Page 86 of Ties of Dust

Cassius was happy to oblige, lowering his head and claiming her lips greedily. Flora didn’t know where they were or where they were going, but she couldn’t imagine why it would matter. Not much of anything seemed to matter except the fact that she was being thoroughly kissed by her very own prince.

But the moment of abandon couldn’t last forever, and she pulled back with a sigh.

“I’m glad we’re safe, but it’s not all that matters, is it?” she said. “Sir Keavling won’t stop just because he failed to kill you.”

“No, he won’t.” Cassius’s face had become serious. “He didn’t tell me everything, but he told me enough to understand that at least one of the kingdoms of the continent—possibly a coordinated group of them—intends to annex Carrack under the guise of forming an alliance. And they no doubt have plans for the rest of the Peninsula as well. I don’t think he can be the mastermind. He’s just an emissary. But I got the sense he has the resources to make his plans happen. We’re in Torrens now—we must have been drugged for longer than I realized when they brought us here, because we’re a long way south of the crossing near Crandell. It will take us some time to get home, but we can’t delay—we must convince my father not to commit himself to any co-operation with the continent. If he believes that I’ve been abducted by Torrenese forces, he will be furious enough to do something rash. But that could be disastrous. The need has never been greater for the kingdoms of the Peninsula to stand together.”

Flora hesitated, her eyes searching his face. “You’re talking about the alliance with Siqual.”

“No.” Cassius shook his head forcefully. “I mean yes, but not the way we first intended to do it.” His voice softened as he pushed a strand of hair behind her ears. “I couldn’t marry Princess Miriam, Flora, not now. It would destroy me. We will have to find another way to seal the alliance, because I won’t have anyone but you.”

Her heart swelled at the declaration, and she permitted herself to lay her head against his chest.

“I will be yours or I will die alone,” she said simply.

Cassius’s arm snaked around her and pulled her close, and she could hear his heart pick up speed. He lowered his head to murmur in her ear.

“It would be a crime for you to be alone. I cannot allow it.”

A pleasant shiver went over her at the warmth of his breath.

“What about the tether?” she asked. “It will only lift when the marriage alliance with Siqual is sealed.”

“I will do all I can to find a way to free you,” he told her. “But I would rather live with its restrictions all my life than marry someone who isn’t you.”

Peace filled Flora with his words, determination following close behind. He truly was willing to tie himself to her, for no reason but love for her. He’d accepted her without even knowing who she was. The reasons for hiding herself—if they’d ever been valid at all—were long gone.

“Did you say we’re a long way south?” she asked.

“Yes.” He released her. “We’ve been traveling east, but as soon as we cross the border into Carrack, we’ll turn northward.”

“We shouldn’t.” Flora stepped back, giving a decisivenod. “We shouldn’t return to Crandell. Not empty-handed.”

“What do you mean?” Cassius studied her face. “Do you have a plan?”

“Yes.” Flora smiled at him, already resigned to the necessity of what she had to do. “Or at least, I have an idea. And it doesn’t involve going north. It involves going south. To Dernan.”

Chapter

Nineteen

“All right. Let’s do this.”

Bemused, Cassius looked from Flora’s determined face to the border crossing. Why did she look like she was preparing for battle?

“What exactly are we doing?” he asked.

It had taken a whole day to travel to the border, and Flora had been mysterious and uncommunicative throughout. Of course, that may have just been her physical state. Her energy was still depleted, and he could see from the way she moved that she remained in significant pain. Even he was struggling, and the knowledge of how much worse her state was than his own kept threatening to send him back into a spiral of fury and despair.

He was keeping it to himself now, however. It wouldn’t help Flora for him to burden her with the depths of his regrets.

“I’m doing something I swore to myself I never would,” Flora said with a sigh. “Returning to Dernan.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Just what did you do last time you were there?”

She grinned, the expression not bringing him as much pleasure as it would if her face wasn’t so bruised.

“I ran away.”

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