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I roll my eyes. “So what do you think of as you fall asleep?”

He gives me an impish grin that immediately conjures thoughts of Vanni. Of the way he felt on top of me, moving inside of me . . .

“Incorrigible,” I murmur.

“While we were in Midenear, there was a widow named—”

“Save your thoughts for the pillow.”

Kipp’s laugh lifts my spirits as it always does, and reassures me I’m making the right decision. I could never leave him. Or Father. Certainly not for a man who presumes to make decisions for me despite having only known me for a sennight.

Even so, the thought he may have already left Murwood . . .

What will happen to him if the Voyagers pledge their support and Edingham attacks? Kipp will not participate, I know, but he does not control the others. And what if the king’s nephew gains enough support to successfully challenge the king’s successor, whomever he chooses? What will happen to Vanni then?

“Aedre?”

I push aside thoughts of a problem I cannot solve.

“We will both remain in Murwood End,” I say flatly. If part of me questions it, there’s nothing for it. There is no other decision to make.

Kipp raises his mug. “Let us drink in memory of Amma. No talk of Meria or your commander or the king. Aye?”

I lift my mug too, though it feels heavy. “Aye.”

With naught left to say, we drink in silence.