Page 85 of Star Bringer
“We’re just going to talk,” I tell him.
“Of course you are.”
I don’t appreciate the sarcasm, but that’s Max for you. The trouble is that he knows me as well, if not better—he has the advantage of a little distance—than I know myself. Which is why his comments should be enough to stop me in my tracks or at least give me pause. But my feet keep right on moving.
I find the princess in her room. The door is open, so I take that as an unspoken “come on in.” If she’d wanted me to stay out, she would have closed the damn door.
But the second I catch sight of her standing with her back to me, arms wrapped around her waist, my anger dissolves. “Kali, are you okay?” She’s hugging herself like she’s cold—or hurt.
She turns slowly. “As good as can be expected, I guess.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“I’m on a goddamn spaceship going who the fuck knows where—”
“Glacea,” I put in helpfully, and she rolls her eyes at me. Again.
“I should be going home. My mother will be frantic. The Council will be furious, and…” She takes a deep breath and sort of sags. “I actually enjoyed watching you fight.”
The change in subject makes me frown. It also makes me feel all twisted up inside. I want to say that I’ll fight for her anytime, but I don’t think she’s saying that like it’s a good thing. So I keep my mouth shut and wait for her to continue.
She doesn’t say anything else for several seconds, and then she shrugs. “I’m not sure what that says about me, but it’s nothing good.”
“There’s nothing wrong with fighting for what you need. Or what you believe in.”
“Is that what you were doing in there?” she asks, sounding more restrained than I’ve ever heard her. “Fighting for what you need?”
“Fuck yeah. I was fighting for Milla.” I give her a what-are-you-getting-at look.
“So you need Milla?”
“I—” I freeze mid-sentence, partly because I don’t know what I want to say to that and partly because my brain is suddenly flashing a giant warning sign at me, telling me there’s danger down the path she’s leading me on. “I mean, Max and I—Milla—we—”
She holds up a hand to stop me, which I’ll always be grateful for. Especially since Max is currently laughing at all my floundering.
“Smooth,” he tells me. “Is this the part where you tell her a couple of things? Or is that going to come later?”
I flip him off mentally. “Shut the fuck up.”
“So you have no problem tellingmeoff.” He’s still snickering.
“Stop distracting me, will you? I need to pay attention to Kali—”
And now he’s full-blown laughing again. But at least he’s stopped talking, so I’ll take the win. And later I’ll beat his ass for fucking with me right now.
“You can try,” he taunts.
I focus back on her. “Kali—”
“I’m not upset about going to Glacea, Ian. Even though maybe I should be. And I liked watching you fight. A lot.” Her eyes light up briefly before she sinks down onto the bed, and for the first time since I met her, she looks defeated. I don’t like it. Yeah, I always complained about her fighting me, but I’ll take that a million times over if the choice is between that and this sadness that’s pulling at her.
“What do you want, Kali?”
“That’s just it. I don’t know.” She runs a hand through her hair, and I can’t help but notice the way the light moves through the dark red locks. “Do you know how much that trip to theCaelestismeant to me?”
I don’t have a clue, but she continues before I can say that.
“It was my first official duty—the first time my mother went against the Council and trusted me enough to let me represent her. I wanted so much to impress her.”
