Page 132 of The Winner's Kiss
“Kestrel?”
Chapter 36
Her hand dropped from her dagger’s hilt. “Verex.”
He stood awkwardly in the moonlight: long and slopey, shoulders narrow, eyes large, his fair hair ruffled and feathery. When he met her gaze, he let out such a large breath that his chest seemed to cave in. “I was so worried for you,” he said.
Kestrel crossed the sand and flung herself into his open arms.
“I tried to help,” he murmured.
“I know.”
“I sent a key to the prison camp.”
“I got it.”
“I’m ashamed of myself.”
“Verex.”
“I couldn’t do more. I wanted to. I should have.”
She pulled back, stared at him. “That key was every thing to me.”
“Not enough. My father—”
“Did he find out?” Her blood went cold. “Did he punish you?”
“He talked as if he knew it was me. ‘Well, dear boy, have you heard? A prisoner tried to escape the north. Somehow—how, do you think?—she laid her filthy little hands on a key.’ Never acknowledging that the prisoner was you. Never accusing me of having sent the key. Just watching and smiling. He said—he told me that the prisoner was tortured. Killed. And I—” Verex’s face twisted.
“I’m all right, I’m here.”
He didn’t look convinced.
“What did he do to you?”
Verex flopped one hand. “Nothing.”
“Tell me.”
“Nothing that mattered. I think he enjoyed it: that I knew, that I tried. Failed. I have my spies in the court—I must—and when you dis appeared I found out too quickly what had happened to you. He wanted me to know. All the while, he said nothing of your absence, only informed me of the story he’d tell the court, and that I’d be sailing to the southern isles. He said he’d watch over Risha while I was away.” Verex thrust his hands in his pockets, slumped his shoulders. “He said, ‘I know how you care for the eastern princess.’ ”
“Did he—?”
“No.” His voice went hard. “He knows that if he did anything to her I’d kill him. She’s safe in the capital.”
“What are you doing here? Verex, you’re no fighter.”
He laughed a little. “I’d have said the same of you. Yet look at you.”
“You knew it was me.”
“You have this way when you walk. You stride.”
“I didn’t expect to see the emperor here, let alone you.”
“I’m mostly here to be looked at. The emperor came with me in tow for the morale of the troops. There’ve been a few military setbacks in this campaign.” He peered at her. “Your doing?”
