“Finally,” I say, grinning down at her.
“You keep saying that like I should know what it means,” she groans.
I laugh, almost giddy she’s well enough to be annoyed.
She sits up, bringing her face level with mine, and I slowly untangle my hand from her hair. The golden light is dimming now, returning her to her normal color.
“The sunlight made me better?” she guesses, and I nod. She looks around, orienting herself for a moment, then frowns. “I need to stop passing out,” she sighs.
“You pushed yourself too hard,” I say. I leave out the fact that no amount of pushing should have been able to produce that much power—or to drain her so deeply. “But…” I admit, “I’d say the situation called for it.” I’m strangely compelled to reassure her, to erase all that self-doubt she carries around.
“Maybe, but I’d still rather get to decide when my body’s going to drop.” Her hazel eyes turn to me. “Thank you,” she says, offering me a small smile. It’s so sincere I have to blink a few times to make sure I’m not imagining it.
“Payback, for helping us get rid of the cleavers,” I reply.
She shakes her head, as if the idea is incomprehensible to her.
“Don’t give me too much credit. I only managed that by accident.”
“You managed to hit five of them and neither me nor Alastor. That feels intentional to me.”
It’s frustrating, how little she believes in herself, but I can’t fault her determination. She believes she can’t do something, yet she tries anyway. What was it she said in the forest?Because that’s the only choice I have. Even if it hardly rates as a choice at all.
The words have stuck with me, because I want her to have that—real choice—more than I can say.
Our faces are still very close together, the soft curve of her lips inches from mine. I want to kiss her. Want to take her body in my hands and show her how good—how strong and powerful—I can make her feel.
She doesn’t move, and I sense if I took my chance now, she’d let me.
Heat pools in my stomach, my mind offering up tantalizing images of her beneath me, sprawled out on this rock, finally shouting my name with something other than anger or fear.
Then the sun shifts behind the clouds, making a shadow fall across the plateau. I extinguish those dangerous images just as swiftly.
She’s a human. She’s a princess. She’s your hostage, for gods’ sake.
The reasons to deny my desire pile up in my mind, provided in Fairon’s disapproving tone. He’s always my voice of reason, whether he’s present or not. And he’s always right.
I stand, putting distance between us, and her gaze drops from my eyes. The moment is gone.
“It’s high time we headed down this mountain to meet the others. You’ve already made us late enough.”
And me worried enough,I don’t add.
“Your tunnels, your mess,” she says, quirking an eyebrow at me. “You said it yourself—I’m just the one who cleaned it up for you.”
Rolling my eyes at her teasing, I offer her my hand to help her up from the rock.
For once, she takes it.
Chapter19
Morgana
“Be honest—are we lost?”
I’ve watched Leon carefully scan the landscape several times as we descend Mount Kalas. At first, I thought he was just calculating the safest route down, but now I’m starting to think he’s not sure where we’re going.
“Try not visiting a spot for eighty years and see how sharp it stays inyourmemory, princess,” he snarks in reply.
