Page 66 of To Fight and To Fold

Maybe Thea had yet to string together the right words in the correct order to convince Aaryn to come with her. If she was half as charismatic as fucking Rolim, maybe they'd be dancing around the fire too.

"She's just so… ugh," Thea groaned to him. "You know this, surely."

Starspark huffed, and Thea liked to think he understood her when she came to ramble.

She should've brought the mead with her. She rested her head in her hand, propped on her folded knee.

She wished it had been so easy to convince Aaryn. But Thea and Aaryn didn't have nearly as intimate a relationship as Rolim and Carissa.

"Now the prince is isolating her from her friends, drawing her into his… circle, or whatever," she muttered. "Why would he do that?"

What did the prince want from Aaryn? Did he genuinely want to protect her? That idea contradicted everything she knew about the man. "He's an abhorrent little… weasel," she said, waving a hand through the air.

They couldn't be… lovers.

Thea frowned hard at the thought, and leaned her head back against Starspark. "What the fuck," Thea whispered.

Now she wished she had stuck around longer, worked her way into the First Guard, if only to have learned what other secrets the prince hid.

"They wouldn't… would they?" She looked to Starspark for confirmation, as if the dragon had any knowledge on such things, as if he could make Thea feel better. She paused as he tilted his head, one green eye sliding to her. Chills danced across her arm at the awareness in his gaze, somehow present and distant all at once, as if she was being watched.

What if Aaryn really was there, behind those eyes? Thea didn't necessarily need a new religion, but—well, Aaryn had already answered Thea's prayers when Starspark had eaten. Probably.

Or Thea was just losing it.

"What are you looking at?" she mumbled, trying to discern if there was anything else behind those eyes.

"If they weren't scouring the lands for you, I'd take you with me to get her," Thea muttered. At that, Starspark picked his head up, nudging his snout against her back. "I can't!" she said, glancing over her shoulder. "They'd spot you in a heartbeat, and we'd never make it back."

He let out a low whine and Thea stretched her arm out to rub it against his neck. "Sorry, bud."

Thea supposed this whole Prince Jarrick and Aaryn ordeal was new information. She should take it to Vaelen, draw on her insight, her knowledge of the Evergales.

But the mead was fizzy in Thea's system, the crescent of the moon was bright overhead, and Starspark was warm behind her.

"You won't mind if I stay here, will you?" Thea asked. Starspark didn't answer, but he didn't thrash her away or grumble, either.

She decided to take her chances.

16

CURFEW

Aaryn’s room was stale and dark in comparison to Starspark’s surroundings, the breeze against his scales, the orange glowing flowers.

Her heart thudded soundly in her chest, and yet it ached.

Aaryn had never seen Thea so… rambly. Not with the flush of alcohol in her cheeks, her softly lazy steps. The weight of her, so small and fragile against Starspark's side.

"A weasel," she whispered, and bit down on her amusement. How rude of Thea to describe the prince in such a way.

Now the prince is isolating her from her friends, drawing her into his… circle, or whatever.

Aaryn drew in a deep breath as she heard Thea's words in her mind again, fists clenching around her blankets.

Why, indeed, would the prince do such a thing?

After the altercation, the prince had been a force of frustration whipping through the castle. Even the knights around him had seemed tense, and Aaryn was glad they had not met for training.