“Which,” she continued, unaware of his reservations, “leads me to think we should spend more time together.”
“We spend every day together, Ilain.”
“I mean, just the two of us.”
“Privately?”
She nodded.
He drew his brows together, doubtful of the idea. “We don’t exactly have the luxury of privacy.”
Brea accused Rafferty of cheating just then, as though to prove his point.
“No?” Ilain asked slyly. She drew their dance to a halt, then looked over her shoulder at Vayden. He met her gaze and gave her a knowing nod.
While Vayden kept singing, Ilain adjusted her hold on Ethenn’s hand and pulled him into the forest to their left. Though Ethenn was sure someone would see and stop them, no one did.
Under the heavy cover of trees, the world was a thick shadow. Carefully, they moved through the roots and underbrush. The chirrup of crickets filled the cool air. And though the foliage wasstill foreign to him, Ethenn could almost imagine he was back home in Estshire, stalking his prey through the forest with his father at his side.
“This will do,” Ilain said when they came upon a willow tree by a creek that wound through the hillside from a mountain river somewhere ahead. She pulled him under the drooping branches. The world was even darker beneath the leaves. He could barely see her as she sat at the base of the trunk.
But then a small orb of flickering ruby and golden light floated before her. It played off her pale skin, revealing her bright smile. Now that they were traveling again, she wore a simple, dark brown dress. Its large skirt billowed around her, making her appear like a flower that had bloomed from the tree itself.
Ethenn sat across from her, drawing his knees up. Being here with her felt like he was in a dream. The orb floating above their heads almost made him worry that it was one.
“Now,” Ilain said, placing her hands in her lap, “tell me about yourself.”
Ethenn raised his brow. “This was supposed to be about me understanding you.”
“And about me understanding you,” she reminded him. “Besides, I know far less about you than you know about me.”
Though he didn’t doubt the truth of that, Ethenn wasn’t ready to be open with her. “A question for a question, then,” he suggested.
Her smile grew. “Very well,” she said, playing with a pleat on her skirt. “Shall I go first?”
He gave a nod, preparing himself to lie.
“When did you first realize that you loved me?” she asked.
Ethenn let out a relieved huff.Thathe could answer. “Well, I always liked you,” he said. “But I didn’t realize quite how muchuntil you told me in the Wind Keep that if I fell one more time, you’d let me go.”
Her face scrunched in disbelief. “Thatconvinced you that you love me?”
“When I thought about you letting me go,” he shrugged, “I didn’t fear dying. I feared being apart from you.”
Ilain let out a strange humming sound but didn’t speak.
“My turn,” Ethenn said, distracting them from what might otherwise have been an awkward moment. “Why do you let people think you’re vapid and brash?”
She didn’t even hesitate. “Because it makes them underestimate me. And it keeps them at a distance.”
Ethenn raised his brow, understanding but surprised that she felt the need to distance herself from people too.
She smirked at him, taking her turn at a question. “What made you decide I’m not vapid and brash?”
“You’re smart,” he said. “But not just normally smart. You’re cunning and manipulative. I saw that from the moment we met—the way you played King Ephren, Thom, all of us. You’re far too clever to be so ridiculous.”
Now, it was her turn to look surprised. “You’ve always been more attentive than others,” she mused.
