Page 43 of The Sunbound Princess
“It’s a nice view,” I said without turning around.
“You want to steal the sunstone,” Dain said. It wasn’t a question.
Lying to him was pointless. I fooled most people because most people were fools. But Dain Zostas was no such thing.
So I faced him, and I didn’t flinch from the accusation in his eyes. “It could solve our problems. We’re running out of time.”
And time was very much of the essence. Even worse, we didn’t know how much of it we had.
Dain folded his arms, blocking the doorway as if he expected me to make a run for it. “We can’t take the sunstone from Ezabell. It’s the key to her kingdom.”
“A kingdom she lost,” I said bluntly.
Displeasure flashed in his eyes. “She could get it back. We could help her.” He stepped forward, the displeasure growing. “Or do you want to be another man who betrays her?”
Guilt twisted in my gut. At last, the weight of his stare grew too heavy, and I looked away. “Of course not.”
“So, we’ll help her find the sunstone like we promised.”
I looked at the floor, worry rising. Worry was a distraction—something I couldn’t afford when I worked. Most days, I was just as skilled at ignoring my problems as I was at lifting purses. But my biggest problem had a way of worming into my consciousness.
Footsteps sounded, and then Dain was in front of me. Big fingers gripped my jaw and lifted my head.
“We operate on a code,” he said softly, his blue eyes as clear and steady as they’d been when we were boys masquerading as men. “We don’t steal from the innocent, and we don’t take more than we need. Remember?”
“I remember,” I rasped.
“We don’t veer from it,” he said. “And when we say we’ll do something, we do it.”
The worry rose higher, its grip like a fist around my throat. It made my voice hoarse as I said, “We can’t do anything if we’re dead.”
“We don’t know if that will happen.”
“We don’t know that it won’t!” I shoved a hand through my hair, frustration riding me hard.
Dain said nothing. But as usual, his silence spoke volumes. He was willing to risk everything to help Ezabell, and he wouldn’t budge from his decision. Relocating a mountain would be easier than persuading him to change his mind.
I exhaled, forcing my anger to subside. “I’ll figure something out,” I said finally.
He made a low sound. Then he reached out and smoothed my hair. Voice thick with affection, he said, “I know. You always do.”
We were close enough for me to see the ring of darker blue around his irises. Close enough to see the scar on his chin from the time he’d taken a broken bottle to the jaw. We’d narrowly escaped with our lives on that occasion, sprinting through the rain to safety and then celebrating our survival in the most primitive way possible.
Losing him wasn’t an option. And he had magic in his veins, however diluted. If our time ran out, I suspected it would run out for Dain first.
Not happening.
“Maybe we can do both,” I said. “Use the sunstone to help Ezabellandourselves.”
He searched my gaze. “You think so?”
“Sure.”Maybe.“Don’t I always come up with a plan?”
“Yeah, and sometimes those plans end up with us nearly being hanged.”
Gods, he was never going to let that go. I stepped into him, letting my chest brush his. “Nearly hanged isn’t hanged, love.”
His nostrils flared, and he shifted his gaze to my mouth. The tension between us shifted, too, the remnants of our argument flitting away as we breathed each other in.
