for the gem, grasped it between her fingers, and found that she was tired of wondering. Sick from worrying. She wanted answers to something and couldn’t seem to stop herself from asking for them.
“You heard it all, didn’t you?” She didn’t bother with lies or justifications. There wasn’t much point.
He neither confirmed nor denied, but she could sense his agreement. Or maybe she was simply losing her mind.
“He’s young,” she said, “and impulsive, and…” Leisa hesitated, but it seemed important to at least try to explain why Kip had done it. “He’s been in love with me for years. He knows it’s hopeless, but I think he simply can’t help being worried.”
The Raven regarded her coolly.
“I’m begging you not to report him to anyone,” she went on, hoping she was making the right decision. “He’s an excellent bodyguard and will continue to do his job. Whatever rules he’s broken, he’s broken out of concern for me, and I’m requesting leniency on his behalf.”
And do you love him back, she imagined that looming shadow asking her.
Imagined? Or heard?
“I don’t love him,” she answered, not really caring whether the question was real. For whatever foolish reason, she wanted him to know the truth. “I know better than to love anyone. Even if it would be nice…”
She broke off. Did she really want him knowing so much about her heart? But it wasn’t like he was going to tell anyone. “I can’t deny that there is something attractive about being loved so completely, so fully, that there is no thought of kingdoms or politics. That someone cares about me for my own sake, rather than what they can use me for.”
That puppy only worships you from afar, the Raven scoffed silently. His love could not exist without the reality of your status. Would he love you as well if you weren’t so unreachable? So mysterious and unknowable?
“Me?” Leisa protested. “Mysterious and unknowable? I’m nothing of the sort.” But Evaraine was, much as she hated to admit it.
You have too many secrets, he whispered in her head. You’re afraid of everyone but me. What is it that you fear? Why do you feel as though you’re walking to your own death?
“Because I am!” The strength of her outburst startled her into realizing what she’d been about to say, and she glared at the man across the room. The man who hadn’t said a word, and yet somehow, she’d been arguing with him.
It was not her imagination.
Leisa’s mouth fell open, and in a rush of anger and confusion, she gripped the gem tighter. Even as it seared her hand with its phantom heat, she didn’t let go. She held on as its edges cut into her palm and confronted the presence lurking there just below the surface.
Get out of my head, she demanded.
And this time, she heard his voice as clearly as if he’d spoken aloud. It was somehow dark and deep, full of shadows and mockery and pain, and whatever magic allowed her to hear it was strong enough to make the hair on her arms stand on end.
I’m not in your head, Princess. You’re in mine.
Chapter 14
The gem fell from the princess’s fingers and dropped against her chest with an audible thud.
Her shock was clearly visible, but even if she’d managed to hide it, the Raven could feel it battering his emotional walls. She was probably trying to decide whether she’d only imagined his voice in her head.
And for his part, he wished he could take it back. He never should have spoken. Of course, he hadn’t realized at the beginning that she would be able to hear him.
But then he hadn’t been able to stop.
He’d heard that ridiculous stripling profess his love and longed to pummel him until he never dared look her way again. Which made no sense. The princess was in no danger from her own guard, especially given that she was too wise to accept his profession of adoration.
But some part of her had wanted to, and he’d been unable to resist sneering at that puppy’s pathetic idea of love.
The boy saw power and status and longed to worship it from up close rather than afar. But he had no idea who he worshiped, or he would never have proposed running away. He failed to see or understand how much strength it took for her to stand here and face her enemies each day, bearing the weight of her kingdom on her shoulders. She would never bend, this one.
But