Thynos coughs.
Kalliarkos releases me but I just stand there. I touch my lips, sure I can feel the pressure of his mouth still lingering.
He grins cockily. “That’s the first time I’ve made you blush.”
I cross my arms and lean just a little closer, chin coming up. “You won’t manage it again.”
“Won’t I?” His fingers close on my elbow.
“Come along, children, enough playacting,” says Lord Thynos sharply. He leads the horses down the path between the trees, calling over his shoulder. “I can hear Menoë’s cavalcade rattling along the road. She never travels anywhere without twenty wagons of furnishings and five carriages of personal servants, and her drivers have specific orders never to let any vehicle pass her household’s wagons unless it belongs to the king, the queen, or Prince Nikonos. We need to get ahead of them or we won’t reach the city gates until dawn.”
Thynos keeps walking, expecting us to follow, but neither Kalliarkos nor I move. His hand braces my arm. Our bodies touch like they are eager to learn more about each other. He examines me in a way that makes me feel he is searching for my every least secret simply because I fascinate and concern him so much.
“Did you see your father? Did you get what you desired or needed from him?”
I don’t hesitate. I leap.
“I need your help to do something so dangerous and entirely forbidden that bringing me here to see my father is trivial in comparison. If we are caught, we will both be executed.”
His warm hand slides caressingly down my arm to capture my hand. “What could possibly be that dangerous and forbidden?”
I am both terrified and exhilarated because I have seen something in him tonight that no one else has ever believed in. That I didn’t really believe in until right this moment.
“Your uncle entombed my mother and sisters with Lord Ottonor to keep them away from my father forever. I’m going to rescue them. I can only do it with your help.”
He lets go of my hand as if I’ve burned him. Crouching, he buries his head in his hands. A whisper escapes him, words I can’t quite hear. He rocks back and forth in some kind of pain.
Out of the darkness, General Inarsis trots into view. “Lord Kalliarkos? Are you injured?”
Kalliarkos jumps up so fast that Inarsis draws a long knife and spins a full circle to fend off attackers, but there is only me.