Page 150 of The Forsaken Heir
Deciding I’d rather not express the thoughts going through my head, I chose a different subject, and hoped he’d buy it.
“I’m thinking about this war,” I said. “The fighting hasn’t really started yet, and everything is already so messed up. People have already died. I’m worried.”
“Don’t be.” There was no hint of doubt. Only strong, powerful confidence.
“Are you serious? How can Inotbe worried?” I asked incredulously.
“I have faith,” he said, tossing a slice of prosciutto into his mouth.
“Faith? Seriously?”
He nodded once. “Yeah.”
I snorted. “You’re full of shit, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. I am.”
Laughing, I poked his side. “You asshole.”
He twisted aside and tickled my ribs.
“Hey, no! No tickling.”
He gave me a lazy grin. “You started it.”
I struggled against him, trying to catch my breath. I even dug my fingers into his stomach, but naturally, he was impervious to tickling. Soon, we were both locked in a mock battle to see who would give up first.
Finally, when we were both out of breath and crying with laughter, he recovered and sat up. His smile faded, and a look of deep concern settled on his face as he looked out over the horizon.
“I am worried,” he admitted. “But there’s nothing you can do with worry and fear. All you can do is keep fighting and keep living. That’s what life is. Regardless of whether you’re at war or peace, grieving or celebrating, laughing or crying, you have to keep fighting and living. That’s what I’m going to do. I’ll figure out a way to end this. Ihaveto.”
Yup.Head over heels. Fuck me.
Aurelius packed everything back in the basket, and we headed back down the stairs. Keeping the blanket around my shoulders, I took his free hand, letting him guide me back through the corridors and hallways of the castle and manor.
“I should probably go find Titus and the advisors,” he said. “I haven’t seen any of them yet today. They’ll all want to talk my ear off. Are you going back to your room?”
“I guess I should check on Delphine,” I admitted.
“You don’t think she’d already be out and about?”
I snorted a laugh. “Absolutelynot. For her, eight hours of sleep is nothing. If I had to guess, I’ll probably need to wake her up in time for dinner.”
“Wow,” he said with a chuckle. “And I thought Rasp liked to sleep late.”
“She has very few vices, but sleeping in would be her biggest. And after being up so late the other day, she’ll probably be trying tocatch upfor a week.”
When we reached my room, we stood awkwardly outside it, neither of us wanting the moment to be over even though we had other obligations to attend to. From the way he was looking at me, I got the feeling that he wanted to kiss me. Despite everything we’d done with—andto—each other, I still had a moment of girlish embarrassment that made it hard to make the first move.
“So, I guess I’ll see you later?” he asked, moving closer.
My breath caught in my throat as I took in his scent, all masculine and intense.
“Yeah,” I muttered.
Right as he leaned forward to kiss me, the door swung open. Delphine yawned and squinted against the light, rubbing one hand over her disheveled hair.
“Oh,” she moaned through another yawn. “I thought I heard people out here.”
