Kye huffed a small laugh. “Don’t think I haven’t thought of that night every day since.” My chin found the center of my palm, a ribbon of heat threading through my skin. It floated from him as well, the air sultry on my tongue. “If we hadn’t been wearing these,” he said, lifting his hand, “I don’t think anything could have stopped me from claiming you in my bed. Certainly not a little knife on your thigh.”
Breathless, I drew my feet onto the mattress, hugging my legs, that familiar primal animal rousing inside me.
“And the next morning,” he continued, clearing his throat, “when I found you sneaking seaweed into my tea. Using the corner of your dress, which might have been worth half of Leihani Island, to protect your hand from the fucking iron kettle. Leaving a stain of ash, never even realizing that most of the women in the palace would keel over at the sight. It was hard to not send it all to Perpetuum and just kiss you there. Every single thing you did charmed me. And I was so cruel in return.”
“I had my moments, Kye,” I whispered. “I was cruel to you as well.”
“Maybe,” he sighed. “But it didn’t keep me awake at night, regret slicing into my heart, when the cruelty came from you.”
I smoothed my fingers over the surface of my ring. “I did the same. I used to listen to your lungs through the walls at night. I liked the way they sounded. The way the sound of your breath soothed me. Then you were gone. And the tower felt empty.”
“Did it?” He didn’t try to hide the small smile in his voice.
I nodded. “Thaan came to tell me the family was headed to Cynthus Castle, but he didn’t know if you’d come. Winterlight had been attacked.”
“Ah Winterlight,” he said. I waited for more. He’d been injured in the attack, I knew that much. He’d received a letter from Hadrian while he was in the infirmary. But he’d never explained what had happened.
Of course, maybe I didn’t want to know. To imagine him fighting in a battle. Or wounded in a sick bed.
“What were you and Hadrian planning to do with me in the Corrum Wood?”
“What do you mean?”
I frowned. “Well, I assume you had some plan of action once you confirmed I was a witch or spy or whatever it was.”
Kye crossed his arms. I couldn’t see him very well, but I felt him, the thatched mattress whispering as he leaned away to look at me. “There was no plan. We’re a couple of idiots. He wanted to know if you were there to kill him. I wanted to know if you’d lied to me since the day we met. Then you… did whatever you did to help him breathe. You answered his question. But I wasn’t sure if you answered mine. That’s why I walked with you down to the beach.”
“And asked to start over,” I supplied, hesitation swirling within me again.
“And then kissed you,” he said, voice thick with apology.
Footsteps walked past our door, the brief silhouette of feet flashing through the light in the hallway. We listened to the sound of a door opening and closing, leaving us in silence.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
I let out a soft breath. “I’m wondering when it changed for you. When you decided to trust me.”
His mouth cracked open, lashes flickering as he scanned the dark walls, choosing his words with care. “There is a point in a fight when you know you’re going to either win or lose. Sometimes you’re not sure at first. Sometimes you know right away. And when Kriska found us on the beach—” He stopped to gnaw his lip. “I realized it almost instantly. There were four of them. And one of me. But the way you fought…” He wrung a hand around the back of his neck. “You could have left me. Iwantedyou to leave me. But you stayed and fought like—like a rabid little animal, kicking and rolling in the surf. Clawing eyes. I’ve seen men run from greater odds before, but you didn’t run.
“It didn’t occur to you that we might lose. That wewerelosing. That your chances would be better if you left me. You stayed and fought. The next thing I knew, they were dragging me onto the ship. You were gone. I’d hoped you’d escaped. But they brought me to the cabin, and there you were, livid at the sight of them. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen yourself angry, Leihani. You’re—well, you’re terrifying. Like you could look at someone and liquify them on the spot. But Kriska pulled that garrote over my neck, and the way you criedstop.”
He paused to lean forward, forearms braced against his thighs, and gazed down at the floor. “I still hear you sometimes, screaming for him to stop. Your voice breaking on the word. As if it killed you to watch him kill me. It echoes in my ears. And then you said three words that sent terror into my heart.I’ll drink it.
“Koren Valeriany is deadly, depending on the dosage. And who knew how much the pirates would make you take. I watchedyou drink poison to keep me alive. That was when I knew I’d fucked up. I’d been played. I’d spent months thinking you were an enemy, and there you were, risking your safety for mine. The shame cut so deep; I could hardly look at you that first night on the ship. Could hardly speak to you. I kept thinking,she’s going to die. And I all but killed her.”
“I thought you were angry with me for getting us captured,” I said.
Kye huffed a breathless laugh. “No. I don’t think I’ve ever actually been angry with you. I’ve only ever been angry with myself.”
I looked down at my wedding ring, still in the center of my palm. Heavy. Delicate. I rolled it around in my hand, watching the faint light catch it in a shine from certain angles.
“My mother’s dowry contained a variety of objects imbued with alchemy and ancient magic, most of them jewelry,” Kye said quietly, watching me. “She gave one to each of us before she died. And then threw the rest down a well so that the King couldn’t take any more. Mine—" he turned his hand over, and I realized the sapphire ring his mother had given him sat over one knuckle. “Mine was infused with moondust.”
He slid it from his hand and held it out for me. I paused, hesitant, then slowly took it, slipping it onto my own finger. Weighted and warm from his skin, it drooped from my hand.
Suddenly my opposite hand struck out, snatching something from the air. Hard, smooth, round. His pocket watch. My mouth parted as I realized he’d thrown it at me. And even without seeing it coming, I’d caught it.
“They say Aalto watches the present. Caecus hoards the past. And Theia safeguards the future. Moondust is in the silver band, making it a Premonition Ring,” he said, nodding to the sapphire on my hand. “Wear it, and your instincts sharpen. Your body knows things before they happen.”
