What was that?

I heard something that sounded like a rumbling storm. The sky around me still looked clear, and even when I surveyed the fields in front of me, nothing was there. Where was that noise coming from? What was that sound?

“Hollis!”

I pulled the horse to a dead stop, turning in disbelief.

On the horizon, Etan was coming, full speed, coronet on his head, and his army behind him.

My eyes welled.

He’d come for me.

“Hollis!”

I waved back to him, telling him I was waiting. He raised his hand, and the mass of men on horses behind him came to a stop as he carried on, coming to meet me.

He stopped as we faced one another atop our horses, staring at each other.

“Hello,” he finally said.

And I laughed. “Etan Northcott, you idiot—”

“King Idiot to you, thank you.”

“—what are you doing here?”

He sighed, looking at me as if it were obvious. “My dearest friend, who usually, mind you, is very bright, decided to ride off—alone—and confront a king for something he undoubtedly did, but for which she has no proof. Alone. And my guess is she actually has no idea how to proceed once she gets there. And did I mention she was alone?”

“You did.”

“Ah, well. Then you see why I had to come.”

I shook my head. “You can’t go with me to Coroa. You’ve been king for, what, a few hours? Go home.”

“And you cannot run off to face Jameson on your own,” he replied. “I knew you were a bit ridiculous, but this is too much, even for you.”

I rolled my eyes. “This is how we’re doing this? You’re just going to insult me?”

“It seems if I do it enough, you see reason. So, yes. Also, your hair looks terrible.”

“What?” I asked, reaching up to touch it.

He smirked. “I’m joking. You look like a goddess riding into battle. You’re glorious.”

I put my hand down, shaking my head and smiling against my wishes. I looked over his shoulder to the army behind him.

“I can’t ask you to come with me. I can’t ask them to come with me. This isn’t their fight.”

“You’re not asking,” he said. “I didn’t even ask them. I announced where I was going, and . . .” He gestured to the throngs of men behind him.

“Really?”

He nodded. “Besides, as the widow of an Isolten citizen, and in a sense an extended member of the royal family—”

“Barely. Not even by blood.”

“No, not by blood. By an hour of marriage. Yes, I understand the terms of your arrival. Still, you are under my rule. And you are under my protection. You’re an Isolten, Hollis. And I won’t let you face your enemy alone. I won’t let you do anything alone.”

I batted back the tears. My heart was allowing me to make too much of those words, and I wanted to hate it for that. Instead, I did what I always did with Etan. I argued.