Page 111 of Burning Heir

I held my shuttered breath inside—fearing shadows would form within my next exhale. He tugged the dress down my shoulder blade, edging his thumb over my bare sternum.

“You never answered my question about bonding,” I whispered into his touch.

Archer chuckled low. “You’re still going on about our rider bond?”

I faced him, the bodice of my gown barely covering my breasts. “Do you trust me?” I whispered.

He nodded. “Trusting you is easier than staying away.”

“Then bond with me,” I said, pressing my palm on his chest.

He leaned into my touch, chuckling. “Not here. Not while my father is under the same roof,” he said. “And I’d rather take it slow to hear every breath owed to me.”

“What happens tomorrow? When we are back at the academy?” I traced the serpent on his neck. “Surely whatever this is can’t exist in light. Damien will see my shadow relic.”

“I don’t give a damn what Damien thinks—not after what he’s put you through. For that matter, I don’t care what anyone thinks. But weeks before the bid, I don’t want anyone believing you made it this far because of me.”

“But I did. Without you, I’d be in Malvoria.” I remembered the moment he said my name at the Rite. The anger I felt notknowing the truth. “You should have sent me to Malvoria during the first week.”

He stifled his choke. “And without you, an entire realm would be ashen, stripped of stars. You didn’t know the weight you held those two years. Perhaps it is you who owns my breaths.”

“I want to see Night,” I said. “Promise you’ll take me there someday.”

“First, you see Ravensla, now you want a taste of the entire Continent?” he mused. “It is a full day of flying. We’d have to stay in the capital. A Serpent can stay in a few regions without causing… political issues. It is more socially acceptable during festivals, and this was my yearly appearance for the Summer civilians.”

“So high and mighty, planning out your ventures. I’m beginning to think life as a scavenger isn’t so bad. Are they not free to roam wherever?”

Archer shoved a shirt into my chest. “The moment I became a Serpent and had to clean up a hundred years of political mess, I thought the same.”

Shifting out of the dress, I pulled the cotton shirt over my body. “Thank you for letting me come with you. Ravensla is beautiful.”

“I have seen miles and miles of beauty in my lifetime. I walked nearly every stone in Verdonia, but nothing compares to this. They say your home calls to you. They say once you find it, you know.”

I hoped his words were true.

I rested on the end of his bed. “Whatisbeauty to you, Archer?”

He angled his body in front, hands pinned before my knees. “Sunsets. It reminds me I have another day to live, to breathe. It Reminds me of my mum.”

“Your mother would be proud of you. Being torn between what you’ve grown and your blood must be hard. I feel like I’ve been relearning how to breathe since I got my letter.”

He eyed my wrist where the scorpion had struck and slowly brought my hand to his lips. “I’ve given you my breath to breathe before. And I told you if anyone touches you, I will mark you myself.”

And not a single flame willed within me.

“Can you… tell me about Klaus. The version you knew.”

His brows furrowed. “Klaus was brave. He was the first to raise his hand in Cain’s class, even if he was wrong most of the time. He could speak about anything, and… we were friends. The purest form of it. The day he wrote his death, he…” Archer choked. “He wrote your name. Wrote it with a smile and said I’d find that piece I lost in him… within you.”

“You knew I would come?”

“I knew you’d seize more than a title. Perhaps my breath… perhaps I wished you would hate me. I wanted to be cruel, but I couldn’t.”

And as I searched for the same fork Klaus had used. The same sun rays he had felt… I never knew I’d find my piece of Klaus in the least expected place—hidden in shadows.

Chapter Twenty-Four

After a long six-hour flight, we were back in Galthyn.

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