“How did it all go so wrong?” I muttered, looking out the window facing the calm sea. I thought I could see Ritalia from here. See the frazzled state in which she’d expelled us from her palace. Feel the questions I hadn’t gotten to ask bubbling up in me.
“We’re going to figure it out,” Tolek assured me.
“Rina wants to leave.”
That made him pause. “What?”
“After the emblem hunt is done, she’s going to the human camps to help with training.”
“And that upsets you because?”
I whirled toward him. With his hands patiently behind his back and a brow quirked at me, he was as tempered as the level sea beyond the glass. A counter to my unruly fire.
“Because Rina is my best friend,” I said. He gaped, mockingly insulted enough to get me to crack a smile. “You know what I mean.”
“Santorina is important to all of us,” he said, leaning against the bedpost. “And that’s why I know there’s a part of you that’s thrilled she wants to explore this.”
Angellight stirred at my fingertips, a subtle band of gold twisting around my hand, much tamer than earlier. “There are so many unknowns right now. Sapphire, the Spirit Realm, whatever happened to Vale’s visions. It scares me to consider anyone leaving,” I admitted. “Makes me feel out of control.”
“We’ll get the answers we need, regardless of what we didn’t ask today,” Tolek said, not a waver of worry in his voice.
“What happened with Lancaster was a show of power,” I said. “A command using whatever control Ritalia has over him, to make us feel like we’re nothing. Like we’rehers, though I am a ruler in my own right.” My voice dropped, fear snaking through it. “I felt like prey, like we were positioned beneath them, and for what?”
“For assistance,” he reminded me. “For answers to questions we don’t even know how to begin asking. And because they are a very real threat, whether we like it or not.”
My blood continued to boil beneath my skin, Angellight dancing around us. Thoughtfully, Tolek’s hands drifted over my shoulders and turned me toward the window. “Think of every warrior out there. Of Rina’s parents whose spirits were gone much too soon. Of every human who sheltered in Gallantia. That is why we allowed the queen tothinkshe is above us and why you made that bargain, though I know you have no intention of delivering the emblems.”
“Spirits,” I said, my head dropping back to his shoulder. “I don’t even want to consider what will come of that right now.”
I didn’t want to considerwhyRitalia wanted the emblems so desperately—enough to expose what the Bounties were in order to win my favor.
Tolek dragged his fingers up and down my arm, leaving chills in his wake. “All problems for tomorrow. For now, we play the game.” He dropped his head, placing a kiss to my shoulder, and his words shivered across my skin. “Remember, Alabath, I’m rather good at games.”
“You don’t play,” I breathed, my heart rioting as he traced my collarbone. “You win.”
Tolek had spent his life risking gambles, preparing for a standoff such as this with a queen whose hands were coated an unremorseful red.
“Every time,” he swore, voice husky. “So, let’s relax.”
I needed to, he meant, though he wouldn’t say it. Again, he was correct. But it didn’t soothe the beast riling inside me, the one who wouldn’t bow to this queen, this conqueror.
It needed another outlet.
I stepped out of Tol’s hold. Strolling across the room, I turned to face him and leaned back against the small, wobbly desk. “We need to make a plan.” I placed my hands on either side of me, fingers curling around the curved edge. I stilled for a moment, dismissing every concern, every threat into the furthest crevices of my mind and taking in the man before me. Hair in disarray, stubble darkening his chin, and sleeves pushed to his elbows. “But there are other games we could play first.”
His stare turned hungry as he watched my fingers tap the wood.
The air between us became taut as a bow string, each breath only pulling it tighter. “I believe I was promised some assistance with my dress?”
Chocolate eyes flashed to mine, amber specks now molten, and I quirked a brow in challenge. “If my queen demands it,” he drawled, “who am I to deny her?”
“I am no queen,” I bit back, but my voice was breathy as he stalked toward me with slow, agonizing steps, each echoingon the wood floor with those fae boots. My wildly beating heart filled the silence between them.
No matter how many times we played these games, my body always did that. A rush of lust and adrenaline when he was near, setting every nerve on an anticipatory edge until I was nearly squirming.
I stifled it as he stopped before me, toe to toe, and feigned complete calm he likely saw through. Heat coursed through me, and it was an effort to stay still.
Tolek toyed with the bargain charm strung on my necklace, studied the markings etched in the gold metal, a million observations passing through that beautiful mind.
