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Again. Pacing. Again.
“Arin?” Dark-lashed, elegant eyes gazed through the open slot in the door.
It couldn’t be? Had I dreamed him. “Lark?”
He vanished.
“Lark, wait?” I unfolded my legs, stretched creaking muscles, and climbed to my bare feet. Was he truly here?
“Open the door,” Lark ordered, in a voice full of thin, barely contained rage.
“I can’t do that,” came a woman’s reply.
“You did it for Razak and he’s a lunatic. Open the door, Sonya.”
“Prince Zayan, I have explicit instructions not to allow you inside Arin’s cell—”
“Lark!” I surged forward. My chain snapped tight, dancing pain up my arm. I reached for the narrow window. “Don’t fight them.” If he pushed them, they’d throw him in chains, and I needed him free. One of us had to be. Silence fell outside the door.Don’t do anything rash, don’t provoke them.“Lark?”
His beautiful eyes appeared at the window again, wide and full. Then they narrowed. “I’m getting you out. I’ll talk to Soleil.”
“Lark.” I didn’t know what to say. I’d missed him, missed him so much it hurt even more now he was here and I couldn’t touch him. Then I remembered the last time I’d seen him, standing on the Court of Pain’s steps, watching his coach take me away. The rage flared like a monster, consuming my fear in its flames. “You asshole! You put me on that carriage!”
“I’m sorry.”
“You prick.”
“I was wrong.”
“You broke my heart.” A sob choked off the words and then a horrible, heavy silence fell between us. His lashes fluttered down. I hadn’t meant to hurt him, but he’d hurt me. It didn’t matter. None of that mattered. “I’m so happy you’re here.”
He looked up, and the fierceness in his glare burned anew. “I’m getting you out.”
“Don’t do anything foolish. Please? I cannot bear it if they arrest you too.”
“Which one of us is the fool?” His smile lifted his voice.
He’d do whatever he wanted, whatever he thought was right, and nobody could stop him. Not even me. I loved that about him, despite how it infuriated me. “Lark?”
“I’m here.”
Now wasn’t the right time, but I had to say it. He had to know—he had tobelieveit. “I love you. And it’s fine, if you… if it’s different for you. I just want you to know, I love you. I’ve always loved you. You drive me crazy because I love you.”
He reached through the tiny window, fingers spread. I stretched as far across the cell as the chain allowed and pushed my arm out, but our fingers didn’t meet. I tried to reach him, I really did. The chain held me back.
He withdrew his hand and peered through the narrow window again. “Arin?”
“Yes?” Would he tell me he loved me now? It didn’t matter if he didn’t, but if he did… it would give me hope I could cling to in the dark. I needed to hear it, selfish as that was. I loved him, there was so escaping it, no denying it, even if it did hurt. But if he loved me back, that meant everything.
“Did Draven do this?” he asked, and my heart thumped a little quieter. Of course he wouldn’t tell me he loved me; Ellyn had said he couldn’t. It didn’t matter. He was here.
“Draven?” I asked, hating the name.
“Yes. Did he do this?” His voice held a thread of menace. He already knew the answer.
“It was in those documents, wasn’t it?” I asked. “On the first page? They were ruined after you shoved them in my pocket, and I didn’t make the connection. Something on that first page told you not to trust him. I didn’t know. I didn’t see it…”
“I’m going to kill him.”
