Page 114 of Fall of the Ember Throne (Crown and Crest 3)

I wince, flashing Henrik a look over my shoulder. “That’s right.”

There’s a heavy pause outside the door, and then the guard laughs. “Perhaps if you didn’t leave your things strewn about…”

He must be referring to my slippers. I roll my eyes, but I’m thankful he believes me. “You may go now, Palmer.”

His voice grows distant as he walks away. “Yes, Your Highness. Sleep well.”

I sag with relief and gulp in several deep breaths.

“What exactly are you doing?” Henrik asks, amused.

When I look at him, he gestures to my awkward position.

“I was going to hide you.”

He replies with a lopsided grin that makes my insides melt. “Did you think that would work?”

Instead of answering, I push myself up and turn the door lock. Then I turn back to Henrik, clasping my hands at my waist to keep them from trembling. “Did you talk to Camellia?”

Henrik rises from the edge of the bed, just as handsome as ever. A knight in appearance if not title. “Let’s not talk about her right now.”

He pauses in front of me, close enough to touch. Close enough to kiss.

Henrik sets his hand on my neck, caressing my jaw with his thumb. My heart races, and my mouth goes dry. I have no idea what’s gotten into him, but I don’t dare risk ruining the moment by asking.

I sigh at his gentle touch, realizing we are truly alone for the first time in far too long.

As he studies me, Henrik quietly says, “You have a habit of making me doubt myself.”

I memorize every line and angle of his face, loving every inch of him. But he looks as tired as I feel.

“What does that mean?” I set my hands on the sides of his trim waist, needing to touch him as much as I need to be touched.

Sighing, he leans in. “I came to give you and Lawrence my blessing—to set you free from any promises that are binding your heart and making your path difficult.”

“What happened?” I demand, craning my neck to look up at him. “What did Camellia say? Tell me.”

“I told you—I don’t want to talk about her right now.”

Before I can shove him away and demand answers, Henrik steps in even closer, pressing our bodies flush and resting his forearms on the door on either side of my head. “I told myself I could let you go, but then the first word that passed your lips when you were alone was my name.”

My mind goes blank as I process his words and this sudden nearness. Pushing aside my questions, I focus on this moment, reveling in the delicious weight of him as he pins me to the door.

Every fiber of my being wants this man, but I draw in a shaky breath to control myself. “If your name is so powerful, you should know it was on my lips every day we were apart. There wasn’t a day that I didn’t wish you were here.”

Wrapping his arms around my back, Henrik tugs me away from the door and into him, wrapping himself around me. He’s upset—I can feel it in the tense hardness of his muscles and the strange way he talks like we’ll never see each other again.

And that makes me very nervous.

“You have to tell me what’s happened,” I beg, holding him tightly.

“Camellia agreed to retract her magic from the necklaces.”

“What?” I rear back, not believing it for one moment. “It’s a lie.”

“And to abandon her dark magic and leave the dukedom.”

Getting angry, I say, “Henrik, there’s no way you believe her—”

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