Anton’s chest fluttered at the simple admission, and the raw desire on Jude’s face. Without thinking, he leaned in again, and this time Jude let him. His mouth was soft and sweet, and Anton had missed it more than he thought possible. All those dreams had been nothing but a pale shadow.

But even as Anton reveled in the kiss, he could feel how careful Jude’s touch was, like if he held too fast Anton might slip through his grasp.

Or maybe Jude was only responding to Anton’s hesitation. Because as much as Anton wanted nothing more than to sink into the warmth blooming between them, he couldn’t quiet the thought that festered inside him like an old wound, scarred over. The thought that said that anything worth having could be taken from him. That it was better to have nothing at all.

Anton knocked gently on the doorframe of Beru’s cabin, peeking through the half-open door.

“You can come in, Anton,” Beru called from the bed, where she sat with her knees tucked against her chest.

She watched him with careful eyes as he entered. After what Anton had seen on the beach, he would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little apprehensive to be in a room alone with Beru, but he was determined not to put off this conversation.

“How is he?” Beru asked. “The swordsman?”

“He’s fine,” Anton answered. “Ephyra healed him right up.”

The rest of their reunion had been cut short when Jude’s stomach had insistently reminded him that he’d spent the last four days locked in the prisoners’ tower. Anton had taken him to the ship’s mess hall, offering to meet him back in their cabin when he was done. Anton took it as a good sign that Jude had readily agreed.

“I’m glad,” Beru replied. “Ephyra told me how worried you were.”

“And you?” Anton asked. “Are you all right?”

Beru let out a long exhale. “I’m … better.”

Anton hesitantly sat beside her on the edge of the bed. A smile crept onto her face, and she shook her head.

“What?”

She laughed. “I believe the last time we spoke, you were a server at a taverna and I was squatting in a crypt. Now look at us.”

Now they were two of the most powerful beings in the world. When Anton thought about it like that, it seemed absolutely absurd. He cracked a smile.

“I trust you, Anton,” she told him. “I did back then, too. I don’t really know why, but I … I think I’m right to trust you.”

“I trust you, too,” Anton said. The first time they’d met, Beru had offered him nothing more and nothing less than the truth of her worst fear. The past she and Ephyra had every reason to conceal. She had asked only for his help in return.