Page 75 of A Shard of Ice

“Please, don’t worry,” Thesha says. “You’ve done so much already. We—”

“I insist. It’s no bother at all.” He heads to a door on the far side of the room, taking a candle with him.

“Maybe you should go and help yourfriend, Damon.” Thesha smirks. “She might need her back washed.”

“Don’t start,” I whisper, trying to hold back a grin.

“Thesha would have my balls if I called a friend ‘love’.” Xander is smirking, too.

“Stop!” I lift my brows. “It was an accident. It didn’t mean anything.” The last is a lie, but I’m not taking it back.

Thesha chokes out a laugh. “That’s some mistake, and it most certainly meant something.”

“Look, I really like Kyrie. We—” I start to say.

“Are just friends.” Thesha pulls a face. “Don’t even try that one with us. We have eyes. Friends don’t look at friends the way the two of you look at each other.”

“How does Kyrie look at me?” It just slips out.

Thesha giggles softly. “Like if you’d offered her a choice between you or a warm meal after days of eating dry rations, she’d choose you every time. And I’m not talking about friendly hugs. I’m talking—”

“Okay…okay…I get it.” I’m smiling. I can’t get the grin off my face. I shake my head. “I can’t. We can’t. It just won’t work.”

“Why not? You have feelings for this human,” Xander says. “She clearly has feelings for you. What are your plans?”

“We still need to discussourplans. I don’t have plans that don’t involve saving the realm from Snow.”

“The plans are to overthrow the evil villain, but first, we need to find the others,” Xander says. He doesn’t need to specify. I know who he means. We need to find the rest of the lost kings.

I nod. “That’s my point exactly; my future is fraught with danger. My sole purpose is to take back my kingdom. To take back the whole realm. I refuse to put Kyrie in the path of danger. Therefore, we cannot be on the same path. We cannot be together. I need her safe. Only then will I be able to concentrate on what needs to be done. On my responsibilities.”

“You do know that she’s stronger than you think.” Thesha gives me a hard look. “She’s not some wilting flower. Have you asked her what she wants?”

“Not exactly, but she did say that she doesn’t know what she wants, that she’s confused, and scared, and tired of running.”

“Aren’t we all?” Thesha snorts. “The time for running will end soon enough.”

“If anything happened to her, I—”

“So what? You’ll drop her off at some village and return in a moon cycle or two to find that she died falling from a horse or that the fae took her back to the mines, but you weren’t there to protect her this time.”

“Don’t say that,” I all but snarl. The thought is abhorrent to me.

“Or maybe married. You’ll find her with a babe in her arms and another on the way.” Thesha lifts her brows as horror fills me.

“As long as she is alive and well, I would be happy,” I say.

“Only you can’t know that for—” Xander starts to say when Grigor arrives.

“Here we go.” He closes the door, walking toward us, another bottle of blackberry wine in his hands. “This was a fantastic year.” He holds the bottle aloft.

“It’s true, Damon,” Xander says in a soft voice. “You’ve probably pictured her alive and well and waiting for you when you return, and you might be wrong, my friend.”

“Why all the serious faces?” Grigor asks as he uncorks the wine.

“I’d love some more.” Thesha smiles, holding up her goblet. “We were talking about when to set out tomorrow. It’s going to be difficult to leave the comforts of your cabin.”

“You are welcome to stay as long as you wish.” Grigor starts to pour.

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