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To those he cared about, Tait was made of nothing but loyalty. I’d always wanted a man who stood beside me like my father did with my mother, never questioning whether or not she would fight in battles at his side.

But Tait was different, and I think I loved it even more.

No mistake, he would prefer if those who he cared about never stepped in the path of harm. He’d rather take it on himself. His way of caring was insisting I protect my own neck in one breath, yet in the next he admitted he would not stop what made me so inherently me. Like he already knew it was a fool’s errand to ask me to hide away but did it anyway because he cared enough to want me to keep breathing.

“Am I wrong, Vicious?” When I was silent too long, Tait faced me. “Do you want me to be indifferent?”

I heaved a sigh that was more theatrical than necessary. “No. I don’t want your indifference.” I stepped in front of him. “As you say, we will argue as we’ve always done. I’ll likely give you opportunity aplenty to deliver your sweet pleas and all the reasons you cannot stomach the thought of me befalling injury.”

“Ah, you’ll give me the opportunity.”

“Naturally.” I took his hand in mine. “I’m a very giving woman. I’ll do what I can to distract and alter your way of thinking, of course.”

Tait curled his palm behind my neck. “Of course.”

“And because you are so wise and observant of my true temperament, you’ll anticipate the inevitable moment when I tell you whatever battle you fight, I fight with you.”

He tugged my mouth nearer, a new sort of softness in his eyes. “I have always fought my own battles.”

“Well, you don’t have to anymore.”

The day Tait carved the sixteenth notch in the stone wall, we were ready to attempt our escape by the next sunrise.

Earlier, he went to prepare enough skins with water and forage for food to take with us. He insisted he wanted another chance to scout from a higher vantage point to be certain we did not sail deeper into the Far Seas.

I looked about the small cavern. There were no longer any separate sleeping mats. Since the first kiss, we’d traded so many more in the dark, but there was still a disquiet with Tait. I did not see the tension in his face as disgust any longer, more like he kept waiting for something horrid to take hold.

The nights were not wasted. We found a bit of delight in offering up meaningless quirks and knowledge about ourselves.

Tait detested the taste of a favored rum often poured on the Ever Ship but was one of the few who truly enjoyed Sewell’s oily codfish.

He learned of my proclivity to collect small creatures as a girl—toads, field mice, glowing winged insects that lived in troll burrows—and how none of my wild pets enjoyed when I stitched little gowns and headdresses for them to wear.

The relationships between me and the other earth fae royal houses were a thing of envy for Tait. He admitted Bloodsinger’s attempts to change ideals in the Ever could bring more unity and less cutthroat politics. I told him I favored the styles and fabrics of the Ever Seas but swore him to fierce secrecy, lest he offend the dressmakers back home.

With a fringed leaf, I swept some of the ash out of our small firepit and tossed it outside on the sand.

Strange, but a part of me would miss the solitude with the man. Frightful as it was to be lost from all those who love us, there was something beautiful that happened here, something that had changed me, altered my fate in a way, and I would never regret it.

My pulse quickened. Fate. The more we were together, the more it seemed like our paths were always meant to collide. First, a young boy remembered an earth fae sailing on the Ever Ship before King Thorvald’s death—my daj. Next, it was his father who joined with my mother’s evil former consort to bring battle to my folk. Then my parents used their voices to banish Tait Heartwalker at the end of the war.

Every damn step brought me to this moment, to his arms.

I wanted to return to our friends, our family, but could not help wondering what might become of us. I was the lone heir of the glamour fae isles. Tait would never leave the Ever. His loyalty to his cousin and kingdom was too fierce. How would we overcome our own duties?

Unlike the other royals, there was no sibling to take the burden of a crown from my head.

“Mira!” Tait’s distant shout startled me. He sprinted around the edge of the cavern and skidded to a stop, a wild grin on his face. Tait hurried to my side, took hold of my hand, and rushed us out of the shelter. “You must see this.”

“What’s happened?”

“Just hurry.”

Tait ushered us through the thick brush, up the slopes of the isle, and paused only once or twice to allow me to catch my breath.

Trees coated the summit, and a clearing of wildflowers and long grass made the center.

Overhead, we could make out a round piece of the sky through the treetops. The bite from the yellowfin throbbed from the burning in my legs, but when I caught sight of the branches of the trees, I lost my breath.