Page 44 of Memory of Ashes

For a heartbeat, neither of them moved.

“I’m doomed anyway,” he said, leaning towards her slowly, as if giving her time to decide.

She could have stepped away. Instead, she closed the distance between them, choosing this despite everything that warned her not to.

Their lips met and his fingers tangled in her hair.

This kiss was gentle and his touch was tender—a stark contrast to the cold, violent battlefield outside the tent.

It surprised her. He surprised her.

He was a mystery.

She saw fragments of who he was, pieced together like the repaired relic in his chamber, with parts of him missing. It made his cruelty more difficult to understand.

His eyes were closed; his long lashes rested against his high cheekbones. The tension had left his face.

She lifted a hand to move a stray lock of his dark hair that had fallen across his face, and her fingers lingered against the antlers that rose delicately from his forehead. She touched them gently.

He opened his eyes. She laughed at his indignation, and his expression softened into amusement.

He laughed. “They’re sensitive.”

It was the first time she’d heard him laugh. That deep rumble vibrated through her body.

“Oh, Amelia, what have you done to me? Get some sleep.”

*

In the middle of the night, she awoke expecting Casyl to be in the tent. She sat up to find him gone.

He strode through the tent flaps, looking exhausted, carrying a letter.

“He’s coming,” he said, his face pale. “The king will be here by noon.”

Chapter 10

The king arrived that afternoon, escorted by mounted warriors and footmen wheeling a huge covered cage behind them.

Amelia watched from afar as Casyl greeted his father and showed him around the camp.

They moved her to Danae’s tent that morning so she wouldn’t be in the king’s way.

“Why is he here?” she asked Danae, who stood close by.

“The battle is almost over. He wants to witness his victory himself.”

“Does he fight?” she asked.

“Not as we do.”

She looked past the warriors towards the covered cage. “What’s in there?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“I really do,” Amelia said.

“No, you really don’t.” She shook her head.