Page 118 of Twin Crowns

Butoh, if only her future king could set her alight like this. Ansel certainly didn’t.

Ansel.The feast. The key. The seer in the tower. It all came rushing back in. She couldn’t stay here hidden away in the rose garden with Shen. She stepped back, breaking their contact. “Why have you come to Anadawn, Shen?”

“To scold you for stealing my horse.”

“The real reason.”

His face grew serious. “Rose, do you know how worried I was when I realized what you’d done?”

“You should have had more faith in Storm. She was always going to be fine.”

“I wasn’t worried about my horse. I was worried about you.” He rubbed his forehead, clearly frustrated. “I was afraid a blood beetle would attack you and you’d never make it back. That you’d get yourself killed a million other ways in the desert. Or that you’d somehow return in time to marry your Gevran prince and I’d never see you again.” He pulled her back to him. “I came here to see you, Rose.”

“I’m still mad at you,” she reminded him, but her voice was soft, and in his arms, so was she. “Forever.”

“How can I shorten such a cruel sentence?”

Be brave, she told herself.Be bold. After all, a future queen might never have a moment like this again.

She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. “By being very, very nice to me.”

Shen’s hands came to her waist and the feeling of his touch on her bare skin sent lightning bolts sizzling through Rose’s veins.

“I don’t know how to kiss,” she blurted out, then winced. Oh, that was not at all what she meant to say.

“I suspect you might be a natural.” Shen leaned down close, closer, until their lips were almost touching, and then he paused. Rose held her breath. “I can’t kiss you without your permission. You are the princess, remember?”

She smiled against his lips. “Then I order you to kiss me, Shen.”

Shen’s mouth curved. “With pleasure, Princess Rose.” And then his lips were on hers and his arms were tight around her waist andthiswas kissing. Rose sighed into Shen’s mouth and suddenly her lips were open, his tongue brushing softly against hers, andoh, she was wrong before becausethiswas kissing. She felt as if she were melting, as if Shen’s arms were the only thing holding her together.

Time slowed, and Rose basked in every delicious second of it.

After a perfect eternity, Shen grew very still. He pulled her against him. “Someone’s coming,” he whispered. He pressed a kiss beneath her ear. “I was right, by the way. You are a natural.”

“Shh,” said Rose, her cheeks aflame.

Shen peered out through the bushes, his body coiled with tension. After a moment, Rose felt him relax. He let out a low whistle that sounded just like the call of an owl. A pause, and then the same whistle echoed back.

A minute later, Wren’s head popped through the foliage. “What inrotting hell is going on in here?”

Rose grabbed her sister. “Get in here before someone sees you!”

“Why aren’t you at the bloody feast, Rose? I’ve just returned the key to Celeste andyou’resupposed to help her return it!” Wren’s eyes narrowed as she took in Rose’s flushed cheeks and mussed hair. She turned on Shen and said his name through her teeth. “Shen.I swear if you hurt my sister, I will gut you like a fish.” She reached for her dagger, but Shen knocked it out of her hand before catching it by the blade tip.

He dangled it in front of her nose. “You mean with this?”

Wren scowled as she snatched it back. “What did Iexplicitlytell you? Do not loseorseduce my sister.”

Shen cleared his throat awkwardly. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but she seduced me.”

Wren raised her eyebrows. “I don’t know if that makes it better or worse.”

“Nobody seduced anybody,” said Rose, quickly smoothing down her fur skirt. “And of course he won’t hurt me. Otherwise I’ll throw him in the dungeons.”

“Great,” said Shen sarcastically. “Are you both done threatening me? I actually came back to make sure you two hadn’t killed each other.” He looked between them. “What exactly are you planning tonight?”

Wren told him quickly of the seer in the tower and their plans for her escape. “Wait for me down by the bridge,” she said. “Once we make it out of Anadawn, I could use your help getting her through Eshlinn. When it’s done, we can drink to my success.”

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