Page 46 of Ruined Kingdom

My eyes fell on the carriages that were waiting for us. “Oh, please. Is there not another way we can get home? I can’t do another ride in that carriage. I wasn’t built for it.”

“I never took you for such a sensitive soul. You survived a week at sea, but the carriage was what got the best of you?” He could not contain his mirth at the thought, throwing his head back laughing.

I folded my arms over my chest, raising an eyebrow up at him, and said, “Perhaps I’m just biased here, but I hardly find being uncomfortable and nauseous all that funny.”

“It’s just nice to know that there is some part of you that’s human.” He stood tall again and stared directly into my eyes.

Why did he say it like that? Is it possible that he knows?

His face fell. “Knows what?”

Damn, if he didn’t, then he does now.

“Sophia Everly, whatever you’re hiding from me, I’d like it to be made known now.” He crossed his arms, and I could tell he wasn’t messing around this time, even though his tone wasn’t as stern as it could have been.

“It wasn't anything I intended to keep from you. If anything, it was something that was kept from me for a long time… I was going to tell you, it just never seemed like the right time.” I moved my hands nervously as I spoke, desperate to convince him.

“Out with it, Soph,” he demanded, finding my roundabout explanation exhaustible. He wanted the truth delivered raw and clear-cut.

“Tieni told me that—I’m her granddaughter. Her daughter was my mother—and that makes me…” I tiptoed around the words, carefully monitoring his face as I let the suggestion hang in the air between us.

“A shifter,” he uttered, quietly finishing my sentence for me.

“Right.” I pulled at my fingers nervously. “I don’t know what to make of it myself. It’s all still very new and unknown, but it would explain some things that have been happening to me.”

“Like what?” His eyes narrowed at me, more out of concern than distrust.

“Like that time when I hit the Prince over the head with a silver platter and knocked him clear across the room, or like the times I had light emanating from my body…” My eyes danced around at the scenery surrounding us as I searched my memory for all the strange things that had happened to me. “These are all things I wrote off because I didn’t have another explanation for them. Now I at least have some sort of framework to try to build an understanding from.”

“I’m curious why these powers never presented themselves while you were growing up. Usually, shifters, even ones that can’t transform, show their innate abilities early on.” He rubbed his chin pensively as his eyes faded with his thoughts.

“Maybe they were hidden. Maybe they did display, but my father ignored them, not knowing what they were?” I reached out until my hand was on his chest, savoring the feeling of his wildly beating heart in response. “I don’t know much about any of that, but what I do know is that I want to know more about my abilities and learn how to use them to help in some way.”

He let out a frustrated sigh but pulled me into his arms and kissed the top of my head. “You’re always looking for a way to become more, stronger, but have you considered that perhaps you are enough just the way you are.”

“The girl who needs to be kept safe all the time, only good for sitting at home and hoping you don’t die as you go out to face our enemies? Yeah, very noble indeed,” I grumbled into his chest, but the warmth of his body made it difficult to be upset. “I don’t want to be that girl anymore, Kaine.”

He stroked my hair thoughtfully as he considered my words for a while before saying, “That’s not true at all. Just the thought of you alive and safe somewhere gives me strength when I fear I have none left. I look to you in my times of darkness because you are a constant source of light. Helping doesn’t just mean being strong. Sometimes, it can also mean leading hope out from hiding when all hope seems to be lost.”

Both of us just stood there, relishing our closeness for a little while longer. I realized my fears about him being angry, or weird even finding out the truth about what I was, were unfounded.

In fact, it was as if he’d known something was different about me for a while and that now things made a lot more sense to him.

“This conversation isn’t over, by the way. I’m still standing by my point,” I mumbled, snuggling my face deeper into his chest. “I just don’t want to mess up this very nice moment.”

His heartbeat calmed the longer we stood there.

“We’ll continue our lovers’ tiff later then.” He poked fun at me as he hugged me tighter.

“Oh, you can look forward to an earful from me for sure,” I said sternly, but the playful smile spreading across my face was mimicked in the one pulling at the corners of his mouth as he stared down at me with something like a mixture of danger and adoration in his eyes.

“Come, let’s go settle this matter at home,” he said, his tone holding not only mischief but enough forbodingness to it to set my heart aflutter with anticipation.

12

KAINE

Iclosed my eyes that night, thinking I was safe, but I was about to learn how very wrong I was.

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