“I know you’re worried. But I think it’s important that I know where it is, in case I need to get to it without you.”

“But you’d never be able to move it on your own.”

“I know. But what if we had to meet there?”

She looked skeptical, but she settled back into the crook of his arm, where she fit perfectly, like a piece of a puzzle he hadn’t known he’d been missing. “I have a day off in three days. But I don’t know how I’ll get away from Sage and Ketty. They’ve been watching me like hawks lately. I was only able to get away today because Sage had to go visit the Hardings with my aunt.”

“How is she feeling about her engagement, by the way? Any better?”

Leelo shrugged. “I don’t know. She won’t speak about Hollis. But she didn’t seem terribly upset about going to see him today, so perhaps she’s accepted it.”

“I feel sorry for her,” Jaren said, twining his fingers through Leelo’s silky hair. “No one deserves to end up in a marriage they didn’t choose.”

Leelo sighed, releasing a soft puff of air onto Jaren’s bare chest, and his heart clenched at the sweetness of her. “No, they don’t.”

“You mentioned that your aunt’s marriage wasn’t a happy one, either.”

“No. And sometimes I wonder if my mother’s was happy after all.”

“Really?”

She was quiet for a minute. “She was talking to me about love recently, and she seemed so happy and moony. Then I mentioned my father, and her entire demeanor changed. Isola said something strange to me the other day, and Sage is clearly keeping secrets from me. I know they’re all trying to protect me, but I don’t need protection. I need the truth.”

Her words made Jaren tense up. She wanted the truth. He wasn’t deceiving her, necessarily, but he also wasn’t being entirely honest. “Leelo, I need to ask you something.”

She rolled onto her belly, still pressed up against his side, and propped her chin in her hands. “What?”

When he sat up and motioned for her to join him, a little furrow appeared between her pale brows. “I have to go back soon. I don’t want to leave you, but I can’t put it off any longer.”

“That’s not a question,” she said.

He glanced down at his hands, then forced himself to meet her eyes. “Will you come with me?”

Leelo blinked in surprise. “What?”