“We should eat some lunch,” I say, breathless, untangling our limbs and feeling the lack of him next to me like a missing limb. I walk to my favorite flat boulder and open up the basket of food, trying to shake the way his touch made me feel. I repeat the facts that would make anything between us an impossibility. He’s engaged. He’s the son of an enemy who still haunts my dreams, who arranged for us to meet at the same time that the magic of my kingdom is declining. I’m using him to get what I need before I’ll have no choice but to find a solution to the fact that eventually he’ll go back to Velmara and could be compelled by Mazus with the aether-voice to reveal everything he’s learned in Thayaria. I’m sure kissing him is not what Admon had in mind when he advised me to build a real alliance with Prince Hawthorne.

Taking the containers of stew out of the basket, I will them to heat, then pull out spoons and the remaining food. Hawthorne stares at me, confusion and what I think might be fear written across his expression for only a moment before he lets that mask slide back into place, where it belongs. He smirks as he sits across from me, like he’s been caught trying something he knows he shouldn’t do, and it angers me. It was probably all a play by him, a way to prove to me that even I’m a victim to the good looks he uses as a weapon. I must have looked so foolish, simpering and breathless by just the simple act of him getting close to me. I push down my embarrassment and let my annoyance and ire rise to the surface.

I hand him his food items with more aggression than necessary, and we eat in uncomfortable silence, though he continues to observe me like he can’t quite figure me out. When we finish the stew and bread packed for us, he finally speaks.

“What was my father like, during the war?” The question takes me aback, especially after what just transpired between us. Now it’s my turn to study him closely, trying to determine the motivation for the question and if there’s a specific answer he’s seeking. Despite my behavior toward him the last few hours, I have to keep my guard up, though I will try to use the opportunity to follow Admon’s advice and be more open than I would usually be.