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He winced.
She mentally cursed her poor choice of words. “It looks painful. Maybe infected. Devon is right outside. Your father did say you could see a physician if it got infected.”
“Maybe later. We need to talk first.”
She didn’t like the tenor of those words. “What’s happened?”
Grayson scrubbed the back of his neck, and the motion dislodged her hand from his hair. She let it fall to her lap. “My father took us to a nearby barracks,” he began.
And the horror of the day continued.
Grayson told her everything he could about what he’d seen and heard at Northland Barracks, saying they both needed to remember every detail so Desfan could be told.
The picture he painted . . . those boys. That army. Henri’s plans.
“He told my brothers about you,” Grayson said softly. “Who you really are.”
The revelation that all the Kaelins knew about her was unsettling, but she could tell there was more. “What else did he say?”
“He’s pitted Tyrell and me against each other. Whoever serves him best gets you, and the Mortisian throne.”
She felt the blood drain from her face.
Grayson took her hand, squeezing gently. “It doesn’t matter. We’re not going to be a part of this. We leave tomorrow night.”
Her spine straightened sharply. “Oh, fates, the supplies. I never got them from Tyrell’s room. I can go now—”
“No,” Grayson cut in. “Not tonight. Please, I just . . . I need you right here. With me.”
She didn’t have the heart to argue with him. And, frankly, she was exhausted. She didn’t want to leave this room—or him.
She nodded toward the closed door, where Devon, Fletcher, and Rena had vanished. “I told them the truth about me,” she admitted. “And about our plan to escape.”
Grayson sighed. “When I saw them all in here, I thought you might have.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t wait. I didn’t tell them when we planned to leave, though, or where the ship is waiting.”
“That’s good. But I need to question them. I need to hear for myself that they won’t betray us.”
“I understand.” And she did, even though she knew Devon and the Fletchers wouldn’t betray them.
The fire crackled in the hearth beside them, and the comforting sounds somehow amplified the silence that had fallen.
Grayson watched her, still crouched before her. Too many emotions churned in his gray eyes, impossible to interpret. But just his nearness affected her, as it always had. Her heart beat faster, and warmth spread throughout her body.
She leaned forward, setting a kiss against the corner of his mouth, as far from the burn as she could get. Her stomach fluttered as she gave into the desire that had been building since the moment he’d walked into the room.
Grayson responded at once, shifting his mouth so it fit against hers more firmly. His lips were warm, and the most intriguing mix of hard and soft. His familiar scent—spice and pine—surrounded her, granting her a peace she felt all the way to her bones. He was her safe harbor. He always had been.
She’d fallen in love with him when they were children, but the love she felt for him now was so much more. Deeper. It was everything.
She was in love with Grayson, and she knew that would never change.
His hand settled at the curve where her neck met her shoulder, and his thumb traced against the base of her throat as he deepened the kiss, once again taking it further than she would have dared with his injuries.
Her good hand moved to the back of his neck, her fingers sinking into his soft hair. This kiss wasn’t as desperate or frantic as the one they’d shared this morning. This kiss was filled only with comfort. Love.
When he eased back, his eyes were intent. “No matter what happens, I’m going to make sure you’re safe. You’re going to be all right, Mia.”
