“No.”
“To do with someone else?”
“Yes.”
“Lady Selena?”
“Not her.”
“But someone who lives in this palace?”
I didn’t respond. I couldn’t. I couldn’t even nod my head. And I didn’t need to. Kye watched the dread crawl across my face, and sudden understanding ignited in his. The feeling gradually dropped from his limbs as he absorbed my silent confession. His body slackened, his arms suddenly a dead-weight in my grasp. I wrapped my hands around his wrists, ensuring they wouldn’t fall. Molten eyes smoldered, the scintillating flame of them as bright and dangerous as fire.
Don’t panic. Don’t back out now.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured. "You were right. You were right all along."
He flinched, his premonition ring warning him what I’d do. But he must have second-guessed himself, or perhaps refused to believe it.
A resoundingclickechoed in both our ears.
His eyes widened as I pulled away, leaving his hands locked in iron cuffs wound through the backrest of his chair.
“I’m sorry,” I said again, escaping the blooming cloud of his anger, quickly engulfing us both.
“Leihani.”
“I can’t. I’m sorry. I can’t. I refuse to be Thaan’s pawn.”
“Take these off.”
I shook my head. “Hadrian is safe. He’s headed to Diara’s family estate in Pirou now. Thaan doesn’t know he’s not in the palace. Don’t talk to him, but in case you can’t avoid it, there’s a bowl of shield weed floating in sea water on your table. Keep it in sunlight and eat a little each morning. I’ll be back in a few days.”
“A few days—” Kye left his mouth to hang open, watching me cross the room. “Where are you going? Are you leaving with Thaan?”
“No.”
He tried to stand and quickly fell backward into his seat.
“I nailed the chair down last night.”
His jaw locked. “This is fucked, Leihani.”
“I know it is.” I gathered the gleaming gown, sliding it off my frame with shaking hands and tossing it onto the bed. Then strapped myself into my bralette, pulling a heavier dress over my head instead. One with thick sleeves, quilted against the cold, stitched and sewn for riding.
“Where are you going?” he asked again, nostrils flared, fists clenched as I sat and pulled on heavy boots.
“Somewhere you can’t.” I stood, separating my hair into three strands and braiding them to the ends.
“Leihani.”
I exhaled, glancing anywhere but at him for fear of bursting into tears and coaxing my thunderous heart to be still. This was it. All I could do. It would be foolish to take anything else. Iplanned to leave it all at the water’s edge, anyway. Still, I let him watch me fit my hands into leather gloves.
“Leihani.”
“I won’t smother the fire because I know it’s safe in the hearth, but I don’t want to leave these burning.” I snapped my fingers, suffocating every candle in the room with the moisture in the air. Darkness fell on us both in an instant. The crackling fireplace bathed Kye’s edges in soft orange. Hurt and fear and outrage glinted from the corners of him, his body so flinty and hard he might have been cast in iron.
“Please don’t leave.”
