“Then maybe we should…”

She pretended not to know what he was insinuating. “We should what, Ludo?”

“Talk about it. If you want to. Might make you feel better. Or we could just pass the time kissing. You need a lot of practice, so…”

“Ha, so funny. I’d rather kiss Aria smack on the lips.”

“Can I watch?”

“If you want to die.”

“Hmm…wouldn’t be the worst way to meet my end.”

She held back the urge to snatch her book out of her sack and launch it at his face. Mostly for her book’s sake, not wanting to scratch the cover or damage the bindings. “Look, even if I wanted to discuss my augury, there’s not much to talk about. I was attacked by flying demons from the void with wings like blades that hacked me up into a bunch of pieces and left me to die.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Which part?”

“That you were as helpless as you make it sound. That you would’ve died if it had been real.”

“I probably would’ve died, but let’s just say I took more than a few of those bastards with me.”

“That’s it?”

Bryony sighed. Why do I always do this? With Farrow, she’d erected walls to protect her heart. She still wasn’t sure that it had helped, but it definitely hadn’t hurt. With this man, she’d planned to do the same. And it had been the right choice, hadn’t it? He’d very nearly abandoned her in the middle of nowhere in the dead of night, hadn’t he? Yes, but he came back, she reminded herself. He took care of me when I was unwell. He’s stood by me ever since.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Ludo said when she failed to answer, too caught up in her own thoughts.

“No, I will,” she said quickly. “I just needed to think for a minute. I think the purpose of my augury was to remind me.”

“Of what?”

“Of how it felt to be weak and helpless.”

“You’re talking about when you lost your leg, aren’t you?”

She nodded, lips pursed. “Back then, that feeling of relying on the kindness of strangers almost destroyed me. It wasn’t until I learned to stand on my own again that I realized I didn’t need anyone to save me. I vowed to keep it that way.”

“And then?”

“Then you came along and kept saving me.”

She expected a flash of a roguish smile, a clever retort on his tongue, but instead he offered her an expression that was deeply sad. “Even without me, you would’ve survived. I’ve never met someone that I’d wager more coin on surviving than you.”

She couldn’t help but be deeply touched by his words. “I don’t know what to say.”