Page 102 of The Kingdom's Reckoning
Still, she couldn’t imagine Laurince struggling to garner the attention of women. He was kind, strong, funny, charming. He could even sweep a woman across the dance floor if he so chose.
Her eyes dipped over his broad shoulders, down the length of his back. He was beyond attractive too. Likely the most attractive man Myra had ever laid eyes on.
"Perhaps you should tell him the truth," Rian said, leaning over again.
Myra straightened. "There’s nothing to tell."
"Continue lying to yourself, Mys, if you must, but time is precious. Who knows how much of it we have?"
"Wow." Myra gasped dramatically and pressed one hand to her chest as she held the reins loosely in the other. "What an astute piece of wisdom."
"I’m not a king for nothing," he said with a smirk. The twitch of his lips was brief, his expression turning solemn. "Think about it, at least."
He didn’t give Myra a chance to respond before he kicked his heels against his horse’s sides. The horse trotted forward,joining Laurince. Rian asked the captain a question, but Myra didn’t hear it or Laurince’s response.
As she stared at the two men’s backs as they rode through the woods, Rian’s words settled in her stomach like a stone. Rian had a point. Domitius had declared war, and Sebastian was sitting on Rian’s throne. It didn’t matter how many men Laurince and Rian could gather from those they trusted. Blood would spill soon, and lives would be lost. Did Myra want to waste the time she had by hiding what she felt—as new as it might have been?
Chapter 41
MYRA
Myra knelt beside the river.She dipped her hands into the water, and the cold liquid nipped at her skin as she brushed it over her arms.
"Can I ask you something?"
Myra’s hands stilled beneath the water at the sound of Laurince’s voice. As he crouched beside her, Myra hoped he couldn’t see her face flush red in the water’s reflection.
"It’s been bothering me for a while, but it’s somewhat…personal," he said.
"What is it?" she asked cautiously, returning to washing her hands. Although she struggled to focus on the simple task as Laurince rolled up his sleeves.
He dipped them into the river and spread the water up his arms, scrubbing the grime from his skin. She tracked a droplet of water running down his arm, over the nook of his elbow, down his forearm. She licked her lips, suddenly feeling parched.
"Why didn’t you use your ability?"
Myra nearly flinched at the question. "When?"
Laurince shook out his hands and sat back on his heels. He draped his arms over his knees, and water dripped fromhis fingertips. "When you were captured. Why didn’t you manipulate their emotions? Make them feel…sorry for you or remorseful? Or anything that would make them untie you?"
Myra blinked, speechless. Her tongue was like a stone in her mouth, a heavy weight that she couldn’t move. After a moment, she whispered, "I—I didn’t think to use it."
"Why not?"
Myra shrugged, and suddenly, her body grew cold. Her hands trembled, and she wiped them across her trousers, leaving a dark smear on the fabric. She curled her fingers inward. And although her palms stung as her nails etched half-moons into her skin, her hands at least stopped shaking.
"Myra." Her name was a whisper on his tongue, as if he feared she would run away and flee into the forest if he spoke any louder.
She took a deep breath. "I guess I didn’t because…because I was afraid."
"Afraid of what?" Laurince asked, folding his legs beneath him as he sat flat on the ground. He placed a hand atop hers, and the sting of her nails lessened. "If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to."
"It’s not…" She shook her head, struggling to find the words. "It’s not that I don’t want to…"
"But?"
"I don’t know how, I guess?" Myra chanced a glance at him, and the look on his face nearly broke her, which was so incredibly silly. She shouldn’t have been overcome by Laurince’s sincerity, but no one had ever looked at her with such unmotivated interest. He did not view her as a tool or a specimen to be studied. He simply cared. And somehow, that made it less simple in Myra’s mind.
"Can you try?" Laurince asked.
