“And you,” his hand spanned the side of my face, “are the Fire Queen.”

I stared up into his eyes that were twin sparks of red flame.

“No thought,” he said. “No hesitation. No fear. Kyril saw you ride. You dug your heels in your mount and did what had to be done.”

I did what had to be done?

That was all?

“Y-you’re not angry with me?” I asked.

“Mio ardente, mio amore, today, you…became…legend,” he declared

Legend?

“A man does not get angry at a legend for doing what makes her thus,” he finished.

“I-I just…well, I didn’t do anything more than what Elena does all the time.”

His brows shot together. “And that makes it less important, what you did today?”

I didn’t have an answer for that.

“The veil protecting The Enchantments was falling. The Enchantments would have burned. With the veil down, the parts that didn’t would have been vulnerable to attack along the entire Airenzian border. If you and Farah had not intervened, even if we routed their warriors easily, we could not have saved a nation,” he decreed.

“Well, I guess that was pretty…excellent of me and, erm, Farah.”

He grinned down at me. “Yes, it was pretty excellent.”

I didn’t think it was a good idea to remind him of my next, but much had happened that day, and the day before, and the months before that, and I knew we were likely not close to done.

Thus, I wanted it all to be out now, rather than have Mars rethink his reaction to this occurrence, which would mean we would revisit it.

“You did not want me close to danger,” I reminded him.

“I did not, I do not,” he agreed. “And I did not when I did not know you could wield fire, also when I knew. You are treasured by me, and if my choice was omnipotent, I would have you live your life reading your books and concocting your extraordinary gowns and the most vexation you’d experience is attempting to design a seating chart for a royal dinner that won’t have warring clans spilling blood in our dining room. I am not omnipotent. But I am fortunate. There have been many times, my Silence, since I met you that you have surprised me about me.”

“I have surprised you about…you?” I asked.