Chapter 46
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
ASHLYN
Kylana left me at the table when she had to get back to the kitchen. I watched out the window, desperate to see Fyn come down the street.
And when I didn’t, I laid my head on the table. It felt impossible for me to sit up any longer.
The screech of the inn door startled me. I bolted upright. I pressed my palms into the wooden table forcing my back straight.
“Where is she?” someone asked.
“In the tavern,” an airy voice carried down the hall.
Jayln came around the corner. “I came when I heard you showed up here without him asking for me. Why have you sent for me, Your Highness?”
“You know who I am?” I asked.
“He told me everything just before you left,” Jayln said.
“Fyn…” I struggled to say the words.
“Where is he?” The once quick cadence of his words slowed.
“In Estlen still. He…” How could I explain to them what he had done? What had happened? If I did, I would be condemning him.
Jayln gripped my arms, bracing me as I swayed. “He asked you to send for me?”
The key had been so cold against my skin. I didn’t notice until I tugged it free. “He said you could take me to the lock.”
His eyes widened as he stared at me. “He gave you the key?”
Surely I was missing something. “It seemed obvious that a key would belong to a lock, but what is the lock for?”
“Leave it to Fyn to omit the important details.” His hands fell on his hips as he stifled his laughter. “The key isn’t just for any lock. It’s for the Locke. L-O-C-K-E.”
Kylana looked at the key.
“What is that?” Fyn had never mentioned it to me. Nor had I ever heard my sister or her husband talk about it.
“Fyn is the Lord of the Locke.” Jayln pointed at the key. “You’re wearing the key to his home.”
I gripped it harder, shaking my head. “No, that doesn’t make sense.”
“He always wears it. I’ve never seen him without it,” Jayln said.
He had never mentioned his home to me. He was always at the Heart—always training me or away on business as Lord Chancellor.
“He’s never been one to flaunt his status. It’s a bit of a ways from here. In the woods. His parents live on the outskirts of the Locke. He had the home built there for them some years ago when King Lioran titled him.”
I told him I wanted a house in the woods.
He handed me the key and then sacrificed everything for me.
“Your Highness, maybe you should sit down.” Kylana placed her hand on mine. “She looks as if she’s going to faint.”
“Fyn just didn’t tell you any of this?” Jayln asked.
I didn’t want any of it without him. “No. You must be mistaken.”
“He’s not.” Fyn’s voice sounded behind me. “The details never seemed important considering the situation.”
I froze.
Certainly, I had only imagined it.
“You’re bleeding all over the place,” Jayln said. “Hana will absolutely have a fit over the mess.”
I spun around to see him standing there.
His face was smeared with blood where his eyebrow had split. It pooled on his tattered sleeve.
“You crossed,” Fyn said.
His eyes fixated on mine as I darted to him and wrapped my arms around him.
“Maybe we should leave them.” Kylana tugged Jayln back.
He looked me over. “You have human ears, but you went through the divide. That means…”
“Stop talking.” I grabbed his chin and pressed my lips to his.
“You’re going to get blood all over you, Ashlyn.”
“I don’t care,” I said. “I waited for you. I thought you were coming behind me.”
“I meant to, really, but got held up for a bit.” He claimed me with each kiss, until he pulled back. “Will you ever forgive me?”
“Maybe.” I didn’t know when I’d stop crying.
“I’ll take maybe. Maybe is good,” he said. “As much as I absolutely want to keep kissing you here. We probably shouldn’t.”
“We need to get you cleaned up.” I still couldn’t believe he was here.
“You know how to do that?” he asked.
“Not really, but I’ve met the healer here before.” I raised my brow ever so slightly, waiting for his smirk. “Maybe Hana has our room available.”
I needed him to be with me. Everything else that would come next would have to wait.
Fyn was alive. We made it.
“Our room?” He winced when his lips lifted into a smile. “I think I rather like the sound of that.”
Hana sent for the healer. She showed me how to care for his wounds. When she peeled his tunic back, an inky bruise ran down his side.
His arm bore the largest of his wounds.
I studied how she wrapped it.
His eyes held mine as I finished tucking the rest of the wrap in place.
When she left, Fyn reached for me from the bed. “Having you take care of me like this almost makes up for how much this hurts,” he said. “You should rest. I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“You know you don’t want to sleep on the floor.” Exhaustion pulled deeply at every tense muscle.
“I truly don’t, but I don’t think we should test your ability to drink starlight again.”
When I glared at him, his laughter escaped him.
“I will only lie in the bed if you lie beside me,” I said.
“I’ve got to get some rest. I think I just hallucinated.” He stared up at the ceiling. “For a moment, I thought you suggested something most indecent. And truly, I’m shocked, Princess.”
“If you continue like that, I may change my mind.”
“I would hate for that to happen.” His lips found mine.
I sank into his arms and into his kiss until I slowly pulled back from him.
“What did they do to you? How did you get away?” I didn’t know if Edward had made it.
“Edward crossed well before I did. The rest is a story for another time.” He stared at my eyes. “Ashlyn...”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Your eyes.” He sounded too serious. “They’re glittering again.”
I stared back at him. “Now you must be hallucinating.”
“I think I like them this way.” His voice slowed as his eyelids slipped shut.
There was a mirror on the slender table, but I wouldn’t reach for it.