Page 29 of The Heir's Bargain

"Fynn!" Dani shrieked, chucking a grape at me.

Swiftly dodging it, I said, "What? We both know you are soulless."

Dani shrunk back into her chair. "Whether I have a soul or not is beside the point."

"Ah, so you admit it then."

Dani popped a grape into her mouth. Then, the muscles in her face twitched. She swallowed the grape. "You do realize a fake courtship would only delay the inevitable for you, right?"

"Sure, but at least five months will give me some reprieve from my mother’s endeavors."

Dani grew quiet, her hand falling away from the grapes and hiding beneath the table. "You're still set on finding your soul bond, aren't you?"

I dropped Dani's gaze, unwilling to see an ounce of the pity lingering there.

"Is that such a foolish thing to want?" I asked, still not meeting her gaze.

Silence sat between us as the memory of the night I had confessed this truth to her resurfaced. When we were teenagers, I drunkenly admitted wanting to find my soul bond. I thought Dani, whose parents were also soul bonds, would understand, but instead, she laughed in my face.

This time, however, Dani remained silent.

"She's out there somewhere. I just need time to find her."

"What if you don't?" Dani asked quietly.

"If I don't find her, then I will let my mother marry me off to whomever she thinks is the most suitable partner. I understand that part of my duty as Crown Prince is to have an heir. But if there's a war coming, I do not wish to bring a child into it anytime soon. There will be time after."

I finally met Dani’s gaze.

She offered me a small smile. "Tell me the plan then."

She was throwing me a bone, a way to avoid thinking about the weight of the future and the oncoming war. Although one day we would need to face our fears and talk about the future, I took the opportunity to push that discussion further away.

I waved my hand in the air as the loose plan took shape. "We will attend a few public events. Maybe a dinner or two with our families?"

"Simple enough. Can we at least set some ground rules if we do this?"

I chuckled but nodded, not surprised in the slightest. If I was the king of breaking the rules, Dani was the queen of making them.

Dani stood and paced, one arm hugging her body as she tapped a finger against her cheek. While there might have been nothing we could do about an unpredictable future, we could at least do something about our mothers' current pursuits.

Stopping in place, Dani spun toward me and held up a finger. "Rule number one: nothing can interfere with my training."

"I wouldn't dare interfere with Captain Ferrios' training—soon-to-be Major Ferrios," I said with a wink.

Dani's features, however, only hardened. She pointed a firm finger at me. "Major only if we pull this off."

Weaving my hands behind my head, I leaned back in the chair. "All right, fine."

"Rule number two: we tell no one."

"No one?"

"No one," Dani repeated, her gaze flat and unyielding.

It was the first time I questioned this plan. Not because I wasn't good at keeping secrets—I was. With the nature of my gift and my title, I learned early on to keep my mouth shut—when I had to, anyway. Still, there was one person from whom I never kept secrets. One person whom I had always been able to confide in.

"Not even Terin." Dani folded her arms over her chest as she leaned forward. "Is that a deal breaker for you?"

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