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Brinna laid her arms over the coverlet, her hands resting on her stomach as she traced the raised whorls in the fabric’s pattern. “You know, right before you swooped in to save me from that abomination, I’d been thinking about how I needed to get back to the party to dance with as many partners as I could.” She tipped her head to look up at him. “Isn’t that silly?”
He met her gaze but didn’t say anything, his mouth unsmiling but not unfriendly. There was an intensity in his gaze she couldn’t decipher.
“Twenty-five years I’ve lived in Sevens,” she continued, “and in a single day my sister Tarley gets married to a prince, I get attacked by a darkling, and then I’m saved by a god. If I were a calculating sort of girl, which I’m not, even that seems highly improbable as odds go.”
“So it would seem.”
“Were you frightened of the darkling?”
“Frightened?” He paused and stared straight ahead, his fingers threaded over his belly. “Not for me.”
A bead of warmth bloomed in her chest but was clipped with sharp confusion and the incongruence of the man lying next to her. Earlier, there’d been an awkward silence between them; now, it didn’t feel so awkward but instead alive with awareness. Unsure how to manage it, she eventually said, “This is nice. Talking like this. We don’t usually do this. My sisters and I chat when we go to sleep, and usually Tarley gets angry and tells us to hush up. Auri and I are always whispering to one another.”
“What kinds of things do you whisper?”
“Stories. Secrets.”
He hummed. “Stories and secrets,” he repeated.
Brinna rolled to her side to face him, her hands tucked under her cheek. “Have you ever laid in bed telling stories and secrets?”
He smiled and plucked at something on the bedding between them. “I don’t think I have, actually. I like to do other things in bed.” He grinned.
Brinna blushed and glanced away only to find her gaze drawn to that intriguing line of hair on his stomach. She forced her eyes to the bedspread. “You should definitely tell secrets. Puts me right to sleep.”
“I’m not sure whispering stories and secrets in bed would put me right to sleep. There are other things I can attest to.” He was still grinning at her when she glanced at him again, and warmth spread across her chest down into her belly.
Was he flirting with her?
“Perhaps you should tell me a secret?” he said.
She cleared her throat. “I think I already revealed enough secrets to you today.”
His eyes caught hers, and he laughed quietly. “You’re right. You did. I liked it.”
“You did?”
He nodded.
“I think it’s only fair if you tell me one of yours.” Brinna smiled at him, enjoying this sudden ease, even if she wasn’t his type, even if he’d been pretentious and condescending. For the moment, she needed this more than to be angry with him.
“Secrets are power.”
“I promise to never use a secret against you.”
Lucian looked away, his grin fading, and she watched his features harden, as though whatever was on his mind was difficult and painful. But when he turned to look at her once more, his mask had been restored.
“What was that?” she asked.
“What?”
“That angry face thing?”
His eyebrows bunched together. “You should probably go to sleep.”
“Except you owe me a secret, and whatever happened on your face said you have many.”
“When you’ve seen what I have, it’s impossible not to.” He linked his fingers together over a slice of skin visible under the misbuttoned shirt.
