Page 45 of Reckless
Her eyes fly open when I tug at the quilt she’s toppled on. “What are you—”
“I’m compromising,” I cut in. “If you get the bed, then I at least get a blanket.”
“Fine.” She nods curtly from the flat pillow her hair is fanned messily atop.
I snatch the other from beside her head, trying and failing to fluff the miserable excuse for a pillow. “And I get this, too.”
She shoots me a glance before curling onto her side and burrowing into the sheets. “Deal.”
With that, I’m banished to the hard floor besideherbed. The quilt is scratchy, the floor is rough, and the pillow is practically pointless—but I’ve slept in worse conditions.
Yet, I can’t help but think that in another life, another time, another chance to choose each other—I would be in that bed beside her.
CHAPTER 17Paedyn
“I’m going to smother you with a pillow in about five seconds.”
I groan, blissfully ignoring the prince’s threat and burrowing farther into the rough sheets. This is the third and supposedly final warning he’s willing to give me. With that in mind, I happily disregard the demanding Enforcer beside the bed.
When a lumpy pillow hits my face, muffling the string of curses spewing from my mouth, I raise a hand to show off my middle finger. He responds to my unspoken words with two of his own. “Get. Up.”
“If you’re escorting me to my doom,” I grumble beneath the crumpled cotton, “the least you could do is let me enjoy my last time in a bed.”
“You’ve had plenty of hours to enjoy, don’t worry.”
I pry the pillow off my face, peering into the shadowy room. The cloudy window reveals an equally cloudy sky beyond, still splotched with darkness. “The sun’s not even up yet, so I don’t see why I should be either.”
“Compelling argument,” he says dryly. “Up. Now. We can’t spend toomuch time in one place. I’m shocked we haven’t been recognized yet.”
I sigh through my nose, staring blankly up at the ceiling. I had planned to spend the night plotting my escape from the Enforcer, but there was no fighting the wave of drowsiness that crashed over me the moment my head hit the pillow. Sleeping so soundly is scary when it’s beside someone so willing to stab you in the back.
Peeling myself from the worn sheets, I ungracefully slide from the bed before wincing at the forgotten wound on my thigh. Kai’s eyes track the movement, trace the crease between my brow, the catch of my breath. “How are you feeling?”
I scoff, pushing the stray strands of silver hair from my face. “Don’t pretend to care about my well-being, Prince. I’m just another mission for you to complete.”
He seems to stiffen slightly at that, but his words don’t match the wariness he wears. “Yes, and my mission needs to be well enough to endure the trek home.”
Home.
The word stings my eyes, burns in my throat, just as the smoke had when I escaped the fiery fragments of my childhood. Each one of my homes is gone—my father, my Adena, my house on the corner of Merchant and Elm.
I am homeless. Hopeless. Hollow.
“That’s not my home.” I hadn’t meant for the words to be whispered, though he looks at me like I’ve screamed them.
“Ilya?” he asks slowly. “Ilya isn’t your home?”
“Nowhere is my home. Nooneis my home. Not anymore.” I hold his gaze, raising my head high as I add, “You and your king made sure of that.”
We stare at each other, his scrutiny sliding over my face. “You’re not the only one who knows loss.”
“I have you to thank for that.”
“As do I,” he fires back. “Have you forgotten that I’m now fatherless as well? Or did you not consider that when you drove a sword through the king’s chest?”
“You killed a father,” I practically growl, stepping close enough to see the storm brewing in his gray eyes. “I killed amonster.”
His eyes flick between mine, simmering with something I can’t quite place. “Have you forgotten everything he did to you?” I whisper, pleading with him to remember the crimes of his childhood. “Everything he made you do? Not to mention what he did to this kingdom—”
