Page 210 of The Throne Seeker
His reaction reminded her just how rare a creature she was.
The way his eyes gently held hers… it was like a moment frozen in time to when they’d first met. When her silly little girlish heart raced, and her skinny knees buckled.
“You’re back,” Rose breathed.
He sauntered toward her with slow, measured strides, not stopping until he was a breath away. Gently, he raised his hand, tracing her cheek with his fingers. “You’re real,” he crooned.
She held her breath, her eyes fluttering up into his.
He’d changed since she last saw him. His dark hair was trimmed now, resting just below his ears. The fitted black tunic clinging to the muscles he’d built during his absence, his face clean-shaven and shadowed by the stable lantern.
His sober, icy-blue eyes penetrated her defenses. “What happened to you? Are you a si?—?”
“Yes.” She was too tired to go into detail. “It was a surprise to me, too.”
“But how? Your father?—”
“Wasn’t my father.” Her sea-green flashed. “My real father was killed before I was born.”
Xavier’s face twisted in confusion. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Don’t go feeling too left out. I only just found out myself,” she retorted cooly.
He took in the information with a slight pause, accepting her answer even though a thousand more questions lingered just beyond his lips.
She changed the subject. “What were you doing in Amernth?”
“I was with Malcolm,” he said, referring to his best friend. “He and I have been traveling together.”
Her mind cut back to the moment she thought she spotted him hidden among the trees. “And you’ve been there this entire time? You never came back?”
Xavier’s brow quirked with questioning eyes. “How could I? I was banished.”
Her eyes penetrated his, searching them. She couldn’t be sure if he was lying, but her siren senses couldn’t detect a whiff of deceit coming from him. It was enough to satisfy her, so she let go of the subject.
For now.
Rose shrugged, playing it off. “Nothing. I just wondered where you’d been spending your newfound freedom.”
Xavier glanced over her shoulder to Onyx. “How in Vallor did you come by a sleipnir? And how’d you tame it enough to ride?” He sounded both impressed and intrigued.
Me? Tamed? I think not. Tell him I’m just as dangerous as ever,Onyx said, puffing his chest.
A smile spread across her face, earning her an annoyed glare from Xavier, who didn’t understand what was so amusing.
“He says I didn’t tame him. He lets me ride him because he chooses to,” she summarized.
Xavier’s widened eyes flitted back and forth between them. “You can speak to him?”
“I can—part of my siren’s abilities, I think.”
“May I?” He gestured to Onyx.
Rose arched an eyebrow. A bold request. Nonetheless, she stepped aside.
He stepped forward to Onyx, stretching a steady hand out to touch him, but just before Xavier’s hand reached him, Onyx jerked his head. Xavier quickly withdrew.
Onyx let out what she knew to be a chuckle.Humans are so skittish,Onyx said, amused.
