Page 47 of The Curse of a Kingdom
His gaze dipped to her lips, and her heart leaped. Maybe he would kiss her and his curse would lift. She kept thinking if she made him break this iron grip he had on his feelings, he might remember her.
He clenched his jaw and pushed away from her as if she burned him, leaving her on the ground, lamenting the loss of his body heat. “If you leave again, I will.” His voice sounded throatier than usual. However, his eyes burned with the intensity of the promise. He meant every word.
“I need to be in the forest,” she whispered. “I can’t be locked in that room forever.”
“Even if you survived that forest, the king will hunt you down, and this time I won’t be able to stop him.” His hand went over his face. “They will kill Devon too.”
Nava was about to tell him she didn’t care whether or not the Crow was killed but hesitated. Not only would that reveal the lie of their supposed engagement, but she wasn’t sure that was the case anymore.
Did she hate the man? Yes. Did she want him dead? Maybe not . . . and it had to be due to how important he was to Arkimedes because the Crow couldn’t be growing on her.
No way.
She rushed to get up from the ground. “I would not leave”—you—“permanently. I will be back before sunset.”
“The forest is dangerous right now, and the king doesn’t trust you.”
“What about you?” Hope bloomed in her stomach as she held his eyes.
His lips tightened. “How did you get into the library? How were you able to disappear like that?” He inspected her, as if she would grow an extra head at any moment. “How can you work your magic while wearing the bracelet?”
She pressed her lips together. “I already told you I don’t know.”
He reached for her wrist with gentle fingers. “What spell did you put on me?”
“None. I swear.” She swallowed and knew she had to take a leap of faith. Lying would only push him away further. Plus, she hated lies. “I haven’t lied to you. I don’t know why I could enter the library, but I know my magic is different—and I can show you.”
He dropped her wrist and brought his hands over his face, taking a deep breath. “How?”
“You can come with me to the forest,” she started, and he was already shaking his head.
“It isn’t safe in the forest right now.”
She knew this! His words only lit the fire within her to be out there. “No, it’s not. But it doesn’t mean I don’t need to go.” She took a step toward the trees behind her and called to Ari, hoping he would hear her.
His brows dipped, and he followed her. “If the king finds out you were here, it won’t be good. This is not a matter to take lightly. My rational mind tells me I shouldn’t trust you, that this is strange.” He moved his hand around them, pointing at their surroundings.
“Then why are you trusting me?”
“I don’t know.” He groaned. A spike of annoyance rushed over her body. Hers or his? Likely both of them. She could feel Ari nearby, could sense her strength growing. A bee landed on her shoulder, and Arkimedes’s eyes came to it.
“Nava . . .” His brows raised as a spark of recognition lit his face, his eyes never leaving the insect as another landed over her hand. He paled, staggering back. “I have seen this before.”
“Ark—”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Do you want to be a prince that badly you have to abandon who you were?”
“No, but does it matter? It’s who I was meant to be.” He stirred under her scrutiny, but his expression hardened. “I don’t know why you think you can talk to me like you know me.”
“Maybe Idoknow you,” she snapped. “You must not fully trust what you are being told around here, either. Because something doesn’t fit, does it?”
“And you do?”
“I know where you were four months ago, and it wasn’t here or the Iron City,” she said but hesitated to continue telling him, too afraid that the truth might spook him.
Arkimedes hadn’t wanted or planned to leave the Iron City ten years ago to go to an island in the middle of nowhere to find her. If Nava told him, he might ask what had happened with Devon, and she feared the truth would make this harder.
