Page 32 of Of Songs and Silence

He gives me a calculating look, studying me for several moments before shaking his head irritably.

“I don’t know what the king wants with you, but it’s safe to assume you will be in danger one way or another. If not from him, then from those who seek to hurt him,” he bites out the words.

I look away from him.

Does he realize how much information he has given me with that statement?

Of course he does. In the short time I’ve known him, I already gathered that Ari does nothing without purpose.

We resume practicing my shields after that until we get to our inn for the night. I try not to think too hard about our sleeping arrangements, but when we get in the bed for the night, Ari doesn’t bother putting Napo between us.

It almost worries me more, after everything he’s said. From what I have observed of him, Ari is not careless. He is not weak. So when he pulls me against his chest, I hear everything he isn’t saying.

The goodbye he isn’t giving me.

Not for the first time, I wonder what’s going to happen when we get to the palace, where Ari will go when his mission is complete.

“Shields, Kala,” he orders softly.

I put them up automatically, and approval emanates from him. He runs his thumb along my hipbone in a gesture that is both casual and possessive, and I’m not even sure he realizes he’s doing it.

I’m glad my shields are up because there would be no hiding my reaction otherwise. As it is, he can probably hear my heart racing, feel it pound from my chest to his.

“King Cepheus is intelligent,” he says suddenly.

At first I think he’s responding to the questions I’ve tried not to ask all day. Then Ari goes on.

“Nothing escapes his notice,” he warns. “And he does not tolerate weakness. He can’t be led to believe there is…anything between us.”

I tilt my head up to face Ari, trying and failing to ignore how close it puts my lips to his skin.

“Are you ever going to tell me whatisbetween us?” My eyes meet his, and my heart thunders even faster, my blood rushing through my veins.

He doesn’t deny it. He couldn’t, not when his gaze is burning into mine like I am the sun itself and he has lived his entire life chained to the darkness.

“When I can.”IfI can, he means, but I don’t push him.

It’s still better thanno.

“Then answer one question for me.”

He hesitates, and I don’t wait for him to agree before I let slip the first real thing I ever wondered about him.

“Do you dream of my face too?”

Ari blinks, his hand freezing in its path up and down my side. The silence stretches out long enough that I begin to doubt he’ll answer me at all. Still, I don’t look away from his face. I can’t.

If he tells me nothing else, I need to know this. That I’m not insane. That I’m not alone.

His features soften, and he pulls me tighter against him, tucking my head against his chest. When it comes, his answer is so quiet, I could almost believe that I imagined it but for the way it roots itself down into my very soul.

“Yes, Kala,” he whispers. “I dream of you, too.”

CHAPTERNINETEEN

MELODI

Icarry Ari’s words with me all morning, protecting them, shielding them in the recesses of my mind. It makes me feel less alone, hearing him willing to admit to this one thing.

---