Palace of Silver (The Nissera Chronicles #3) - Hannah West Page 0,131
really.”
“Then why are you so quiet? You’ve avoided me all evening.”
He studied me for a moment before shooting his steely gaze to Mercer. “You chart your course by him like he’s the North Star.”
“No, I don’t.”
“I see you looking for him whenever he leaves your side.”
I shook my head. “If I’m looking for anyone, it’s you.”
He scoffed. “You have your life, and I have mine. Maybe it seemed otherwise for a few days, but it’s just the truth.”
“He is a dear friend to me. Nothing more.”
“Are you sure of that?”
“More than ever,” I said. “For a time, I thought I loved him. But it was because of what we went through together.”
“And what about this?” he asked, gesturing between him and me. “Is it temporary? A diversion from the fear and pain? Will we return to our lives and forget?”
“I don’t want to,” I said, my face heating. I thought of the way I had clung to him in the edifice when I pretended to be his bride, the way he kicked dirt over the fire so we could kiss in the dark. “But you’re warm to me one minute and cold the next. If there’s any hesitation on my side, it’s because I don’t know whether you desire me or are simply going along with it because circumstances thrust us together—”
He stood up. I thought he would storm off, but he caught my hand and led me down one of the long aisles. We stopped in front of baskets overflowing with fur cloaks, which we would most certainly need on the morrow when I brought the freezing weather.
After making sure we had privacy, he turned to face me. “I didn’t mean to be cold. I just wanted to give you space with him, if you wanted it.”
“I don’t want it.”
“Glisette,” he breathed. “I care for you, and I have from the moment I realized you were different from Ambrosine. You’ve surprised me every day since.”
“I have?”
He nodded.
“You’ve surprised me too,” I said. “I thought you were rude.”
“I can be.”
“And humorless.”
A smile crossed his lips. “Only to people who don’t know me. But you know me better than most already.”
I leaned back against the shelf, planting my hands on my hips. This time, I wanted him to come to me. I blinked up at him, letting my eagerness show on my face.
He stepped closer and propped his hand on the shelf above my head. “I’d like to kiss you again,” he said softly.
“By all means.”
His callused fingers streamed through my hair as he pressed his lips against mine. A moan escaped and I kissed him back, tugging him flush against me in the shadows.
But a flagon bounced off the ground, jarring us, and several soldiers responded to the gaff with rowdy laughs. No one could see us, but the ruckus served as a reminder that we weren’t alone.
We gradually pulled apart, Sev’s breaths heaving with desire and his starry eyes studying my mouth.
“That should give you something to fight for,” I said. “I mean, other than your seven brothers and sisters, your mother, your princess, your kingdom—”
“My what?” His voice rumbled against my mouth. “I’ve forgotten everything but the taste of your lips.”
I grinned. We stole every second that we could but eventually forced ourselves to rejoin the others.
“Enjoy yourself?” Kadri asked quietly as I sat beside her.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re glowing.”
I laughed, though worry hedged out my momentary joy. Tilmorn had returned from healing everyone who had the slightest ache or ailment, but Navara, who had been following him around to watch him work, was nowhere to be seen. “Where’s Navara?” I asked.
“She said she was going to pray,” Kadri answered. “Poor girl. She’s frightened.”
Yawning, I stood up. I would need to rest for tomorrow, especially to generate a powerful storm. But until everyone else started unrolling their pallets and snuffing out the candles, I wouldn’t be able to sleep.
The vault door was cracked open. I decided to slip out and find Navara in the abandoned Edifice of the Holies, perhaps make one more attempt to call down a deity.
When I stepped into the Edifice of the Fallen, the dark whispers returned.
But this time, they laughed. A thousand voices mingled as one, all laughing at me.
I spun around to the portrait of Themera to stare her down, tell her I was not afraid. I half expected to find her bloodred lips parted in laughter.
But I found Navara sprawled on the dirt floor of the edifice, her eyes a bright,