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I breathed in deeply, releasing my breath before breaking the silence first. “I agree with you, with what you said earlier. You are a good soldier.”

Bryn’s face remained uninterested, her eyes shifting to the wood line that ran alongside the road.

“But if a citizen of Six had died on One, under my watch . . .” I just want to keep you safe . . . you have no idea what you mean to me . . .

“I get it,” she said, her response clipped.

My chest tightened at her dismissal.

“Tell me about them.” She looked at me, her lips pulled down. “Your parents.”

My eyes widened. Where had that come from?

Ah.

Sigrid.

“Unfortunately, that topic isn’t open for discussion.”

Bryn’s shoulders dropped slightly with disappointment.

“But maybe another time,” I offered.

She nodded, accepting my answer, for now.

“How about I share another secret of mine instead?” An olive branch.

She looked at me suspiciously. “And why would you do that?”

“Because I want to know what you were dreaming about last night, and I feel like a good bit of my own thoughts might pull the truth out of you.”

She smiled. “Leo, King of Esmerelda, is nosey?”

I returned the smile, hope sparking in my chest. “Guilty. I’m incredibly nosey, I’ll admit. But don’t worry, I’m only somewhat judgmental.”

She laughed, the beautiful timbre ringing in the morning air.

“Okay,” she ceded, “but you go first.”

I contemplated all the things I could tell her. There were years of history to unpack with her, unbeknownst to her.

But I settled on a secret no one knew.

One I hoped would resonate with her.

“There was one year, when I was younger,” I started, settling into Drag’s movements, “we had a horribly long winter. Adrian and I were pent up in the castle for months, snow drifts higher than the first-floor windows keeping us in.”

Bryn had lived at the castle during that time, her first winter in Esmerelda, but I kept that part to myself.

“Lucky for me, Adrian’s father is the head chef at the palace, so Adrian was always around. I was an only child, but it never felt that way with him there. We did everything together, including school lessons.

“When that spring finally came, it was a relief. There was one day in particular that was abnormally hot, the sun so bright that Adrian and I couldn’t help but sneak out of our lessons and explore the woods around the castle. We’d pretend to be the famed pirates of the dark Esmereldean Seas that surround the continent of Esmerelda, and climb trees to search the ground for gold.” I laughed, fond of the memory. “Of course, we never found any.”

Bryn smiled, tipping her head back subconsciously so the sun could touch her entire face.

She had always loved the sun, and the sun loved her. It molded to her, dancing off the elegant slope of her nose, highlighting the steady pulse thrumming underneath the delicate skin of her neck.

My eyes trailed farther down her, betraying me. Her perfect breasts peaked slightly against my shirt.