"With guards at me back."
"For yer safety."
"For yer control." Her chin came up. "Daenae pretend they're the same."
"Ye daenae ken what ye're talkin' about."
"Then tell me." She took a step toward him. "Tell me why ye brought me here in chains and kept me behind yer gates and sent men to me back on a market road. Tell me what ye're actually afraid of."
"I'm nae afraid of anythin'."
She looked at him steadily.
"Ye told me once ye feared many things. Ye among them, ye said." A beat. "Ye were referrin' to me."
Something shifted in his jaw. "I was havin' a moment of unusual candor."
"And now?"
"Now I'm back to me normal self."
"Everyone's afraid of somethin'." Her eyes stayed on his. "What's yers?"
He moved.
His hand closed around her wrist.
She didn't flinch, she went still, which with her was different. He pulled her one step forward.
"Ye think I enjoy this?" Low, close to her ear. "The gates and the guards and do ye think any of it is what I want?"
"That's nae me burden." She didn't try to pull her wrist away. "I didnae ask to be brought here."
"And I didnae ask to want ye there."
Her mouth opened.
He kissed her.
Hard.
His free hand came up to her jaw, tilting her head, and she didn't move. Rigid, surprised, and he thought,
Mistake, back away, now.
And then she kissed him back.
Her hand fisted in his tunic and pulled. That was all it took.
Whatever had been holding the last week in place came apart and he had both hands in her hair and she was up on her toesand the well, the courtyard, the whole of the afternoon ceased to have anything to do with either of them.
She kissed him the way she did everything else, completely, without apology, nothing held in reserve.
He felt her heartbeat against his chest. He felt her exhale against his mouth when she came up for air and then came back without pausing, like she'd already made the decision and wasn't revisiting it.
He pulled back.
She swayed slightly when he released her.
