Page 96 of Steel Heart Iron Claws

I shake my head quickly, my thoughts a jumble. “No, I mean that I had an arrangement with a spider, and…”

I take a deep breath, fingers tensing around the brass doorknob.

Start over, Sabine.

One month apart, and I’ve never been so nervous around him.

His gaze cuts to the twine ring, the symbol of love he gave me, but his face shows no recognition.

For the agonizing span of one heartbeat to the next, we stare at one another.

“Did you come here to put a knife in my chest?” I ask bluntly.

His eyebrows twitch. “What?”

“I don’t know what the Valveres told you.”

He rests one hand in the doorway, leaning over me. “They told me plenty, but I can make up my own mind about things that matter.”

With him towering over me, my thighs go a little weak. In a whisper, I ask, “Do—do you remember me?”

This time, the dark pools of his eyes deepen. A long second passes. Soft, he says, “No.”

No word has ever felt so heavy. My breath falters, but I try not to show the crushing weight of disappointment. I glance down at my hands, still fiddling nervously with his ring.

But there’s no time for grief. Not here. Not like this.

With a deep breath, I gather the broken pieces of my nerves and thrust my hand out.

“Then I suppose it’s time for introductions. Sabine Darrow. Err—well, not Darrow anymore.”

I was almost Sabine Valvere.

Then Sabine Bowborn.

And now? Her Highness, Princess Sabine of Volkany?

I stammer, cheeks blazing, “I guess I don’t know what I am.”

He stares long and hard at my extended hand, his loose hair shadowing his expression, as my heart screams like a tea kettle gone dry.

Slowly, he lifts his eyes, his calloused hand sliding into mine. “Little violet—that’s what you are.”

A jagged inhale cuts across my lips. My heart freefalls into a bottomless cavern, pinwheeling with a belly-tightening yearning until I’m sure I’ll never breathe again.He remembers. He does.If he wasn’t holding my hand, the next speck of dust might topple me over.

“You…do remember?” I breathe.

Haltingly, he admits, “Like I said, I’ve been told a lot about you. About us.”

I try to stop the crashing freefall of my heart before it slams against rock bottom. Slowly, I pull my trembling hand back.

You idiot, Sabine. Of course he doesn’t remember.

“Don’t believe a word the Valveres said about me being a traitor,” I say in a rush. “They can’t be trusted. Rian most of all. I tried to leave here. To warn you. I know you have a long history with him, buthe’sa traitor. He—he was the one who sold me out.”

His eyes simmer. “I know.”

“You…know?”

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