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Chapter 26
Then
I tried to keep my breath even as we walked, every glance at Calomyr knocking air from my lungs. “So you’ve met the cowardly Invisible King then?” I prodded. We walked leisurely through the sunlit streets. I wasn’t sure if Calomyr noticed we were walking in circles, but I didn’t want to point it out. It was an exceptionally clear day, the sun beating down, dust from the poorly kept Inkwell roads hanging like smoke in the air. It was not a pleasant place to be, but I found I didn’t mind the tickle in my nose or the grit in my eyes.
“Cowardly?” Calomyr asked.
“What kind of man hides his face from his kingdom?” I didn’t understand it.
“You have a point,” he answered, contemplative. “I’ve never met him, but I’ve seen him. Once.”
“Was he ugly?”
“What?”
“Maybe he’s hiding his face because he isn’t very attractive.”
He let out a deep, hearty laugh. “Notugly. Not by my standards, at least. He’s young,” Calomyr said, shrugging.
Surprise marked my face. King Umfray had been old since before I was even born. I had assumed that the long lost cousin of the King would be close to his age, ancient the day he took the throne and ancient the day he left it to someone else. “Young? How young?”
“Close to my age by the look of it.” I gawked at him. “Tall,” he continued. “Built like an ox, broad of shoulder, and strong.” My mouth bobbed open and closed like a fish out of water. “What?” he laughed.
“Calomyr, are you describing yourself?” I asked sardonically. He laughed, the sound reverberating through my core in a way that caused my cheeks to flush.Saints dammit.How the hell was I supposed to hide my blush in the daylight?
“There’s the answer. Youdothink I’m strong.” His laughter flowed as my face continued to heat. “You can call me Cal, you know. No one ever calls me Calomyr.”
I smiled, still trying to hide my face. “Cal,” I repeated, my blush rising.
“Are you okay?” Calomyr asked, his voice suddenly dripping in concern. “Your face is red.”
Oh my fucking Saints. I felt the shade deepen. “Yes, just the heat, I think. I’m fine.”Stop looking at me.
He looked around, spotting an alley with a few crates stacked on top of one another haphazardly. Without a word he led me to the shaded alleyway and motioned me to sit on one of the stacks. I did so, reluctantly, trying to hide the embarrassment that was plastered to my face. He reached for his belt where he had a canteen strapped by its neck, unscrewed it and handed it to me.
I wasn’t sure if what I was feeling was humiliation for making him think I was overheating when really I was blushing because of his laugh, or disbelief of the fact that the man who knelt in front of me had moved to accommodate me without a second thought. It sat in my chest, and I wasn’t entirely sure I disliked the feeling. It was the only thing that concealed the grief, that made it fade away, even if just for a moment. Larka had always told me to trust no one, but she didn’t know Cal. She would have trusted him.
“Drink,” he urged. I let the sensation of cool water in my throat ground me as he placed the canteen on my lips.
“Why do you do this?” I breathed as his gaze met mine. Kneeling on the filthy ground while I sat on the crates, our eyes were at the same level. I lost all sense of self as I walked the line between the icy blue and emerald green peering back at me.
“Do what?” He cocked his head, furrowing his brows.
“Care.”
His face crumpled. “What?”
“You’ve done nothing but show me kindness.” My gaze rested on my hands folded in my lap.
“Petra, I just want to make sure you’re okay.” The worry in his voice was palpable.
“There’s that word again.Okay.”I couldn’t let him know what those words did to me. Absolutely not.
He let out a breathy laugh. “Would you prefer another word? Alright? Fine?” His hands were on my knees now, dangerously close to my own.
I opened my mouth to assure him that Iwasin fact okay, alright, and fine. The words caught in my throat as I once again met his gaze. Some sort of primal intensity lay just beneath the surface of him, his stare binding me in place. It was somehow ancient, steadfast, lasting, but at the same time it was unfamiliar and strange and new. I had never seen that look in a person’s eyes before. A fire that burned blue, a frozen mountain engulfed in flames. Pure want. Pureneed.A thousand unsaid words that he’d never need to say, because a part of me already knew.
“I’d like to try something,” he whispered. I breathed in his smoke and cedar scent, my mouth open slightly, his face mere inches from mine. “Something I’ve been thinking about since the moment I first saw you.” His lips pulled up in a soft smile before he flexed his jaw. His eyes flicked to my mouth. “Something that haunts my mind as I fall asleep every night.” His hands rose to each side of my head, his palms flat on the wall behind me. “Something I really,reallyshouldn’t do. Averybad idea.”
