Page 123 of The Prison Healer

It was unbelievable.

And it filled Kiva with warmth from head to toe.

But then she had another thought, and while she didn’t want to push her luck, she couldn’t keep from asking, “You know how you’re a prince?”

Jaren chuckled, his body moving against hers as they turned down another passageway lit by his flames. “I’m aware.”

“Well ...” Kiva bit her lip, not even sure how to ask.

“The answer is yes, Kiva.”

She shuffled the two of them around a large slab of limestone in the path before saying, “What answer?”

“I assume you’re trying to ask me about Tipp,” Jaren guessed, correctly. “There’s no way I’m letting him stay in here. Once you’re free, he’s free. I’ll make it happen.”

Tears filled Kiva’s eyes, and she didn’t try to hide them when Jaren turned to look at her.

“Thank you,” she said, with obvious feeling. While she’d already spoken with the Warden about becoming Tipp’s guardian if she survived the Trials, after all she’d since learned about Rooke, she feared he might renege on their deal just to spite her. Now, at least, she had the backing of the crown prince. Tipp would finally be free.

Jaren sent her a soft smile in return, before his face turned serious. “I don’t know if you have anyone out there waiting for you. Either of you. But I was thinking—I mean, I was hoping—” He stopped and tried again. “If you want to, I would really love to show you Vallenia. Both you and Tipp.”

For the second time in the space of minutes, Kiva nearly crumpled.

Stay alive.

Don’t let her die.

We are coming.

“You want us to come with you?” she choked out. “Back to the capital?”

“We’d have to stop at the winter palace first,” Jaren said, “just for a fortnight or so, until the spring thaws set in and make travel easier. But then, yes. Back to the city.”

“And we’d live with you, at the castle?”

Jaren nodded. “I was thinking you might want to take a class or two at the academy, continue honing your craft.”

The healer academy. Kiva couldn’t believe what Jaren was offering, the golden plate he was holding before her.

“And Tipp’s around the same age as Oriel,” he continued. “My brother can be a little terror, but he has a good heart. I think they’d get on really well. Plus, Ori would help Tipp with his studies, which I’m guessing might need some catching up.”

More tears filled Kiva’s eyes at the dream he was laying out. At the possibilities she could see so clearly in her mind’s eye.

But ... her family ...

We are coming.

They hadn’t come for her, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t go to them. Her brother had written her, told her where they were. His implication had been clear: they were waiting.

For ten years, she’d longed to be with them again. But now that she might finally be free to do so ...

Kiva didn’t know what she wanted anymore. She couldn’t deny that they’d hurt her, disappointed her, for a decade. They’d promised to come, but they hadn’t, not even after her father had died. She’d been alone, left to fend for herself, to survive more horrors than they would ever know.

And yet ... they were still her family.

She loved them.

Just as she knew they loved her.

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