Page 131 of Fall of Ruin and Wrath

Since I’d decided to stay despite what he’d told me last night.

I didn’t say that, because all of that was too hard to explain or understand. Hell, I wasn’t sure if I even understood. I turned down the hall. “It’s fine, Grady. Really— ”

“I really wish you’d stop lying to me.”

“I’m not.” I stopped, facing him. “I wasn’t thrilled with the arrangement, because he hadn’t asked me how I felt— what I wanted— but we talked it out. We came to an . . . understanding.”I think.“And I . . .” Pressing my lips together, I shook my head as I started walking. “I can touch him, Grady. I can touch him and not hear, feel, or think anything other than my own thoughts and feelings. I know you say you understand all of that, but there is no way you can truly fathom what that means.”

“You’re right,” Grady admitted after a few moments. “I can’t know what that means.”

He fell quiet as he trailed behind me, but that didn’t last long. “Is that the only reason, though?” he asked, voice low. “Because you can touch him?”

“Why?” I shot him a look over my shoulder. “What other reason could it be?”

“I don’t know.” He glanced up at the ceiling as he fell in step beside me. “Do you like him?”

“Do I like him?” I laughed as my stomach gave a weird wiggle. “What are we?” I nudged him with my elbow. “Sixteen?”

He snorted. “Do you?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I like him well enough to want to touch him, if that is what you’re asking,” I said, skin prickling. “I don’t know him well enough to like him more than that.”

Grady stared ahead. “Yeah, but even if you did know him, you can’tlikehim, Lis.”

“Yeah, I know. You don’t need to tell me that.”

“Just making sure,” he murmured.

Ignoring the sudden knot in my chest, I said, “Shouldn’t you be working or something?”

“Yes, but the Baron is holed up in his study with Hymel.”

They were likely trying to figure out where a thousand soldiers were going to camp. I pushed open the doors to my quarters. “Did Naomi tell you why the Hyhborn were here?”

“She did.” He sat on the edge of the chair. “Got to admit, that surprised me.”

“There’s something else I learned last night.”

“If it has anything to do with what went on in the chambers with the Prince, I’m not at all interested.”

“It has nothing to do with Thor— ” I caught myself when Grady’s stare jerked toward me. “It has nothing to do with the Prince, but King Euros,” I said, and then told him about how the King had preferred that Archwood go the way of Astoria. I didn’t tell him about the past— about the world that had fallen. Thorne trusting me with that was important, and knowledge of the past felt . . . it felt dangerous.

“Can’t say I’m surprised to hear the King would rather see the city leveled,” Grady said when I went quiet.

“Really?” My brows rose.

“Yeah. Were you surprised to hear that?”

“A little,” I said. “I mean, there’s a huge difference between the King taking little interest in the welfare of us lowborn and deciding that our homes and livelihoods aren’t worth the possibility of a Hyhborn being injured or dying.”

“Yeah, I don’t see a difference there.” He shrugged. “All Hyhborn care about is themselves at the end of the day. Half of the time I’m surprised that they haven’t just gotten rid of us and taken the realm for themselves.”

“Gods.” I stared at him. “That’s dark. Even for you.”

He snorted.

I shook my head. “There’s more. It’s about Vayne Beylen.”

Curiosity filled his face. “I’m all ears.”