Page 49 of A Cage of Crystal

Teryn looked down at her with the most tender concern. “Are you all right?”

Cora gave a shaky nod.

“Then will you lower the knife?”

She’d forgotten about the blade. Forgotten why she’d been driven to defend herself with it. Why was she so shaken up? Had Teryn simply startled her while she’d been concentrating on her work? But what had she been working on? Hadn’t she been holding something other than the knife…

“Highness,” came a voice from behind them. It belonged to Cora’s guard, and his tone was laced with the frantic impatience of someone who’d been repeating himself to no avail. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes,” Teryn called over his shoulder.

Cora drew back her knife and took a step away from Teryn, just in time to see the guard’s head ducked beneath the rosemary, his foot planted over her line of salt.

Solid sense eradicated the remainder of her disorientation. “You can’t be in here,” she shouted at the guard. Then her eyes slid to Teryn, going wide when the implications of where she was—wherehewas—began to dawn. “Damn it, Teryn, you can’t be in here either.”

Her pulse kicked up, propelling her to return her knife to her apron pocket and press both hands against Teryn’s chest. She blushed at the feel of his solid torso beneath her palms, but she blamed it on her fury. Forcing him around, she pushed him toward the doorway.

“Have you any idea how dangerous it is in here?” she said to his back as she shoved him by the shoulder blades. “How did the guard let you in?”

“I didn’t exactly give him a choice,” he said, voice low. “And…you weren’t moving. You were just standing frozen. Unresponsive. I was worried about you.”

She paused.I was frozen?For the life of her, she couldn’t recall what might have had her so transfixed. Never mind that. The thought of Teryn meeting Lurel’s same fate just to save her had her redoubling her efforts. Hands on his lower back, she pushed him the rest of the way out the door. Had he wanted to, he could have set his feet and laughed while she tried to move him without gain. They may have been well matched with weapons, but when it came to size and strength, Teryn was the indisputable winner. So it wasn’t lost on her that he let her push him, let her guide him out the door and into the stairwell.

Cheeks flushed, she stepped over the threshold and faced Teryn with her hands on her hips. With him standing on the top stair and she on the landing before the doorway, their bodies were noticeably close. She lifted her chin to meet his eyes and found that she didn’t have to lift them far. With him a step down from her, they were nearly eye to eye. Lips level. Chests close enough to collide—

“What are you doing here?” she bit out, her voice laced with fury. Whether her ire was driven by lingering worry over him having crossed such a dangerous threshold or resentment over their last meeting, she knew not.

Teryn opened his mouth then snapped it shut, steely gaze moving to the guard that hovered on the stair beside him. He arched a brow. “Do you mind?”

The guard glanced from Teryn to Cora, then moved down a few steps.

Teryn returned his gaze to hers. His emotions slammed into her, buzzing with trepidation, timidity, and…something warmer. Softer.

Cora took a deep breath and fully raised her shields.

“I…I came to speak with you,” he finally said.

“About what?”

A flush crept into his cheeks.

Even with her shields now fully in place, she knew the answer. She’d been half expecting this, though she hadn’t let herself dwell on it. A marriage alliance still needed to be made to secure trust between her and her new allies. Teryn was here to forge that alliance. Between himself and her.

She startled at the happy trill that sang through her chest, but she smothered it down.I’m his only option, she told it. He was not here for a love match, just politics.

A heavy disappointment clawed at her heart.

Another thing she smothered down.

He lowered his voice. “Can we go somewhere private?”

Her stomach tightened. He wanted to go somewhere private to…to ask her to marry him. It was a fact. Logical. Shefeltin her deepest core that this was happening. Knew itneededto happen.

This is just a cold, calculated alliance.

Then why the Mother Goddess did it send her heart hammering?

Her throat constricted, forcing her voice higher than she intended. “Right now?”

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