Page 52 of A Court of Masks and Roses
Trace is in love with Raza. Trace shared his clothes and body heat to keep us both alive.
I am a girl who enjoyed a man’s arms.
I am a scout who should know better than to indulge in such folly, an idiot who left herself unguarded as recklessly as she did days ago when pursuing the prisoners. This last one hits deep, and I force my body to straighten into Kal’s masculine posture. “I’ll check my clothes,” I say by way ofmorning greeting. The sooner Trace is back in his shirt, the sooner the hard planes of his chest will stop distracting me.
Trace weighs me with his eyes—those of a practical and practiced healer—and sets about assembling his pack with brutal efficiency. “Keep the shirt until your things dry. It’s too cold to be walking in wet clothes if it can be helped.”
With the crawling pace I’ll be forcing us to set, it will take two days or more to return, and the displeased angle of Trace’s jaw says he’s just come to a similar calculation. Stars, Leaf must be climbing the walls with worry.
Leaf.
“Did my sister ask you to have your lover take her to Everett?” I ask, breaking down the barricade Trace built to cover the cave. One of the branches makes a likely candidate for a walking stick and I grab it with more force than necessary.
“No, she didn’t.” Trace puts on his pack. “But Raza will take you both.” The last part he says matter-of-factly, as if rendering a decision.
I lift a brow. “I never said I wanted to go.”
Trace shrugs one shoulder and motions for me to precede him out of our sheltering cave. The sun is bright outside and the forest rustles its song. Droplets of rain hang heavily off the leaves and pine boughs, and the wet, earthy smell fills my nostrils. In the distance, a hint of a rainbow arches over the sky. Having wrung out my clothes, I tie them to the walking stick and take a moment to orient myself before starting back toward the palace. My boots, still wet, sink slightly into the moist dirt.
Walking. I’mwalking.
My chest prickles as Trace catches up to me, his strides long and confident. Since I am still wearing his shirt, Trace has his cloak strapped to his bare chest, making him look a bitferal. “What do you think you are doing, exactly?” he asks after matching my steps for a few minutes.
“Hiking to the palace.” I cock a brow. “Is there some other place we are expected?”
“No, but you can’t honestly expect to continue at the palace,” Trace says. “You said it yourself, that one of the Viva terror mongers recognized Kal. I imagine he will not let him—you—live long on the palace grounds.”
I stumble but manage to keep my balance. “I’ll work something out.”
“I didn’t come find you just to let you rush back into danger,” Trace snaps, then draws a deep breath as if battling for patience. His hands rise to pull his hair back and tie it into a knot. “You’ll be safer in Everett as Lady Lianna. Hence, you will go there.”
I cut my eyes to him. “Did I do something to suggest I would let you make decisions for me?” I ask in a too-even tone that had better send alarm bells ringing in Trace’s head. “Or are you bored and trying to provoke a fight?”
Trace stops in front of me and turns, cutting off my path. “Which part ofnot safeconfuses you?” Trace says. “You’ve discovered Viva Sylthia’s association with Bahir and the Order of the Goddess—that alone puts a death threat on your head the moment Kal steps onto palace grounds. Your sister is a whisperer. Delta is too dangerous for you both.”
“Lady Lianna—”
“—was already a target of an assassination attempt.” Trace throws up his hands. “In case you’ve forgotten that.”
Bahir. A memory flashes behind my eyes and I sway despite standing still. Trace’s hand shoots out to steady me but my thoughts race too quickly to pay him any mind. “Viva Sylthia targeted Lady Lianna. And if Bahir and Viva Sylthiaare in bed together, then Bahir is likely behind that foiled assault.”
Trace frowns but apparently concedes to following this line of thought for the time being. “Go on.”
“What does Bahir have against Lianna, though?” I continue. “The only meaningful interaction they had was at dinner, when I touched his ring. There was a burning pain when I touched it... and Bahir felt it too. I saw it in his eyes.”
Trace stiffens suddenly, a muscle along the edge of his jaw rising beneath the skin.
I cross my arms. “You just realized something. What are you not telling me, Trace?”
“Nothing.” A lie.
I wait.
Trace lifts his chin. “If I tell you, will you promise to go to Everett?”
“Of course not.” I shake myself and walk around him, my heart pounding with growing fire. I’ve enough problems without Trace keeping secrets from me. Not that he actually owes me answers. Stars, Trace owes me nothing—I’m the one who is indebted to him. And the sooner I can discharge that debt, the better.
“Kali.”
