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I stroked a hand down her back, relishing in her slight intake of breath. “They do. Good news, for once.”

Daphne hummed and I could feel the sound under my hand. My grasp on my honor was growing perilously thin. If she kept making sounds like that, I wasn’t liable for abandoning my promise to let her come to me.

I mean, for fuck’s sake, did she have any idea how hot that was?

I kept my hand on her for the rest of Sabina’s speech, my body starting to vibrate with a primal satisfaction just from the feel of her steady breathing. I might have been fucking crazy, but I thought Daphne inched closer, pressing herself into my side.

Regardless of the reason, I wasn’t going to complain.

Sabina wrapped up to loud, supportive applause and I felt Daphne’s tension ebb.

I had an idea to lessen the stress. If she didn’t want to, I’d chalk it up to keeping our promise to Eleni to stay close. But first, we had to sit through greetings and small talk.

It passed by at a snail’s pace, borderline fucking torture when I knew I had the chance to get Daphne alone.

We congratulated Sabina, checked in with Eleni, and we—I—suffered through a conversation with her father. Finally, an hour later, we were free.

Before Daphne could protest, I wrapped her hand in mine and yanked her through a portal.

Chapter 25

Daphne

“Where are we going?” I asked Lukas, pulling on his hand even though I’d let him lead me anywhere.

Lukas tightened his grip on my hands. “Out.”

“I can see that. Where isout?” We were on the Italian Peninsula as far as I could tell, in a valley surrounded by colorful buildings climbing up the rocks. The sea crashed in the distance, hitting a rocky beach.

“Food.”

“Food is good.” I said, staring at his muscled back as I tried to keep up with his long strides. “What type of food?”

“Food you’ll like.”

“Am I going to get any more information or…?”

“No.”

I had to laugh at that. “Okay.”

Lukas finally turned to look at me over his shoulder. “Especially now that I know my refusal to answer is making you laugh.”

“You make me laugh all the time.” It was the truth, no matter how damning.

That made Lukas stop, turn toward me, and capture me with a look so intense I didn’t think I could escape. After a tense moment, Lukas resumed his stomping walk toward the shoreline.

He couldn’t be away from the water for too long. I couldn’t either. The only reason I survived that year away was because there was a river close to the camp I was staying at.

With a little skip that got me a glimpse over his broad shoulder, I could see where Lukas was leading us. There was a small set of iron chairs and a table that looked like it had been there long enough to become part of the rocks.

Lukas damn near picked me up when we got close, planting me in front of one of the chairs and saying, “Sit.”

I laughed as he pushed my chair in. “Okay.”

“I’ll be back.”

“I’ll be here.” I was going to sayI guess, but my words were cut off by another one of Lukas’s long, intense looks. I held my ground, but when he turned, I had to readjust in my chair. My pulse was kicking off like a racehorse.