Page 77 of Revealing Fate

The lanky teen followed after his mother, pausing to glance over his shoulder at Kitty. He opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, and left without a word.

Beulah stopped at the threshold, a hand on the frame. “When I return, it will be as a member of the Conclave. Whatever this is, Kal, I suggest you find a way to explain it. Meress cannot afford to lose you.”

Kal stood peering into the darkness, tracking the Porters’ retreat. As much as he was loath to admit it, Beulah was right. He’d acted recklessly and would have to answer for it. It would help if he had answers. Once he was sure they’d gone, he shut and bolted the door.

Kal turned to his…associate? Guest? Captive? He still had a hard time believing that this young woman with her tentative strength, evident inexperience, and dogged determination was who she claimed to be. He should look at her and see his enemy. Someone he could use as a priceless bargaining tool to accomplish his goals. He could make any demand with this kind of leverage. An age of vengeance could be enacted without a drop of innocent blood. If she truly were the Prima of Ilistaar, Kal would be an idiot not to exploit it.

And yet, all he saw when he looked at her was Kitty. He couldn’t see the Prima, the Goddess’s chosen, the princess of Asteros. He couldn’t see a daughter of the crown, nor a savior of the shurii people.

Instead, he saw an irresistible young woman with a quiet, unshakable fortitude, fueled by compassion, loyalty, and an incontestable sense of duty.

Maybe Beulah was right. Perhaps he was bespelled.

Kitty gazed at him, lids heavy with fatigue, exhaustion, and uncertainty written in the tense lines of her shoulders, bracketing her mouth.

“Why did you do it, Kal?” she asked in her slightly raspy voice. The voice that made him think a hundred inappropriate thoughts. “Why did you save me?”

“You’d rather I didn’t?”

“I’d rather you answer the question instead of making me beg for a reply.”

He’d rather make her beg for something else.

Kitty’s shoulders slumped. She seemed to sink into the unyielding wooden chair. She looked worn just then, like a priceless tapestry fraying at the edges. Somewhere inside, his fool’s heart clenched.

He dropped into a seat next to her. “I don’t know,” he said irritably. And it rankled.

“Unaccustomed to uncertainty, Kal?”

“I am unaccustomed to a lack of control,” he corrected, ignoring the slightly patronizing lilt in her voice. “With you, there is no control. Only chaos.”

She studied him, not having expected his candor. Her irascibility subsided. “I’m sorry,” she said, soft voice sincere.

“I can’t even say it’s your fault,” Kal replied with a slight shake of his head. “You’re just a magnet for trouble.”

She didn’t answer, and they sat unspeaking for several minutes.

He was curious… “The potatoes?”

“I was trying to season them.” Kitty made a face. “But…I was also trying to get away.”

Kal suspected correctly, then. She had unintentionally thwarted her own escape. This whole time, he’d been fighting to get her to safety, and she’d been fighting to leave.

“What will you do?” she asked after another lapse of quiet.

Would that he had a clear course of action. Until now, every carefully plotted path had been tread with a certainty of what he’d find when he reached its end. Now his paths were overgrown, branching into uncharted territories, and Kal didn’t know how to anticipate the dangers that might lurk around each bend.

He scrubbed at his face. “For now, I’m going to try to manage some sleep. I’ve made enough impossible decisions for one day.”

Kitty didn’t appear pleased by his reply, but she didn’t press him either. She had to be as exhausted as he was, if not more, with her body healing that injury.

Kal stood. He caught the wrinkling of her lovely brow just as he turned for the living room.

“It’s not necessary for you to relinquish your bedroom, you know,” she said. “I can sleep on the couch. I would have offered earlier had you been available.”

“It’s necessary.” If Kal slipped into his bed now, cocooned in the lingering scent of her skin, tormented by images of her bare beneath his sheets, he’d never achieve sleep.

For once, blessedly, she didn’t argue. She rose from her seat, concealing a wince. Still sore, then. With one guiding hand on the table, Kitty moved stiffly toward the bedroom, shuffling with an odd gait.