I look at Aleksander covered in honey and crumbs and laugh. I cannot help it. He looks ridiculous.
“Oh, you’re laughing, are you?” Merriment twinkles in his eyes as he looks me up and down. “You should see yourself.”
I brush at my cotehardie, but I only make it worse.
What would Jasce think if he saw me like this? I shake free the thought as Zerah returns and stares at her empty blanket.
“Let’s go to the kitchen,” she says.
Aleksander straightens the sleeves of his surcoat. “Why?”
“Because I’m starving.”
I roll my eyes and follow them to the kitchen, where we get odd looks, but the staff serve us food we do not throw this time.
* * *
I stepinto the bedchamber and grimace at how sticky I am. Even my hair has honey in it. Still, I smile as I open the armoire to grab clean clothes.
The door creaks open, and I turn to find Jasce standing there, his gaze fastened to me.
“Where were you?”
I grab a clean surcoat and undergarments and turn back to him. “In the courtyard with Zerah and Aleksander.”
Jasce’s eyes trace over my sticky clothing. “Did you climb into a pot of honey?”
“We had a food fight,” I say brightly. “And now I’m headed to the bathhouse. So, if you don’t mind.”
I try to squeeze around him, but he doesn’t budge.
“I have been doing research,” he says. “And I want to talk to you about it, so I’ll join you.”
“Join me,” I squeak out as I think about him climbing into the bath with me.
“Yes, I will joinmywife in the bath.”
My pulse thrums at the base of my neck. It’s the first time he’s called me his wife in days.
I follow him down the corridor and into the bathhouse. This time, he doesn’t turn around as I hurry out of my ruined surcoat and into the first pool. Unfortunately, I chose a cold one. I try to relax, but it’s impossible with goosebumps forming on every inch of my skin.
I hurry from the cool pool and into a heated one. The warm water instantly chases away the chill.
Jasce removes his weapon belt and then his surcoat. The water laps at my skin as he climbs into the bath next to me.
“So, as I was saying. I have been doing research.” He moves until he’s directly facing me, and I back up, brushing against the smooth edge of the pool.
He’s too close. Too handsome. Too naked.
I blink, but he doesn’t disappear.
“What kind of research?” I manage after a moment.
“About Annora.” He glances at me as I lower my body further into the water, seeking an escape from the intensity of his gaze, and the emotions churning inside me. “You.”
“That couldn’t have taken long.”
“When you were a child, you were locked away. Nobody saw you anymore. Some people thought you were dead. Your father disappeared summers ago. And your mother is absent and flighty. Asha leads you and your sisters. In fact, Asha leads the entire city of Bakva.”
