Chapter 39

"I knew you were taking the long way around," Hallis says, turning to Acker. "But setting up camp because of a little rain?"

They're under the awning we strung between the trees. Rain continues to pound on top of the canvas, drowning out the crackling of the small fire, its light casting an orange glow over the space. Acker sits with his back to a tree, forearm braced over his knee as he fiddles with a blade. My blade, I realize, the black stone impervious to the firelight. On instinct, I check my waistband, then remember I tucked it under my bedroll when…

I look to the shelter Beau and I claimed for ourselves and see two figures sleeping across from each other. Beau to the right, myself to the left. I watch my chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm.

"Her world has been turned on its side," Acker says, drawing my attention back to his and Hallis's conversation. He looks up at Hallis and I do my best to stay in the shadows, outside the boundary of the light from the fire. "She could use an adjustment period."

"You're wasting time we don't have," Hallis replies.

"War is war," Acker says. "A week's time won't make a difference."

Hallis's back is to me, but there's noticeable frustration in the way he shifts on his feet. "Come on, Ace. Be real with me." He throws a hand out between them. "What are you doing?"

Acker holds Hallis's gaze for a long beat. "She lived in a hovel, Hallis. They kept her apart from the rest of them, isolated her to make her rely on Wren's son as her only confidant. As her lover." A look of barely concealed revulsion crosses his face. "She's been sheltered and conditioned to believe she's less than . The palace will tear her apart before she steps through the door."

"Don't feed me that bullshit," Hallis says. "She's proven to be plenty capable of handling herself."

"You know better than most how cruel the court can be."

"I do," Hallis agrees. "And she'll either adapt or—" Hallis stops mid-sentence, realization dawning. "You're scared she'll choose to return to Maile with her mother."

Acker doesn't confirm or deny Hallis's suspicions, allowing the silence to speak for itself.

"And you think making her fall in love with you will prevent her from leaving?"

Acker glares at him with a calmness that would make any other man fear for his life. "Contrary to what you may believe in that overinflated head of yours, you don't know everything."

"I know what I saw," Hallis says. "When you were about to kiss her, looking lovesick."

The blade that was in Acker's fingers is now embedded in the bark of the tree behind Hallis, missing his jugular by millimeters.

Acker's gaze is downright murderous. "Shut your mouth."

"You missed," Hallis says, not the least bit shaken by Acker's anger .

"Has it occurred to you that I may have feelings for her?" he says, more subdued.

Hallis sits on his bedroll across from Acker. "I know you do," he says. "But I also think the guilt you've carried around for years ties in with the responsibility her mother placed on you. And, with the matching bond, it's muddled things."

Acker pulls the blade back to him and resumes spinning it between his fingers. "You're wrong."

They stare at each other for long moments before Hallis gives in. "Okay," he says, situating himself for the night, head under his arm. "If you insist. But a word of advice?"

Acker lifts a brow, the perfect representation of boredom.

"You should tell her before we get to the palace. There are no secrets in court, and I don't imagine her taking your betrothal to the Princess of Strou well."

His what …?

I must be dreaming. It's the only explanation for how I'm in two places at once. I take a step back, and I don't know how, but Acker clocks the movement out of the corner of his eye, head snapping toward me. Our eyes meet.

"What is it?" Hallis says, reaching for his sword at the foot of his bed.

Acker shifts, and I take a step toward my sleeping body. Then I'm gasping as I sit up, head swimming as I come to, waking Beau in the process.

"Everything okay?" she says. "You look like you're going to be sick."

My eyes shoot across the fire, toward Hallis and Acker's shelter, and I find them right where I left them a mere moment ago. Then Acker's on his feet, face equal parts shock and determination as he marches through the rain toward me. I scramble to stand.

"When were you going to tell me about that nifty trick?" he says, and I'm surprised by the venom in his voice.

I'm instantly defensive. "Probably when you were going to tell me you're betrothed," I spit back.

"Yikes." Beau grabs her metal rope. "I'll just…be over there," she says as she sneaks past.

Neither of us pay her any mind.

"Tell me the truth, Jovinnia." That's maybe the most hurtful of all, him using my full name. "How long have you been able to do that?"

"Why should I? It's apparent you haven't been forthcoming with me," I counter.

"Are you working with Wren?"

I'm so taken aback by his question that I'm stunned into silence, mouth hanging open like a fish, baffled by his conclusion.

When I do manage to find my voice, it's lacking the fire it had before. "What are you talking about?"

Sensing my confusion, Acker releases a breath, nostrils flaring with an exhale, eyes losing the hardness behind them. But not all of it.

"You've spent the majority of your life in Alaha. Plenty of time for Wren to warp your mind and place you at the Market as bait, knowing I'd be there like I have every year prior, and knowing I'd come to save you if I saw you. You very well could have been playing me for a fool this entire time."

Shaking my head, I throw my hands up in defeat. "I'm not tricking you, Acker. I'm sure Beau can attest to the fact that I'm being honest. That's the reason she's here, isn't it?"

He has the wherewithal to at least look confused as his anger dissipates. "Then why were you eavesdropping? How were you able to do that?"

"I don't know! The last thing I remember is going to sleep, and then I was watching you and Hallis. It was like my mind manifested itself somewhere else. Somewhere…" I trail off, my voice losing its fire. "…near you." It's too pathetic of a confession to be anything but true.

Like a bucket of water was dumped over his head, a wash of guilt and shame overcomes his person, face and body going slack with the understanding that he just screwed up.

"Jovie."

I hold up a hand to stop him. It's tinged with a faint yellow glow that I hurry to shake from my fingertips.

"I've been betrothed to the Princess of Strou since I was thirteen," he says, despite my refusal to listen. "And before that, it was you."

I feel out of control, like a barrage of emotions is fighting for supremacy inside me as I turn away from him.

When I don't reply, he continues. "That's why your family was visiting mine when you went missing. You would come every summer, to renew the alliance."

An alliance I'm assuming went sour after my disappearance. The Kenta, the only people who share a border with Roison, an enemy with a lot of resources and the army to back it…it's easy to see why Kenta would be hungry for a political agreement with another territory .

"When are you expected to marry?" I say, facing him again but from a distance.

"By the end of the summer," he says, but he's quick to add, "But the wedding will be called off after we speak to my father."

"You'll lose the alliance."

"It doesn't matter," he says, scrubbing a hand through his overgrown hair, throwing droplets of water all over the place. "You're my match." He says it like the answer is simple.

"I don't know your customs," I say, fighting the blood wanting to crawl up my neck and into my face. I'm angry with myself, so naive and clueless outside Alaha. "Did you… court her?"

He hesitates but nods. "Since she turned of age, I've visited twice to establish a familiarity of sorts. Our families aren't close like yours and mine were, so I wanted to foster a friendship first."

"To make her fall in love with you," I say, remembering the words Hallis used.

He doesn't like the connection I've made. "Not necessarily, no."

"But not not necessarily, either."

The muscle in his jaw pops from the accusation. "I have a nation of people depending on me to save them…" He stops, head bowing before looking back up. "There's not a lot I wouldn't do to keep them safe."

I know it to be true, because he's withheld a lot from me to ensure that. I don't believe Acker wants to keep me in the dark for nefarious reasons. I believe his intentions are as close to good as they can get, but it doesn't make them enough.

"Who has the bigger army, Maile or Strou? "

Acker's eyes darken at my question. "It doesn't matter."

I demand an answer. "Maile or Strou?"

He swallows. "Maile," he says.

My chest almost caves in from the realization. "How convenient it is to procure a possible Maile alliance, an alliance with a more dominant army by making the heir fall in love with you…"

"Jovie," he says, voice harsh as he closes the distance between us.

I sidestep before he's able to reach me. "Don't touch me."

His hand closes into a tight fist. "Don't twist this around and make it something it's not."

I shake my head. "I don't know what it is, Acker. This could all be a gimmick, a magical trick to emulate a matching bond, if such a thing even exists."

He calls for Beau without looking away from me. "Come tell Jovie what you're able to read from me."

"Like she's a reliable source," I say, sarcasm dripping from my tongue. "You're her prince, her brother. She'd tell me whatever you told her to."

This time he doesn't let me escape when he reaches for me. Hands framing my neck, he brings his mouth down onto mine. I push against his chest but he jerks me into his hold, hand gripping my jaw to stop me from pulling my head back.

He bares his teeth against my mouth. "Stop fighting me."

His fingers pinch as they dig into my cheeks and he seals his lips to mine again, this time quick to dip his tongue inside my mouth. Something embarrassing escapes my throat, a noise that's half moan and half protest as I taste him. Desire licks up my body like a flame on a struck match, turning any of my objections into dust. The hands I was using to push him away moments ago now travel from his chest to his shoulders to where his neck meets his hair. I use his height as leverage to get closer to him, pressing the length of my body into his.

He sweeps his tongue in deeper, groaning as he devours me, and that's when it happens. Our magics, like two separate entities, touch for the first time.

No, not the first. That was at the Market, when my hand met the stone wall. But it's the first real introduction.

Like being lit from within, I feel Acker's power intertwine with my own. I can feel his strength and reach. Every speck of metal within miles vibrates with awareness, in the trees and soil and deep underground, as well as the heavier metals of human creation, like weapons and tools and Beau's metal rope. All mine and Acker's to wield and bend and expand to our wills.

Tearing myself from the kiss, I shove Acker back, hands searing through his shirt and marking his chest. He doesn't so much as bat an eye at the burn, breathing deep against the discomfort of being pulled apart. I feel it too, the yearning to reunite, to continue what we started.

"I don't trust you," I say, also struggling to catch my breath.

"I don't need you to," he says, scrubbing a hand across his mouth. "I just need you to trust yourself." He turns back toward the fire but spins back just as quickly. I hold my ground as he comes close, eyes blazing mad. "Mark my words, if I ever see him again, I'll kill him for what he's done to you."

There's no clarification needed. I know he's speaking of Kai.

Then he walks to his shelter and strips off his shirt. He says something to Beau, and she shakes her head.

I call my blade, knowing I'll sleep with it on me from now on.

Acker retrieves an intact shirt from his pack, pushing each arm in before scooping it over his head, covering the two handprints marked on his chest. He looks at me for a moment before kicking dirt onto the fire and pitching us into darkness.

Except it's not totally dark due to the slight glow of my skin.