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“So do you now.”

“Well then you’ll have to wait until later, I want to do it properly, when we don’t both smell of death.” There was movement outside, and Rook stepped back from me quickly. “I have to go.”

“Climb my tower, would you?” I asked, wincing as I shifted my leg, pain shooting into my hip.

Rook hesitated, and his expression spoke a thousand words in just a second. I could see he didn’t want to leave, but he gave me a quick nod, and hurried out of the room.

Chapter14

Elara

Ilay awake in my bed, every crackle of the fire sending my nerves on edge, waiting for my window to open. I’d almost given up, my eyes becoming heavy, when I heard the scrape and soft creak as the frame gave way.

I sat up and watched Rook climb in noiselessly, putting his feet down on the floor. He smiled at me, his eyes glowing in the dim light of the fire. “Hello, love.”

“I thought you weren’t coming.”

He crossed the room, coming to sit beside me on the bed. “Not easy sneaking around here, you know, trying not to get myself killed.” He raised a hand to my cheek and raised his eyebrows. “Now, do you want to tell me why your mother was so surprised to see you here?”

I shook my head. “No. I want you to kiss me and maybe fuck me and that’s all.”

Rook let out a choked laugh. “Fucking Nav, princess.”

“What?” I asked, trying to stay nonchalant. “I was promised a kiss.”

Rook shook his head, his thumb tracing my lower lip, and just that touch sent it quivering. Rook frowned. “Ah. It’s like that is it?”

I shook my head as the lump in my throat made speaking impossible.

Rook shuffled closer with a sigh, and put his arms around me. “I thought so.”

I wanted to pretend I didn’t know what he was talking about. I wanted to insist all I wanted was for him to push me down on the bed and put his mouth on all the places I’d dreamed of him putting it. But his fingers brushed over my bare shoulders, and his tenderness sent me over the edge. I quaked against him as silent sobs escaped me, tears spilling down my cheeks.

Rook held me close, letting me cry, his chin resting gently atop my head. I clawed my fingers into his shirt, feeling the warmth seeping from his skin. I pressed my cheek harder into him, wanting all that warmth for myself. Why, fucking, WHY did I feel so safe with him? It made me almost angry, that he’d been so cruel, so vicious when we’d first met, and now he was holding me in my bed. I was crying into his chest and wanting nothing more than for him to kiss me and to help me forget just what a fucking terrible situation I was in.

“I ran away,” I said finally, my throat raw from holding all the sobs in.

Rook lifted my face to look up at him. “You ran away from Peyrus?”

I sat up, pulling my knees to my chest, whimpering as the pain shot through my leg. The griffin had left behind a really decent bruise, but no broken bones thankfully. Rook started forward, concern furrowing his brow, but I waved him off.

“It’s alright, just my leg.”

He shook his head. “I’m not surprised, the way that fucking griffin pounded you into the ground.” He reached over and took my hand. “So, you ran away?”

“Yes. Six months ago. My parents had no idea - well, I mean, they figured it out, obviously, that I’d run off, but they’ve not known this whole time what happened to me.”

“Gods, Elara, why?” Rook asked.

“Because Keir and I made a vow, we’d said we wouldn’t be separated, and so I didn’t let myself be separated from him. He was sent to the fight, and I went with him. I told my parents I was accompanying him to the borderlands, to say goodbye, but I went with him instead. Snuck Arankos out of the palace, and just left.”

“They didn’t send anyone after you?”

“No.” I gripped his hand tighter. “By the time they’d figured it out, the battle made extraction impossible. Keir and I had promised that we would wait for each other at the gates in Nav when we died.”

“Fucking children.” He was almost scolding. “What a thing to promise each other. He should have wanted you safe, not dying next to him on a battlefield.”

I yanked my hand away from his. “You wouldn’t understand.”