Page 91 of Kingdom of Briars and Roses

He shrugged. “My father insisted. It’s royal protocol, apparently.”

I frowned. Protocol or another form of control?

He pushed off the door frame. “I’ll take care of it if you don’t want to bother.”

“Fine,” I said, stifling a yawn.

I’d stayed up late, reading the book about Vorinth—which, it turned out, had been the capital city of the Calidium Empire some fifteen hundred years ago. I hadn’t found anything that seemed useful in curse-breaking, and nothingabout runes, but even worse, I’d found myself re-reading entire paragraphs after my mind inevitably wandered back to Rydian.

I hated him for hating me.

And I couldn’t stop thinking about touching him.

“Ready to go?” Callan asked, yanking me from my thoughts.

“Yes,” I said with enough enthusiasm that I earned a wry smile.

“Eager to get out of here?” he teased.

I bit my lip, unsure how to answer that, but he just laughed. “Believe me, I know how you feel.”

He led me out of the castle where I found a waiting carriage and a full entourage of armed men.

“Is this really necessary?” I asked.

“Better to be safe,” he said as he helped me into the carriage.

We rode side by side, our legs pressing against one another as the carriage bumped down the road. When we passed through the gate, Callan exhaled.

I found myself doing the same.

“You look nice today,” he said.

“Thank you. The dressmaker did a good job.”

He winked. “She had a beautiful canvas to work with.”

We hit a bump hard enough to jostle me nearly out of my seat. Callan caught me, bracing me with his hands as he laughed. “We are in sorry need of road repairs after the last rainy season.”

“Maybe it would’ve been better on horseback after all,” I said, straightening.

“If we were on horseback, I couldn’t do this.” Callan slid his hand down my arm and laced his fingers through mine.

I went still, too surprised to pull away. His hand was warm and not altogether terrible. More… strange. I stared at our joined hands, wondering when last I’d been touched like this.

Lesha had hugged me before she left. And Sonoma?—

No. I wasn’t going to think about her right now.

“We’re nearly there.” Callan’s voice called me back, and I peered through the small window as the first glimpse of the city of Grey Oak came into view.

I drank it in, hungry for the sight of people. But then the guards pressed in tightly around our carriage, and the view was lost.

I sat back.

Callan squeezed my hand.

Finally, the carriage pulled to a stop.

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