“No.”
“I see nothing has changed,” I said, hinting at his refusal to open up about anything. A corner of his lips tipped up, but that was the only reaction I got.
I began to walk around him. “I shall just have to guess, then.” He stood still while I played his part: examining him like he was beneath me. He let me, only mildly amused at my blatant perusal.
“When did you have this realization of how I’m alive?” I asked, trying to put it all together.
“Roughly two minutes ago.”
I paused behind him. “So, you really did think I was dead all this time . . .”
The Titan brand on his forearm drew my attention—the one thing that not long ago I’d overlooked with naivety. If I could only go back, do it again, I might have lived this time.
The thick, black rings circled his arm with a T in the center on the underside of his forearm; the one red ring slightly thinner and higher than the others. I’d always wondered what it could mean. And had known he would never tell me, but as this prince stood there, letting some commoner walk circles around him, a rush of bravery overtook me, and I reached out to skim my finger across the red ink.
His eyes shot down to me, his expression clouded, but I saw the flicker of . . . discomfort? . . . behind the hard exterior. The insight to some raw human emotion only encouraged me to trace the red ink on his skin with my fingertip. The smallest touch made my blood sizzle, my heartbeat picking up.
I let my hand drop from him as I reached his front as if it’d only been a touch out of the slightest interest in his brand. “I’ll take that as a yes—you did think me dead. You don’t believe I tricked you somehow? Made you think I was dead so that I could get away from you?”
“No.”
I raised a brow. “Why so certain?”
His gaze met mine for a steady moment. “Because I put your body on a pier, set it on fire, and pushed it out to sea.”
I faltered, my heart so heavy I thought it would fall right into my stomach. I spun around before he could see the waver in my cool expression. Clearing my throat, I slipped my fingers through the net. “Like a warrior,” I said simply.
He didn’t respond.
Bodies were never buried in Alyria; it affected the land, like the Red Forest. Instead, they were burned. The story being that souls couldn’t escape until the body was ash. Warriors, though, they were put on piers, and the water would carry their souls until they could be reincarnated. It was a tradition and honor among soldiers—not peasant girls.
My heart bloomed in my chest that he’d somehow held that kind of respect for me. I’d always wondered what he did when he found me but had never expected that kind of honor, not once.
I spun around, my fingers grasping the net behind me, rain dripping from the sky, soft and idle. “So,” I continued with trying to understand what he knew, “you only realized how I am alive right when you got here . . .” He watched me lazily as if he was content doing so until I’d figured it out. My thoughts filled with ideas, and then stopped, a black and white butterfly the only thought left in my head. My stomach filled with dread, and I almost tripped over my words. “Well, it doesn’t look like I’m going to figure it out, and I know you won’t lower yourself to tell me, so we shall just have to call it an impasse.”
His eyes narrowed, in almost amused suspicion. “You never knew what was good for you.”
“And you do?” I countered.
He stepped forward, raising his arms above me, and grasping the net—completely boxing me in. My heart thumped at the proximity, my skin vibrating with anticipation.
“I’d say I have a better idea, yea.?
??
My arms were stretched out behind me, my backside resting on my wrists and my fingers interweaved through the net. I didn’t realize at first what a provocative picture I seemed to present with the rain matting my white dress and my breasts slightly pushed out, but when I did, a blush warmed beneath my skin.
“Just like many times before, I’d say you need my intervention before you walk yourself into a hole you can’t get out of.”
Why did he sound so put together? I could hardly breathe in his proximity. He smelled like sage and leather, like a man, and it made my thoughts fuzzy. I let out a noise of disbelief, trying to conceal my breathlessness. “I’m not a helpless animal. I can take care of myself.”
“Even so. I think I should enlighten you.”
“Can I change your mind?” I asked dryly.
“No.”
I sighed. “Very well. Then continue.”