his way.” But I’d already frozen, struck still at the sight of pain lacing his brows together.
“You can wiggle out,” Kye murmured, his voice tight. “I’ll make room.” He tilted his weight again, the backs of his hard thighs rolling over my hips. Low in my abdomen, something primal and warm lifted its head, purring to life at the feeling of his body thrusted against mine.
I tried once more to extract myself, but I felt his muscles tighten, and the more he tried to lift away to grant me space, the stronger a tremor seemed to leech into his arm, stuck fast to the door.
“I’ll wait,” I finally said, though numbness had begun creeping into my feet.
Kye exhaled sharply. “Fine.”
Luckily, the physician arrived a few minutes later. My legs had long since fallen asleep, my ribs were sore from the prolonged jab of his armor, and I was certain I’d find bruises on the back of my thighs tomorrow. Kye’s jaw went taut as the physician broke the shaft and slid his arm from it, his breath pluming over my cheek in shallow bursts. Then he lifted away, the absence of his weight a relief to my aching tailbone, a strange emptiness carved into my stomach, leaving me somehow hollow.
Prince Hadrian helped me to my feet. “Are you alright, Lady Maren?”
“I’m fine.” I smoothed my dress, eyes shifting back to Kye, who was now standing before the physician, arm half-bandaged by an assistant as the physician checked him over for a concussion.
“You’re supposed to call me if you take a hit to the head,” I heard him chide the younger prince.
Kye grumbled something back, his eyes never leaving mine.
“He’ll be fine,” Hadrian said to me. “It missed anything important, and it was his left arm, anyway.”
I was only half listening. Bright scarlet had bloomed across the wrappings on Kye’s arm where fresh blood seeped through. He flexed his fingers softly, his mouth a hard line.
“I’ll walk you to your rooms,” Hadrian offered.
I shook my head, tearing my gaze from Kye. “Thank you, but I have to stop at a friend’s first.”
I’m sure it had only been grace and manners that had led to his offer, but he inclined his head, leaving me to walk alone through the door inside.
I wandered to Selena’s apartment in a daze.
If Kye had wanted me dead, that would have been the best opportunity. Instead, he’d not only saved me from an arrow, but he’d also thrown himself in the way.
Why had he done that?
“You’re late,” Selena said cheerfully as she swung her door open to greet me. She hesitated. “Something happen?”
“No,” I lied.
Selena spent another few seconds studying me. “Well, since you’re here now…” She smiled, indicating for me to follow her. She led me to the room that sat between her suite and Thaan’s, a private study.
“It’s mine more than his,” Selena said, her mouth quirking at the look of disgust as I caught Thaan’s scent in the air. “He prefers to walk down to the Advisory to work. But be aware when you’re in there that if he wanted to, he could come in. Have a look.”
My glass box was completed.
Constructed in the shared office, the box was large enough to have been two coffins resting side by side. Welded and sealed with silver corners and a silver base, the windows were thick panes of smooth, transparent glass. The water inside, collected from the Venus Sea, was a foamy pale green, and I could smell the salt as I approached it, at once calming and energizing.
“To help with evaporation, I devised an iron lid, though it’ll remain unlocked and open whenever you use it. You can practice in the mornings, resisting the urge to change as the salt touches your skin, and in the afternoons and evenings we can work on other skills.”
I nodded vaguely, mesmerized by the water on the other side of the glass.
“Starting tomorrow,” Selena added with a chuckle.
