I nod, taking his hand before remembering the resolution I made seconds ago. Once I’m standing, I pull away quickly. Then I aerstep us back to their apartments, where Silene and Fionn still sit in their chairs, worry clearly written across their features.

“I’ll fill them in,” Thorne says to me. “You’ve had a long day. I can take it from here.”

I feel dismissed, like I’m not part of their inner circle. Of course you aren’t. But it still stings. As I turn to go, Thorne grabs my hand again. I still. “Training tomorrow, after breakfast?” he asks. I nod.

“Then you might as well join us for the meal itself.” My heart skips a beat, and I aerstep back to my rooms before they can see my reaction to the simple invitation. For the first time in a very long time, my rooms feel empty.

As I lie awake in bed hours later, my thoughts drift to Hawthorne. When I returned to my rooms, I took a long bath, then curled up by the fire with Lunaria’s head in my lap while I read a book, hoping to distract myself from thinking of the Prince. Once I got in bed, Lunaria stalked off to the open patio doors, preferring to prowl the palace at night, leaving me alone with nothing but the darkness and the memory of Hawthorne’s eyes boring into me.

I can’t stop thinking about him. His nickname. Thorne. His eyes—identical to Mazus’s eyes and yet so different. The feel of his hand stroking my palm. The dimple that appears when he smiles just right. The piece of black hair that can never stay put in place. The way he winks and jokes when he wants to lighten the mood. His jawline. The serious leader I met tonight.

Fuck. You have to stop thinking about him.

I run through my to-do list for tomorrow, hoping that will distract me. It only makes me remember his request to train. The way his biceps flex when he spars with his light flashes across my mind. I play our first training session over in my mind, remembering the ropes of light that had pulled my hands above my head. My mouth goes dry when the same image that flashed through my mind that day reappears. Hands tied above my head with Thorne’s light, pinning me in place. Him prowling toward me with the lust I see so often in his eyes. Letting go of my control and seeing what happens when that spark fully ignites…