Page 19 of A Shattered Kingdom of Steel

“Oh, I’m sure you can.” The warmth of his body dances across my skin. He gives the reins a flick, and the horse begins to trot forward. “That’s precisely why it would be so foolish of me to let you ride alone, even with the troilite dampening your strength. Do you really think so little of my intellect, Bladesinger?”

“You haven’t exactly given me anything that would make me think more highly of you,” I say bluntly.

“Mmm,” he muses, as if he’s pondering the thought. “Then I’ll have to remedy that.”

I snort. “Good luck.” I doubt anything he could do now would improve my disposition toward him.

“So quick to condemn me.” There’s a glimmer of disappointment in his voice. “Do you not believe in redemption?”

“You seem to be forgetting you drugged me on the day of the ambush.” I can’t see him, but I can practically imagine the straight expression playing at his mouth. “How did you even manage to do it?”

Traveling through the city for most of the journey, it had taken about a day and a half’s ride to reach Nemos’s Pass. Whatever herb he’d used to drug me had only started to take effect upon our approach.

“Your rations,” he replies. Yet again, his willingness to speak freely surprises me. “And I may have encouraged Viridian to provide you with a carriage at our last council meeting.”

The day I left rushes to the forefront of my mind. Before his death, High King Vorr had ordered that no one come or go from High Keep. In support of their search for Vorr’s murderer, Cryssa and Viridian hadn’t lifted the command until two days before their coronation.

After I’d already gone.

Asheros—and the other Heads of House and heir-apparents, including my mother and sister—had been at High Keep, awaiting the coronation. He must have laced my rations the morning I left, and bid Savell, Ronan, and the others to pursue me, ordering them to strike when I reached Nemos’s Pass. Despite the lockdown on High Keep, he somehow sent word to them in the days leading up to my departure. And he must have known that riding in the carriage would further dull my senses, stopping me from detecting his attackers until it was too late to stop the ambush.

“You bastard,” I shoot out, my voice curt.

Though he tries to recover quickly, I feel him flinch.

His response stings.

“Why go through this effort?” I ask, trying to brush the feeling away. “What do you need me for?”

For a moment, I think he’ll answer me. But he doesn’t. I feel him stiffen behind me. The movement puffs out his chest, making it brush against my shoulder blades. I expect him to lean back so we don’t touch, but he doesn’t. Instead, he leans into me, inhaling deeply, as if he’s breathing me in.

“If I tell you that, Bladesinger,” he purrs, bringing his mouth to my ear, sending blissful shivers down my spine, “you’ll ruin my plans.”

“Maybe they need to be ruined.” I swallow and try to keep my eyes and ears open to our surroundings. Anything to take my mind off how close he is to me.

And how much I like it.

Images of him pressing his lips to my neck flash before my eyes. My eyelids flutter, and I let out a shaky exhale. Ceren’s lesson cuts through my dirty imaginings.

“Don’t lose focus.”

I shake my head a little, as if to brush away the thoughts.

Asheros draws his head back and straightens his posture. He tightens his grip on the horse’s reins, his firm arms caging me, keeping me in place from behind. At a calm pace, he maneuvers us through the forest until we reach a dirt road.

I keep my eyes trained ahead. It takes more effort than I’d like to admit not to reach behind me and push his face back to my neck.

I exhale through clenched teeth.

Asheros is silent, the even pace of his breath the only sound he makes.

Then I hear something. My body goes still, and I cock my head to listen. Asheros does the same.

Up ahead, hooves pound on the dirt.

Horses.

Someone’s coming this way.

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