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“Ahem,” the woman outside with Lark said, apparently listening to our every word. “Please do not discuss potential crimes in my presence.”
Lark turned his head. “Are you going to arrest me?”
“We do not arrest for crimes yet committed. But you had better hope Warlord Draven does not die anytime soon, as you’ve just indicated your desire to kill him, with witnesses.”
“Lark,” I said, snapping his gaze back to me. “Do not give them fuel with which to burn you with.”
His gaze skipped downward. “Yet they make it so easy,” he teased.
Gods, if—when—I got out of these chains, I was going to kiss him so hard it would leave him dizzy. “You know that time you said you didn’t need a white knight to save you?”
“I recall.”
“I could really do with one now. Do you know any?”
“I know a fool?”
“I’ll take a fool over a knight.”
“Well then, Prince of Flowers, we have a deal.” His eyes softened, turning sad. “I have to go. I will free you. Whatever it takes.”
“Lark, just— Please, stay safe?”
“Always.” He left, and my heart tripped. I didn’t want him to go, didn’t want to sit in the dark, alone. The walls shrank around me. But Lark was here, and that was everything. He was brilliant and bright and clever—so clever. He’d fix this, somehow.
“Arin?” He’d returned to the window.
“Yes?” Hope lifted some of the dread off my back.
“You do know you have my heart?”
Was he saying he loved me?
“You’ve always had it,” he said. “From the moment we met.”
My throat was too raw to speak, so I nodded instead and hoped he knew how much it meant—how muchhemeant—to me. If Lark was mine, then there was nothing in this world we couldn’t fight together.
He vanished again, then a door slammed somewhere far off, but it didn’t seem as dark as before now I had Lark’s love to light the way.
CHAPTER31
Lark
“Take me to Queen Soleil.”Sonya seemed a reasonable woman, all things considered. But as we climbed the endless stairs leading from Justice’s prison cells, I couldn’t decide if her obstinance was deliberate or if she genuinely couldn’t help.
“You’ll need to complete a request to have a meeting with the queen, expressing your reasons for such a meeting. You cannot simply meet with our queen.”
“And how long will my request take to be processed?”
“Between five and seven days.”
Soleil was the only one who had the authority to free Arin, but if Justice wouldn’t grant me an audience with her, then I’d have to manufacture one.
Or return to Razak… But if I returned to him now, he’d win. He was in control, despite being locked behind bars. That had to change if I had any hope of beating him.
I couldn’t fight Razak alone. I needed Arin beside me, but to free him, I had to play Razak’s game and find Pain’s crown.
This was a mess, all of it. Draven, Justice, Arin.
