Page 87 of Court of Secrets and Flames

My nails score his back, the slow drag doing nothing to relieve the mounting tension. I rock my hips, bringing us closer over and over again.

“Gods, Lark.” He groans, and the world narrows down to the intensity in his gaze.

I cup his face in my hands, kissing the tip of his nose like he’d done to me. “Is this real?”

“Nothing is more real than this.” The sincerity in his voice anchors me to the current moment. His eyes trap mine, and I know nothing in this world will ever feel as intimate as the sensation of our entwined bodies moving together.

After we find release together, I collapse into his arms to the crescendo of waves crashing upon the shore. For a long while, we float in the blissful aftermath.

He brushes the hair from my face. “Thank you.”

“For?”

“For trusting me…with yourself.”

No matter what comes, this day—this moment—will be etched into my soul.

And for a few more minutes, I allow myself to bask in him, to hold him close against the tides of uncertainty that await us beyond the water’s edge.

“Back to the gilded cage.” I sigh, my breath hot enough to mist in the cooling air.

The sun dips low, painting the reeds in hues of fire and gold. Sterling mutters beside me, his voice a low rumble of distaste for the palace’s confines. I lace my boots tighter, fingers working against the stiff leather.

“Do you really think of the palace as a cage?” The undercurrent of longing isn’t lost on me. “I still spend some of my nights in a canvas tent with the rest of the soldiers. I don’t even get to bunk with the king’s guards.”

Knox’s complaint strikes me as incredibly strange, and I ignore his question in search of my own answers. “You’re the prince of Tirene. Are you trying to tell me that you don’t have a room in the palace?”

He snorts. “Oh, I have a suite. But sometimes I feel like the maids spend more time there than I do. Hell, even Agnar and Blair do. Jasper wants me to devote my time to ‘the troops in the field’ to make sure they’re ready in case of invasion. We’re always running drills. Training. At times, Agnar stays at the palace to tend to my responsibilities there. And Blair runs back and forth between us, delivering reports.”

“Do you enjoy it? Sleeping in a tent, I mean. The camaraderie of being with the soldiers.”

A smile softens his mouth. “I do. It’s…freeing. Don’t get me wrong. The luxuries of palace life are nice. Warm baths. Hot food. A soft bed. But it’s so much simpler out there. Sometimes I almost forget my position…my responsibilities.”

I pause, enjoying the view across the marsh. Once, as a child, I’d yearned for the marble majesty of the king’s castle in Aclaris. Not for the luxury which would surpass everything I’d ever known, but for the sheer number of nobles and other people who attended court at the castle.

Locked in my mother’s estate, all I dreamed about was the freedom to get out and form connections with other people my age. Although I loved my sister, I wanted to forge other friendships too.

I’d stare out the window and daydream about being presented at court. It was always a big to-do for the noble families. I’d walk in, a bit nervous, but with my chin held high. There, I’d meet my new best friend. Maybe two. I even fantasized of finding a man to fall in love with.

Then the two of us would travel the world together, and he could show me all the things I’d never seen. I would writemy new best friends about our adventures, and they would be happy for me. We’d grow old together, have our own families, and meet up at every ball, holy day, and event at the castle. And I’d never be alone or cast aside again.

Currently, it’s Tirene’s looming silhouette that beckons, a palace even grander than King Xenon’s, where all the inhabitants want to know me. Where I have a king and a prince who both desire me for different reasons. Nobles gossip about me and claim they’re glad I’m there.

But it’s only to use me.

And, ever since landing in the palace courtyard, I’ve frequently mulled over how to escape.

Not too long ago, I dreamed of dragons, of riding on their powerful backs through boundless skies. Now, I need only think the thought and my own wings unfurl, a magnificent span of feathers catching the twilight. I can fly up to meet the dragons and alight onto their backs midflight. I flex the muscles at my back. My wings respond, arching with newfound strength.

Life has twisted my childhood dreams into something unrecognizable.

“Nothing turned out the way I thought it would.” Sterling’s words mimic my thoughts so perfectly that I pivot toward him. He’s staring at me as if he’s trying to decipher a complex ancient language. His own wings snap open with an elegant flare that mirrors mine.

“No.”

What does he mean by that? His brother? The position he holds in the palace?

Us?

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