Page 92 of A Kingdom of Shadows

"How many trolls do you think might be guarding the well?" I ask.

"A few, maybe less. We shouldn't worry, though. Trolls are daft creatures." He rubs dry mud between his thumb and forefinger before rising to his feet. He turns to me. "They'll be easy to fool."

And easy to catch.

"Then we will build a trap," I say, heading past him. Vines drape off one of the trees, long enough to tie branches together. I rise on my toes to grab one before I notice from the corner of my eye that Darius is watching me. I huff at him. "What?"

"Has anyone ever told you how desirable you look in trapper mode?"

I glower. "Concentrate."

His eyes languidly travel all over me. "I am."

Flutters go off in my stomach. I'd smack him if it wasn't for the daring smile on his face, itching to get beneath my skin.

I go back to pulling the vine. "You may think those compliments are working on me—" They are "—But I know you've likely told hundreds of people how desirable they look."

His hand rests over mine, making me stop what I am doing. We look at each other, and I part my lips to say something when he speaks before me, "Are you always going to assume I used to be this philanderer?"

"I don't need to assume," I tease. "You've mentioned it many times before."

"I had my desires," he says, eyes staring straight into mine as if hoping I understand. "But there was no one that could quite quench them before."

I frown despite the heavy thump of my heart. "Not even the person you fell in love with?"

He takes his hand off, glancing to the side. His brows furrow like what I'd just said sank into him in realization.

I might have overstepped with that remark.

"I didn't mean to—" My voice fades, knowing an apology won't do much and instead get back to building a trap.

I'm halfway through tying a few branches together when he says, "It wasn't someone else in my past that hurt me, Goldie."

I pause, my eyes fly up at him, and a look of tortured sadness sweeps across his features.

"When you said if I'd ever fallen in love, I had. What I failed to explain is that I still am."

Words scrape the sides of my throat, yet nothing spills out. I'm too startled to speak.

"See, there's this girl." He chuckles to himself. "A human girl. Who can be quite persistent with what she wants in life. She also hates it when you try to beat her at something and makes sure to insult you, such as calling you something silly, like a fliptwit. But you should see how her face lights up whenever she finds a slice of her favorite pie by her door... when she mentions her brothers or when she leaves bread for Tibith to snack on and sings him lullabies despite her awful singing."

I can only stare, baffled, as his eyes radiate such admiration.

"She doesn't know it yet," he says, leaning forward and whispering covertly to me, "but one day, when this is all over, I hope for her to be my wife, even if that might only be possible in my dreams."

The cool air does nothing to help the heat spread like wildfire through me.

He takes another step. "I could have all the riches in the word, rule all of Zerathion, and it still would not be enough if I didn't have that person by my side."

My eyes are wide, my lips parted without a word in sight.

Me.

He is in love with me.

It has never been someone else.

"It hurt seeing the way you looked at him," he reveals, looking down at the ground, and my ribcage shrinks, realizing whom he means. "It hurt seeing you injured, on the verge of death that day in the woods." His eyes, agonizing and beautiful, meet mine. "And it killed me, knowing you'd never want anything to do with me. But I accepted that because you hated me, and I wished to have hated you in return." He steps back, and it is here I understand the gravity of every word he is saying still hurts him now. "I realized too soon that I could not."

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