Chapter 26
MAE
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Asmo hurls three daggers at the tree trunk in quick succession, each one landing a hair’s width apart in a neat row.
“What can I do for you, princess?” he drawls as he walks to the tree, his back to me.
“How did you know it was me?” I ask, leaning against a nearby trunk.
“Snakes have an excellent sense of smell.” He plucks the daggers out, drops of liquid leaking from each hole like tears.
He turns to face me. His hair is unkempt, as if he’s been running his fingers through it repeatedly. After the tense scene from earlier, I don’t blame him.
I came out here with a purpose—to talk about the plan for tomorrow, but I find myself asking, “What do I smell like?”
He faces the tree, sets his feet shoulder-width apart and raises the dagger. He pauses and turns to me. Through his white shirt, the black ink of his snake tattoo is visible. One corner of his mouth quirks, his dimple making an appearance. “You smell like pine and wildflowers.”
My own mouth quirks up in a soft smile. He throws his favorite all-black dagger at the trunk. It lands with a thump.
He walks to the trunk and yanks it out, a strand of sap hanging from the obsidian metal. Asmo lifts the dagger to his full lips and licks the sap from the knife, tongue expertly flicking along the blade. Those dragons take flight again, low in my stomach.
“What kind of flowers?” I ask, surprised I’m able to even get the question out.
He smirks. “Remember those bleeding-hearts we got from the market?”
I tilt my head. “Why do you think of that flower?”
He twirls the dagger in his hand, then shoves it into the holster strapped around his hips and walks toward me, stopping a few feet away.
The sun has begun to set, highlighting one side of his face and leaving the other in the shadows.
The silver band circles his iris, a perfect comparison of the light and the dark that resides within him.
“You remind me of them.” He smiles that half-smile again, and it threatens to undo me.
“But why?” I whisper.
He looks down as he fidgets with the dagger in the holster.
“The first day I met you, you basically tore a piece of my heart and took it with you,” he says with a huff of laughter.
“You left it bloody and torn, and I fought to get it back. But there was nothing I could do. You took it, whether you knew it or not, and you’ve had it ever since.
” He says the words simply, as if they are facts.
But his smile is shaky and he stares at the ground.
“So, you remind me of bleeding-heart flowers.”
My heart constricts in my chest at the vulnerability in his words, at the truth he’s chosen to share with me. He cups my cheek. I close my eyes and nuzzle into it. “Does your heart still bleed?” I whisper.
He chuckles, but it comes out breathy. “My heart will always bleed for you, as yours will always bleed for mine.”
My eyelids flutter open and I meet his gaze. “When will it stop?”
“I don’t think it will ever stop, princess. And that’s okay. I’ll bleed for an eternity if it means I’m bleeding for you.”
“Asmo,” I whisper, pulling him against me. That damn dimple is back on his face, and I brush my thumb over it.
“Mae,” he answers, the smile on his face deepening.
“Do you want to kiss me?” I ask cheekily.
“Yes,” he whispers. “Forever.”
My heart flips at the truth that rings in that one little word: forever. This broken High Prince, who fought the chemistry between us, who pulled away from me at every turn.
He leans forward, his lips parting. My blood heats, but I freeze.
What if he does it again? What if I choose him, and he leaves again?
Despite the way my heart seems to be beating out of my chest to be closer to him, I force walls around it.
I take a step back. “No, I don’t…I can’t.
” I clench my teeth, but that fire in my veins is barely lessening.
But it doesn’t matter how much my body yearns for him, or how much I want to be with him.
My heart—my crown—is too fragile to give away.
I have to be certain. I will not make the same mistake again. “I’m sorry,” I mutter.
“Mae,” he says, his fingertips brushing along my forearm. “Why do you keep pushing this away?”
A different High Prince once warned me that sex is an easy way to manipulate and gain power. Holly once warned me that that exact form of manipulation is House Serpent’s specialty. I’ve already fallen for it once. How stupid do I need to be to do it again?
Even with my ability to detect lies, I feel like I’m floating in the ocean, pulled by two different currents—my heart and my mind.
My heart pulls me toward Asmo every chance it can, while my mind comes racing in the opposite direction, warning me away from him.
I’m caught in the middle, and I’m so close to drowning.
I turn on my heels and walk back toward the cabin.
The last thing I hear before I enter the cabin is the thump, thump, thump, of the daggers sinking into the tree.
We find Basil in the barn. He wastes no time on introductions. He ushers us into Squall’s End to begin preparing for the next rescue, hurriedly sharing the details as we walk.
Etta and Amaris are waiting for us. Etta’s chestnut hair is pulled into a knot on the top of her head, wisps framing her delicate face. Amaris’s thick, white braid is tossed over one shoulder. Her leather vest is outfitted with no less than a dozen daggers. She offers me a bow and Asmo a smirk.
Someone behind me gasps.
Etta’s lips curl into a smile, her eyes softening as they land on whoever is behind me. I step aside, not wanting to be caught in some sort of awkward embrace that isn’t meant for me. I bump into Asmo in my haste to get out of the way, his solid chest unmoving behind me.
I try to elbow him out of my way, but he catches my arm, holding it steady.
“I may have compared you to a bleeding heart yesterday, but can you please stop with the violence?” His whisper sends chills dancing along my skin.
He removes his hand, but his fingers drag along my skin as if it was the last thing he wanted to do.
Etta and Ivan pull apart, and he stares at her with unshed tears. “You’re alive,” he whispers.
Etta gives him an animated nod, her grin stretched wide and her cheeks rosy.
Holly watches them with the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on her face, the expression pulling at the burn scars that grace the edge of her jawline. My own heart squeezes in my chest.
“I can’t believe it,” Luca mutters. He turns to Asmo and me, both of us standing near the door, watching the scene before us. “Are you sure this isn’t one of those marks?”
“I’m sure,” I say confidently. I’ve gotten no sense of deception from Etta, and my net has been up constantly, its presence now something I don’t even have to think about.
Basil clears his throat from behind Etta. “Mind if we postpone this reunion?”
Etta nearly jumps at the reminder, and I chide myself for forgetting the real reason we’re here—to save someone from execution. “He’s right,” Etta says. “Time is of the essence.” She turns her gaze to Asmo and me. “Are you two ready to hold up your end of the bargain?”
I want to correct her. I’m the one who made the deal. Asmo can leave whenever he wants. He is not beholden to me or my court, I remind myself. “We will assist in the rescue, but we must discuss details of our arrangement once the prisoner is safe,” I say firmly.
She nods. “Done. Did Basil fill you in on the details?”
“He said that it’s essentially the same rescue mission as the last time.”
“That’s right.”
Luca swings his head toward me. “You failed to inform us that we’d be rescuing anyone today, Your Highness.”
I raise an eyebrow. The title is without the near-sneer this time, and I can’t help but wonder if he’s had an attitude adjustment, or if it’s due to our present company.
And, if I remember correctly, I implied that was our purpose today.
Not to mention, Basil was just reviewing the details.
What did he think that was for? A ball? Whatever.
“That’s part of our deal.”
Etta slides past me, heading down the hallway in the direction of the front entrance. “Fill them in as we go. We’re running out of time,” she calls behind her.
We follow Etta, and Basil recounts the details of our rescue mission to Ivan and Luca. Ivan falls in step behind me. “Mae,” he whispers. “How do you know this isn’t a trap?”
“Nobody here is lying.”
“Yes, but…There are ways around that. Just think of Marik,” he says, but he winces.
He’s right. Oh, how Marik got around that line of defense.
“Asmo was kind enough to give me that reminder already, Ivan,” I say curtly.
I regret it as soon as it’s out. Ivan has been one of the few people I’ve been able to rely on.
To trust without a shadow of a doubt. But like Asmo, he can leave at any time.
He rubs the back of his neck. “Just don’t only rely on that.”
I force a smile to my face. If only he knew how much I’ve been thinking of Marik’s betrayal and the ease in which he did it. In fact, not a day goes by where I don’t think of it. It clings to me like a stain. “You’re right. Thank you.”
“Excuse me, Your Highnesses,” Basil mutters as he squeezes between Asmo and me. He joins Etta at the dirt wall.
The portal opens slowly, starting as a pinprick, then spreading outward until it reaches the tunnel’s sloped ceiling. “Trickier than yesterday,” Basil mutters. “They must have put some additional precautions in place.”
“Be on your watch, princess,” Asmo mutters to me. “And stay behind me.” He glances down at me, then adds, “Please.”
I mumble an agreement. Amaris looks at Asmo, a bemused expression on her face.
“Ready when you are,” Etta says.