Page 107 of Storm to Victory
Perhaps his mind had gone to Jayna, the way Pip’s had. Pip halted in her retreat, lingering for one more question. “Do you think Jayna is all right?”
“Yes. She knows what to do.” Prince Edmund said the words with the underlying desperation of a father trying to convince himself of that. Weary lines joined the bruising on his face as he settled more fully against the pillow.
She should let them rest. With one last glance from Prince Edmund to Prince Farrendel, she turned and crossed the small space to Fieran’s bed.
As she approached, his eyes cracked open, his head turning toward her. When he spoke, his voice was laced with a hint ofhumor. “I was wondering how long you’d keep talking with my dacha and uncle before you actually got to me.”
“I wasn’t going to be rude.” Pip halted next to his head, his expression sending a twisting through her stomach and a catch in her chest. “Especially since your uncle was offering me a job. Which I turned down. I’ve had enough spying.”
“Good. You know I’ll support you in whatever you want to pursue, but spying would be a tough one.” Fieran’s grin faded as he pointed to where she’d been shot. “How’s the arm?”
“All patched up.” Pip held her arm slightly stiffly at her side. “And you?”
“Apparently, cauterizing a wound with the magic of the ancient kings makes it harder to heal later.” Fieran grimaced as he pressed a hand to his side before he gestured to the glass bottle holding the saline solution. “And it turns out that you can’t cross a kingdom under the power of pure elfness without the consequences of dehydration and malnutrition. But why aren’t you hooked up like the rest of us?”
“Since I was sitting around in a dungeon, I stayed properly fed and hydrated.” Pip clasped and unclasped her fingers. Should she reach for Fieran’s hand? “Although that would be Jayna’s doing, not the guards’. If it was up to them, we would’ve been on one cup of water and a single piece of stale bread a day.”
“Jayna was at Landri Castle?” Fieran’s gaze snapped to Prince Edmund, although the prince had returned to his low conversation with Prince Farrendel. “I assumed she was somewhere in Mongavaria, but I never guessed that she was embedded so deeply.”
“I hope she’s all right. Things got rather chaotic there.” Pip, too, glanced at Prince Edmund. There had been no time to find Jayna as they’d busted their way out of the castle, nor could they have talked with her without giving away that she was an Escarlish agent.
“I’m sure she is. She was raised by Uncle Edmund, after all.” Fieran gave a little shrug, though the somber look in his eyes belied his easy words.
Pip eyed the space next to Fieran on the bed. There wasn’t a chair to sit at his side, nor did just holding his hand feel like enough. She wanted to be held close and made to feel safe.
Perhaps Fieran understood or had the same craving for closeness. He held out his right arm, inviting her.
She clambered onto the bed, tucking herself next to him instead of merely sitting. His arm came around her, holding her close, as she rested her head on his shoulder.
Fieran heaved a sigh, his breath stirring her hair a moment before he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I was so worried about you when I realized we’d been separated. But my dacha reminded me that you are a strong, capable woman who can take care of herself. That helped. But I would’ve stayed worried if I’d realized that Uncle Edmund was getting you into his spy shenanigans.”
Pip gave a somewhat hysterical, somewhat halfhearted laugh into Fieran’s shirt. “I was fine. It wasn’t like the shackles or metal bars could actually do anything but give me a lot of iron to work with. And it wasn’t like the firing squad was actually a danger to me.”
“Firing squad.” Fieran’s breath was half a laugh, half a sigh. “I definitely should’ve remained worried. But you’re pretty amazing.”
“Linshi.” Pip snuggled more comfortably against him, letting her eyes fall closed and her body give in to the exhaustion. “You’re pretty amazing yourself.”
Fieran gave a wordless hum as a reply. His muscles relaxed, his breathing going more even. After long moments, so long that she’d assumed he’d fallen asleep, he murmured into her hair, “The next time we go on a dangerous mission, I want a heartbond. Relying on a telephone exchange of other people’s heart bonds wasn’t nearly good enough.”
Pip propped herself up on her elbow and leaned her chin on her hand, her tone light and teasing. “Is that a proposal?”
Fieran gave another of those tired laugh-sighs. “No. Consider it a promise that I intend to propose sooner rather than later.”
“Promises, promises.” Pip relaxed once again, letting her eyes close again. “I’m going to hold you to it one of these days.”
She wasn’tsure how long she’d been asleep, curled against Fieran’s side, when she stirred at the feel of a blanket being settled over her shoulders. Somewhere in the background, a voice was saying something about surrender terms and Prince Edmund replied, his words indistinct in her sleepy brain.
She peeled her bleary eyes open, her vision blurry, her eyelids gritty. Yet she could just make out the shortened strands of Prince Farrendel’s hair as he spread the blanket over her and Fieran.
As if sensing her gaze, Prince Farrendel’s silver-blue eyes met hers. He tipped his head to her. “Rest.”
At another time, she might have been more embarrassed to have Fieran’s dacha catch her and Fieran snuggle-sleeping like this. Tomorrow, she and Fieran would go back to boundaries and all that. Not that they were crossing any lines they were unwilling to cross, even now.
But for that moment, she was more than willing to stay right where she was and follow Prince Farrendel’s directive.
Smile creasing her face, she let herself sink back into sleep.
“Shouldyou be up and about this soon?” Pip clambered over the side of the small captain’s boat, landing in the sand next to Fieran. Under the cover of darkness, seamen from the ship had rowed her, Fieran, Prince Edmund, and Prince Farrendel to a remote stretch of shore to the north of Landri Castle. Of all of them, she probably shouldn’t be on this mission, but she was glad Prince Edmund had allowed her to come anyway. Her time in Landri Castle wouldn’t feel complete without this.
