Page 48

His shield dissipates when he recognises me. He strides over, clasping my arms. He checks me up and down, looks again. When he’s sure I’m in one piece, he shakes me. “Never throw yourself in front of wyverns like that again.”

I chuckle and he stops his shaking to rub his hands up and down my arms. “What are you doing here?”

“You let yourself get poisoned for me,” I whisper, sliding my fingers up his bruised wrist and feeling for his pulse. I send a gentle spell through his veins, sniffing as I feel all the parts in him that ache, that suffer. He’s been beaten, whipped. “I would’ve come sooner—”

He jerks me into an embrace. “I’m well. Truly.” He sighs into my hair. “I wish I could keep you here, but—”

At a horn blowing in the distance, he grimaces and shakes his head. “Curfew.”

He takes my hand and after he’s sure the coast is clear, he pulls me outside. “Our meetings are always so fleeting,” he murmurs.

I lift his hand and, sure we’re alone, brush a kiss on his wristband. “For while we wait.”

I crawl through the wall and just have my legs under me when a barking shout has me lurching to my feet, heart ramming. I yank my gaze around the shadowy field, expecting redcloaks to be charging towards me. There’s no one.

At least, not on this side. I suck in a sharp breath and crouch, shoulder pressed against the stone, to peer back through.

“. . . past curfew.”

A timid voice, “B-but he’s—”

A snarl. “He’s nothing in these quarters but at our mercy.”

My hands ball into fists. I want todosomething—slide under the wall and confront them, force them to back off. Steal him away.

But my presence will only make this worse.

The timid one shuts up, and with nothing more than a tight expression, Nicostratus lets himself be led away.

What was I thinking, coming here?

I race through shadows to the canal, bypassing the scholar’s precinct and heading directly for King’s Island. Guards prevent my entry, so I drop to my knees and call for Quin to come out.

He does, with the aid of a cane, in elegant sleepwear and an unimpressed scowl. He waves a hand to dismiss the guards and stares down at me. “Anyone who dares disturb me at this time would be kneeling the rest of the night.”

I seek his gaze. “I’m willing to accept that. Please help Nicostratus.”

Quin stiffens, his knuckles whitening as he grips his cane. For a moment, he says nothing, his gaze narrowing.

“I went there in secret, I needed to see...”

His voice is quiet but taut with suppressed anger. “You... When will you learn?”

I bow my head.

“Everything you do here has consequences. You could have been taken for a spy. Killed on the spot.”

This... did not even cross my mind. “It was reckless. Beyond stupid. I didn’t think past my worry.”

Quin casts a tired gaze skyward and runs a hand over his eyes.

“Please,” I whisper. “He was outside after curfew—”

“What’s there to do now? He’ll have been disciplined already.”

I sag onto my haunches. “Can’t you make sure he gets medical attention?”

“The less he and I interact the better.”