“The pleasure was all mine,” Khayrivven answered with a bow, inhaling deeply one more time to capture the scent of flowers and wild forest that reminded him of his home.
Seventeen
Lory
“What did he say?”Khayrivven studied Lory from the side, his gaze a leaden weight as she peered out into the starlit night through the carriage window, her mind spinning from the dance with King Ulder.
An impressive man who knew how to make a speech as well as how to deal in the shadows, and that was perhaps what scared Lory most about the King of Brestolya—the man of whom she would supposedly be the downfall one day. Ulder was a puppet master, pulling the strings of people far more powerful than him, Khayrivvenbeing just one of them.
His words had lingered in her head since they’d left the palace, Khayrivven offering her his arm the way he had as they’d entered, his face blank and his shoulders tense. She’d rarely seen his mask slip, but when Ulder had stepped in to take Elina back, it had been one of those moments, and Lory hadn’t dared ask how the conversation with his sister had gone.
“Lory?” Khayrivven’s fingers brushed her hand on her thigh, where the purple of her dress was slowly turning darker with Anees’s power wearing off. The flower petals at her shoulder and hips were still there but wilting like they’d been cut off from a source of water.
Lory shook her head. “You don’t want to know, trust me.”
Beside her, Khayrivven was tight as a bowstring, ready to pounce at an invisible threat despite the dark quiet of the night. “I want to know everything.”
“Not this.” She’d tried to twist Ulder’s words this way and that, spin them into something that made sense, but the meaning remained the same.
“Whatever it is can’t be worse than what you already know about me.” The slight desperation in his tone made Lory wonder if Khayrivven had something of his own he’d rather not talk about that night.
Very well then… “He made me an offer.”
“An offer?”
It was so unlike Khayrivven to prompt her for information, to keep a conversation going when usuallyhewas the one withdrawing and sharing mere half-truths.
How she could have let those three precious little words slip earlier, which she had never spoken to anyone, wasbeyond her, when she still barely knew how to trust Khayrivven Falcrest. Of course, she trusted him with her life when it came to survival—or to pleasure—but her heart? How could she trust him with her heart when he hadn’t even acknowledged she’d accidentally let slip how she felt about him?
Fuck the Guardians, she’d let her guard down, and now it would cost her sleepless nights, because what Ulder had asked of her she only considered because of those three little words.
“King Ulder of Brestolya offered me a bargain.”
Even from the corner of her eye, Lory could make out the crease between his brows, one of his few tells that he was actually worried.
“I’ve seen enough of Ulder’s so-called bargains to know nothing good can come of it. Whatever it is, please tell me you didn’t accept.”
Again, she shook her head. “I promised to think about it.”
Khayrivven’s shoulders sagged as he audibly exhaled. “Now, what’s the bargain?”
Turning to face him on the bench, Lory tried to ban the smirk on the king’s face from her memory. “He’ll let Elina go”—the tension in Khayrivven’s shoulders immediately returned—“if I stay with him instead.”
“No.” The war in Khayrivven’s eyes was an image of brutal devastation. “Absolutely and entirelyno.”
“Of course,no,” Lory agreed. “I promised Ulder tothinkabout it, not to change my mind. Though…” Lory shook her head at the impossibility of that bargain. “Maybe Elina’s freedom would change everything. No more being forced to doUlder’s bidding. No more missions. You could take your sister and leave Sen Dunai.”
“And leave you behind? I think not.” All emotions crumbled in his expression as he met Lory’s gaze, the hard, unfeeling captain incarnate, but his hand locking around hers spoke volumes. Slowly, Khayrivven shook his head. “If he were to set Elina free and keep you instead, he’d hold a threat even worse over my head.”
“But you’d be reunited with yoursister.” Lory couldn’t believe she was trying to convince him this was a good idea when she knew Ulder would find a way to twist this so Khayrivven was still trapped. “I could find a way out as soon as Elina is safe.”
Lory didn’t breathe when Khayrivven took her face between his hands and looked her deep in the eyes, smoldering embers igniting the gray storm brewing there. His throat worked, his brows furrowing as he brushed her cheekbones with his thumbs. “Not in a million years, Lory. Not in a million years, I’ll trade you for a chance at freedom.”
I love you.The words were right there at the tip of her tongue, but she was holding them in a vise like her life depended on it, her head still swimming from the events of the past hour. Not only was her father close to the king, but he knew Airmal Ycken, the man whose Almelyte Lory had stolen that fateful night when she’d been caught. King Ulder had recognized her the moment he’d laid eyes on her, had known Lory was the Flame-born Khayrivven had vouched for. He knew of the events in the Amrin Mountains, of the cave Lory had ended up in, the creature that was haunting the cave. The Flames now wasting away in Ashthorn’s dungeons.
For a king who pretended to hate magic all that much, Ulder took surprising interest in the life and death of magic wielders.
“Lory?” Khayrivven’s voice caught Lory mid-thought.
