Page 21 of Fearless

He kisses the pad of my thumb before the war begins.

CHAPTER 8Kai

Their knees are touching.

The coach jostles again, only sliding them closer together. I’m sitting opposite the royal couple, knee bobbing and head tipped against the high back of my rumbling seat. This particular coach is open to the sky, as though the top half of it has been cut clean off. Several decorated carriages trail behind and before us, all draped in green banners wearing Ilya’s swirling crest.

A soft breeze ruffles the hair falling over my forehead, forcing my fingers to continually comb through it. Sun pours over us to peer nosily at the uncomfortable, silent seating arrangement. Leaning an elbow on the shortened door, I lift a hand to shield my eyes.

And she is the first thing my gaze lands on.

The sun’s golden rays intertwine with her silver hair, weaving down the short length of it to thoroughly blind me. Her body is wrapped in emerald, the fabric clinging to her hips, draping her legs—

And the knee that still touches his.

I look away, drumming fingers that wish to touch her on the ledge.

“It’s a beautiful day,” she says, out of what sounds like discomfort. “Perfect for the parade.”

“Yes, we couldn’t have asked for better weather,” Kitt agrees distantly. “Don’t you think, Brother?”

His tone changes drastically when aimed at me, now light and cheery. My eyes lift to his, finding a familiar glint of mischief in them. “Why, yes, I do love cooking beneath the sun.”

Kitt cracks a smile at that before murmuring dully toward Paedyn, “Kai has never been good with heat, you know. When we were boys—”

“All right, that’s enough,” I cut in, despite the smile beginning to stretch across my lips.

“No,” Paedyn says slyly. “No, I’d very much like to hear this story. Do go on.”

“When we were boys,” Kitt continues, his grin aimed at me, “he could barely stand to be outside for more than an hour. Any longer and he’d clutch his head, convinced that his hair was going to melt.”

Paedyn’s laughter forces me to raise my voice. “Do you know how hot my hair gets? It’s like—”

“Tar sitting in the sun,” Kitt finishes, addressing his next words to Pae. “Yes, that was the other bit he always used to say.”

I lean back, shaking my head at him in disbelief. “Plagues, is there no secrecy amongst brothers anymore?”

The king resembles the boy I grew up with in this moment. “Oh, there certainly is.”

My eyes flick to Paedyn’s smile, and suddenly, it all seems very much worth it. “That was very insightful. And entertaining.” Her smile widens wickedly. “Please continue.”

Kitt opens his mouth, but it’s my words filling the open air between us. “Kitty here once shoved a playing die so far up his nose that the royal physician nearly gave up on retrieving it.”

Paedyn’s hand flies up to cover her gaping mouth. Now it’s Kitt’s turn to shake his head at me. “You seem to be forgetting the part where you dared me to do it.”

Pae laughs, eyes crinkling in the sun as the coach continues its rattling across the cobblestones. She points an accusing finger beside her. “Didn’tyoudare Kai to climb the willow back by the gardens? And he fell, breaking his arm?”

Her smile turns on me as she awaits Kitt’s answer. Except, there is none.

Kitt’s expression grows subtly grim, shifting into something slightly sharper than the smile he once wore. “I hadn’t realized he told you about that.”

“Yes,” Paedyn says slowly, unsurely. “In passing.”

“Hmm.” He turns away, looking out into the moving landscape beside us. “Was that before or after the final Trial?”

I tense slightly. Not because his tone is threatening. No, quite the opposite. The words are heavy, weighed down by something far worse than anger. And that something tears at the part of me that betrays him. The part of my heart that beats for his betrothed behind his back.

He wants to know when I shared that intimate detail of myself. And if it was while I was meant to hate her.

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