Promising Light (49 page)

His gaze lingered on her. “What was
he saying?”

“He seemed to think he could
protect me from the Protectors.”

“He said he could keep you
safe?”

She looked at him warily. If he
tried to thwart her plans to help the Avialies yet again, she
didn’t know what she’d do. Scream and yell at him, yes, but maybe
even something more extreme. “Yes… why?”

Wringing his hands in front of him,
he said, “I don’t know. What did he say you had to do?”

“Dar—”

“I’m thinking about the future. If
we break the curse, that’s wonderful. It really is. But that’s not
the end. What will happen after that?” He touched his chest. “We
can protect ourselves fairly well—”

“And I can’t?” Grace shot at
him.

“Not as well as us,” Dar said.
“You are capable, I know that. You killed the Cosa.”

She winced at the
memory.

“You’ve done a lot of things over
the last few weeks. I’m really proud of you.” He squeezed her knee
and left his hand on her leg. Only moments ago, William’s hand had
been in the same place. She met his eyes. “But there are many
people who are more powerful than you. I’m worried about what’s
going to happen.”

“I am, too. They want you just as
much as they want me, but—”

“But I don’t have a princess to
run to.”

“Dar, do you honestly think I’d
leave you to marry William?”

He faltered. “Marry?”

She nodded, biting the inside of
her lip. “That was the condition, though it wasn’t spelled out.
He’d want me to marry him.” She grabbed Dar’s hand. “But I would
never marry him if you were in trouble. I wouldn’t do that to save
my own skin. The only reason I’d marry him is…” She broke off as
Dar looked away from her, his hand going limp in hers. “I’d only
marry him if I actually wanted to, like if I was in love with him…
not just because I wanted to stay alive.”

The words hung in the air, and she
tried to imagine herself loving William, marrying him, becoming
queen, approving of his mistresses, watching him rule the country.
She could see a faint image of that future, but it seemed so
unlikely. Right now, she had a slight affection for William, but it
meant nothing compared with her duty to the Avialies, and even less
compared with her feelings for Dar.

“And I can’t see that happening,”
she added quietly. “I can’t see myself ever wanting to marry
him.”

“Ever?” he asked, taking his hand
away. He glanced toward the cottage, his face turned away from
her.

“Goodness, I don’t know. A year
ago, I wouldn’t have seen myself here with shape changers, looking
for a book that could break a curse.”

“Right… I wouldn’t have seen
myself with you. I thought I’d just have to admire you from
afar.”

Grace smiled. “As soon as you asked
me what I found so interesting about you, I knew. I knew I’d fall
in love with you.”

Dar looked at her with a serious
expression. “What was it that tipped you off?”

Grace shrugged. “It was just you.
All of you. When we kissed for the first time by the festival
grounds, I knew it’d be a while until I left you
behind.”

He kissed her suddenly, putting his
hands on the sides of her face. She closed her eyes, kissing him
back and reaching for his shirt. She had a sudden flashback to
Adrian and she tensed. She pulled away a little bit and studied his
face.

His dark eyes studied her face, and
he eased the shirt off of her head. Her hair fell free, and he
twirled a lock of it around his finger, just like he used to in the
vineyard. She pulled his face back to hers, longing to feel his
touch. She moved into his lap, her legs on either side of him. His
arms wrapped around her torso; she tangled her fingers in his hair,
which was slightly damp with sweat. He held her closely, and it
felt like nothing stood between them.

He moved his hands up underneath
the skirt of her dress. Unlike her regular dresses, she only had
one slip on. She bit his lip as one of his hands touched her knee
and moved to the sensitive skin on the inside of her thigh. The
adrenaline from running turned into pure passion as she wanted
nothing more than to be close to him. He broke away, kissing her
face, her jaw, her neck.

She clung to his shoulders, closing
her eyes and wishing their future had more hope. She could see
herself falling so deeply in love with him that he became her first
priority. She could see herself marrying him, living with him in a
cottage in Rahuda, sleeping next to him every night, waking up next
to him every morning, talking about the past, how the Protectors
seemed to have so much power until… until something…

She could see this future for them,
and she wished she could see how to get there.

He pulled away and glanced up at
her. She kissed him softly on the lips. His fingers lingered on her
thigh, and he glanced over at the cottage.

She kissed his hair line. “We don’t
want to miss them,” she whispered.

“No,” he said slowly, looking at
her, “but I don’t want to miss this, either.”

She swallowed and ran a hand
through his hair. More sweat came off onto her hand.

He chuckled, his cheeks reddening.
“I’m sweaty and disgusting right now.”

“So am I. And you were kissing my
neck, so I know you noticed.”

“I don’t even care.” He kissed her
collarbone, his fingers tightening on her thigh.

Her breath caught in her throat,
and she closed her eyes. “We can’t miss the others.” Her voice came
out breathless.

She heard a snapping branch, and
her eyes flew open. Matilda and Lee were approaching George’s
cottage with another short man, leading horses that were burdened
with bags. Dar’s body moved with a sigh. He touched her chin,
turning his face back to hers. He kissed her softly on the lips,
then said, “Let’s go back to the real world.”

* * *

Chapter
Twenty-Nine

Dar breathed relief when Sierra and
Evan arrived at George’s cottage in one piece. Evan insisted
everyone pass around his Mahri manacle, then Matilda put them under
the Cosa enchantment. They moved away from George’s cottage toward
an unused road on the outskirts of Aron.

“What took you so long?” Matilda
demanded once they stopped.

“We got lost,” Sierra said. “We’ve
never been here before.”

“Who are you?” Evan asked the
seventh man of their party, a short, squat man with gray
hair.

“This is Holden,” Lee said. “He’s
a Zinna. He’s a good friend of my family’s. I thought he could help
with our trip to Nyad.”

Dar studied the man. “How can we be
sure he’s not going to turn us in?”

Lee frowned. “He’s not.”

“I lost family to the Protectors,”
Holden said. “My wife and son.”

Dar crossed his arms, furrowing his
brow. He wanted to believe him, but common sense overruled. “Will
you take a truth potion?”

“Of course,” Holden said,
shrugging.

Dar went for his bag and pulled out
a bottle with the light blue liquid. He handed it to Holden, who
took a sip.

Dar questioned him. According to
the truth potion, his wife and son were killed when a noble hired
them for magic and used it against Tisha. He moved to Kleisade
after that and met Di and Lee. He said he’d never turn them in and
he was helping because he wanted to be sure the Protectors didn’t
gain too much power or control. Satisfied, Dar shook Holden’s
hand.

Once the questioning was done, they
began to discuss plans to travel to Nyad. “We need things for the
trip,” Sierra said. “Provisions and all that if we’re going to get
there without stops.”

“Are we leaving today?” Grace
asked. “What about Chad?”

“He’s leading the Protectors away
from Nyad,” Matilda said.

“It seemed like he was helping
them to me,” Dar said, frowning.

“While you guys were fighting
outside of Di’s, he decided he wanted to lead them
astray.”

Sierra nodded to Dar. “I was
there.”

Dar ran a hand through his hair,
about to open his mouth. Grace went first, though, speaking his
thoughts.

“That’s so dangerous, though, for
all of us,” Grace said. “He knows exactly where we’re going, and
they could just find out through truth potions or
something.”

“He insisted,” Matilda said. “He
said he has ways to keep the truth from him.”

Sierra rolled her eyes. “Doesn’t
matter if he can or not, he’s there and we’re here. Someone needs
to go into town for provisions.”

“I can go into town for you,”
Holden said. “They don’t know I’m involved yet.”

They pooled the last of their money
and made lists of what they needed. Many of them were Mahri creams
and potions just in case one of them were wounded. They didn’t heal
like a Thieran did, but a cut treated with Mahri cream could be
healed in half the time as one without. Sierra’s cut was already
healed.

Before he left, Holden looked over
the lists they wrote, nodding. He stilled when he got to the end.
“Poison? What kind?”

Dar’s shoulders tensed. He didn’t
think he’d read them all out loud. He scratched the back of his
neck.

“Something fast-acting,” Grace
said.

Dar looked at Grace with wide eyes.
“You don’t need one of those.”

“I might.” She pursed her
lips.

He shook his head. “Grace, you are
not going to kill yourself.”

“She wasn’t going to get that for
herself,” Sierra said. She looked at Grace. “Were you?”

Grace’s cheeks reddened, and she
looked at Holden. “Just buy it. It’s my money.”

Holden left, and Matilda told them
she’d explore the area to make sure they were safe for a little
while. She walked away, fading into invisibility as she
did.

Grace turned to Sierra. “What
happened out there?”

“We got the Aron police. They told
the royals they couldn’t arrest you all without a proper warrant
from the king, but when Arlan and the prince started to throw a
fit, we decided to get you ourselves. Then they started to blame
our escape on the Aron police, accusing them of working with us.
Lots of nice distractions.” She looked at Lee. “Did you warn your
mother?”

Lee nodded. He sat on the ground
now, fiddling with a stick. “I told her the Avialies would keep her
safe. She said she’d leave. I just hope she doesn’t get it in her
head that she’ll be safe here, no matter what the Aron police do…
she wasn’t happy about me leaving.” He sighed and motioned to the
horses. “I got all of our things, though.”

Sierra patted her horse and sat
down next to him. “Thanks, Lee.”

Dar tugged on Grace’s sleeve,
pulling her a few feet away. “You don’t need that poison,
Grace.”

“You don’t know that,” she said.
She avoided his eyes.

“The prince said he could protect
you if he wanted to.”

“Dar, please.” She looked into his
eyes. “Do you really think he’d be able to do that?” She sounded
mocking, not hopeful.

“Between him and your father,
yes.” Dar took his face in her hands. He didn’t care if the others
saw them. He couldn’t believe how far they had come. He remembered
when she first visited Rahuda with her parents, and she was so
vibrant and smart and beautiful. He leaned down and kissed her
deeply. She wrapped her arms around him, clinging to him. He loved
how she melted into his arms. Nothing he ever felt for Matilda or
Rebekah compared with his devotion to her.

She pulled away after a few moments
with a sigh. “I don’t care about me,” she whispered. “It’s you I’m
worried about.”

“Then you don’t need this
poison.”

Her eyes narrowed. “And what if you
die?” Her face fell after she said it, and her Adam’s apple moved
as she swallowed. “If you die, I don’t care what happens to
me.”

He put his fingers on her lips.
“Don’t say things like that.”

She stared at him, silent. He
kissed her again, wrapping his arms around her. Her hands played
with his hair, and she was the first one to pull away again.
Neither of them said anything as she took his hand and pulled him
back to the others.

Matilda returned first, then
Holden. He handed Grace a small flask of gold potion, then held up
a second. “Who wanted the other one?”

Dar’s face warmed as he took it.
Grace glared at him as she tucked hers away. He needed to think of
a way to get that from her.

“Did you hear anything about the
prince?” Sierra asked Holden.

Holden rubbed his wrinkly chin.
“Most of the people were complaining about Haltarians coming into
Aron like it’s their country, but I heard quite a few toasts to
Finn, the head of police. I think they might still be in town, but
they can’t arrest you all without more trouble.”

“I think they’d be willing to risk
it,” Grace said.