Page 74 of The Half King
She matched his smile. “She’s your goddess, too.”
“As you continue to remind me.”
“Because you continue to forget. But I won’t hold it against you.”
“Then I’ll hold you against me,” he told her, and he embraced her in his warm, powerful arms. “Not even the blasted Order could object to that.”
Cerise nestled against him, resting her cheek against the solid plane of his chest. She couldn’t imagine such an objection, either. And she would take refuge in a chaste embrace for now.
Because soon, it would be her Claiming Day.
19
As Nero had warned them, the trail to the southwest grew rougher and more difficult to follow the next day. At times, the path disappeared completely, and the group was forced to leave behind the supply wagon and then dismount the horses and cajole them through sections of dried bramble and brush that were littered with razor-sharp petrified log fragments. But though the hours were slow and tedious, the caravan completed the first day without injury, and then Cerise cast the runes again shortly before twilight.
The runes sent the caravan southwest for another two days. Each night, the group camped under Father Padron’s protection, and Cerise continued to drink arrowroot syrup with her dinner so she could fall asleep by sunset. Fortunately, General Petros had plenty of syrup to share, and no one in the group questioned her consumption of it. As strenuous as the journey had become, they all understood the value of a good night’s sleep.
But in truth, each night at sunset, Cerise wanted only to follow Kian into the Mortara underworld, where they sought out the most quiet, secluded chambers and passed the hours sharing stories and body heat and kisses that were more or less chaste. Every moment she shared with him was as precious to her as the sunrise that returned them to the tent in the morning. She even came to prefer dusk over dawn. During the day, she and Kian had to share their time with others, but the nights belonged only to them. The nights were her haven, her sanctuary.
It was then that she fell completely in love.
And the emotion really did feel like falling. The exhilaration that lifted her ribs reminded her of the rare, secret opportunities for sledding at the Solon temple. When enough snow had fallen to cover the ground, she had borrowed a flat baking sheet from the kitchen and snuck outside to the hill behind the courtyard. While the others had slept, she’d skidded down the hill at breakneck speeds. In addition to it being a most unladylike thing to do, there had always been a moment when the frosty wind had watered her eyes and whipped her hair and she feared she had gone too fast. But each time she had been tempted to dig in her heels and stop, the thrill of flying had outweighed her fear of the fall, and she held on until the very end.
She held on like that now.
That didn’t mean she had deluded herself into thinking her time with Kian could last forever. He was still a king in need of a legitimate heir, and she was still a second-born given in service to the temple. But the way she saw it, she had two choices: she could dig in her heels and protect her heart, or she could dive headlong into love. To her, the choice was clear. There was no thrill in falling slowly. Pain was a natural part of life, so she reminded herself not to fear it. She loved boldly, and by the fourth sunrise, she could honestly say that her heart—the part Blue hadn’t claimed—belonged to the king.
She would face the consequences later.
When the dawn of her Claiming Day finally arrived, she awoke in the tent a few moments ahead of Kian. She opened her eyes and held her breath, half afraid of what she would discover. This was the day she had been waiting for…and dreading for most of her life—the day she would learn who and what she was destined to become. But as she sat up in the darkness, she didn’t know what outcome she wanted.
A cloud of shadow drifted through the tent flaps and quickly took form into the king’s lean, muscled body. At once, he turned to face her, and they sat on the floor, their gazes locked.
“Well?” he whispered. “Do you feel any differently?”
Cerise probed her chest as though receiving the Sight might have physically altered her. She shook her head. She didn’t notice any new sensations.
Kian went thoughtful for a moment. “Let’s try a test,” he whispered. “I’m going to do something. I’ve already decided what it is, and I’m picturing my actions right now. See if you can predict my path.”
Though he couldn’t have possibly known it, his suggestion triggered a pang of fear that she recognized all too well. It was the result of having tried—and failed—that same basic test hundreds of times at the temple. But she nodded and began the process. The steps were so ingrained that she performed them without conscious thought: closing her eyes, clearing her mind, and focusing on the warmth and compassion she felt for the king. After she had settled into a state of relaxation, she silently asked the goddess to show her Kian’s path.
One moment passed, and then another. She could hear a faint bird call echoing in the distance. She could feel Blue’s body heat from where he slept beside her. But the darkness behind her eyelids remained blank.
She inhaled and exhaled slowly. Then she tried again to coax the answer from her mind’s eye.What will the king do? Show me his path.
Nothing. Not even a flicker of divination passed through her.
She opened her eyes just in time to watch Kian kiss his fingertip and then press that same finger to the bridge of her nose.
“Did you predict that?” he asked.
The familiar sting of failure pricked behind her ribs, but this time, it was multiplied by a thousand. She was giftless. The goddess had deemed her worthy of the sunset runes but not faithful enough to bless her with the Sight.
Maybe the Order had been right after all. Maybe her passion for Kian, even though she hadn’t fully acted on it, had distracted her enough to offend the goddess.
Would she be able to break the curses now?
“Do you See anything?” Kian whispered. “Anything at all?”
