Page 127 of Fate of the Sun King

“We should get out of here.” He glances at the closed door of Cloris’s sitting room, and it’s only now I remember where we are.

“Do you think she heard all that?”

“No,” he says, expression deadpan.

“Liar.” He gives me a wry smile before his jaw hardens and his eyes dim down to black inky pools.

“Lor. I need you to understand that someday I’m going to make a choice when it comes to my father. One that might show you I’m not a good person, and I hope that you’ll be able to forgive me for it.”

“I understand,” I say. “There will be nothing to forgive. There’s nothing you can do that will ever make me question you.”

Then he kisses me deeply before he pulls away and touches his forehead to mine.

“Let’s go,” Nadir says, helping me stand and tugging me back the way we came.

“Where do you think Mael got to?” I ask.

“Not sure, but he can find his way home.”

We spill out into the bright street, blinking against the sunlight.

“We need to get your magic back—the full force of it. I can’t stand the idea of you being vulnerable around my father again.”

“Did you know any of that?” I ask as we walk. “About the arks?”

Nadir shakes his head. “I’ve never heard of such a thing, but we need to know what they actually do. I don’t believe a single word she just told us.”

“No, me neither.” I stop walking, forcing Nadir to do the same. “Do you think it’s possible the Mirror has it? What if that’s the gift and it was never my magic? The Staff hinted it might help unlock mine. Cloris said the ark is an amplifier too.”

“I’d considered that. We have to get inside the palace soon. There is absolutely no way we can let her get her hands on it.”

“What about the other thing?” I ask. “Sealing our bond?”

“If she knows how to do it, then someone else must know too.”

“What if we can’t find anyone else?”

As the crowd surges around us, he pulls me in close with a hand cupped around the side of my neck.

“If we have to give her the ark, then that’s what we’ll do.”

“But what if—”

He reels me in and kisses me fiercely. “No. I told you once that I don’t let anything get in the way of what I want, and I meant that. There is nothing I want more than you.”

I blink at him and nod.

“We’re going to figure this out,” he says with all his usual bravado, and I believe him. One way or another, we will.

We start walking again with our hands clasped, both lost in our thoughts. The silence between us is comfortable, despite the way I just reacted. I realize I don’t have to be anything around him other than myself. He has accepted me, warts and all.

We duck into the alley leading to the house’s back gate and enter to find everyone gathered in the sitting room.

Willow’s map is spread out on the table, and I can see she’s filled in more details since yesterday.

At our entrance, everyone sits up, watching us expectantly. A moment later, the back door bangs open, and Mael appears in the doorway, flushed and smiling like the cat that caught the canary.

“Enjoyed yourself?” Nadir asks, and Mael smirks as he drops onto the sofa with a satisfied sigh.