“I want to be outside today,” I tell Slade as we walk toward the archway where the guards are standing.
“Eyes up, gentleman,” Slade says, and I don’t understand for a minute until I look down and realize I’m still only in his shirt…and nothing else.
Their heads tip up comically fast, eyes going so far up that it’s a wonder they don’t see clear to the back of their skulls.
“I probably need some clothes, huh?” I say.
“It would be preferable so I don’t feel like stabbing daggers into my loyal guards’ eyes.”
One of the said guards lets out a choked cough.
“I’m going to frown upon eye stabbing, for the record.”
“I’ll make a note of it.”
I pause just before we go through the archway, looking over my shoulder at the open, clear sky. At the unobstructed sun. I haven’t seen it in so long.
I’d forgotten the way it felt.
The way I could just let my eyes drift close. Let my head tip up. How the light shone red through my lids and the way warmth seemed to lay against my skin, from forehead to feet. The way it sunk into my pores and soothed every memory of cold away.
It called to me.
Even before it rose in the sky, I heard it. I slipped out of bed and wandered back upstairs, letting its soundless voice draw me here where I could stand on a roof beside a mountain and just…feel.
Ten years. It’s been ten years since I felt sunshine like that on my face. Without any clouds to block it, without any storm to sully it.
Not once, while I was up there on that roof, did my magic try to come out unbidden. Instead, I let it pool in my palm, growing warm in the morning sunlight, letting it bask for a moment just as I was. Then, when I called for it to sink back into my skin, it did. Easily. So easily that it was almost effortless.
I think my gold missed the sunlight, too.
“Auren?”
I turn away from the sun’s caress to look at Slade, who’s watching me with something on his expression that I can’t quite read.
I give him a small smile. “I was lying back and enjoying the sunlight so much that I didn’t even think to get a proper look at your kingdom.”
He continues to study me, and I wonder for a second if I’ve said something wrong. But then he tells me, “How would you like it if I showed you around today?”
My heart skips a beat. “You mean…leave the castle?”
“Would you like that? To see the city?”
“Would I like that?” I repeat breathlessly. “I…” My words trail off, like I’m too overwhelmed to speak them. Aside from the trip from Highbell to Ranhold, I’ve never been allowed to leave the safety of the castles I’ve been kept in. “Walk out into the city, just like that?” I ask.
He nods.
“But…” I look around at the guards. “But I’m gold,” I point out.
Slade’s lip quirks. “So you are.”
I take a quick step toward him and lower my voice. “People will recognize me as Midas’s gold-touched pet,” I say, spitting out that word with disdain.
“They might, yes,” he replies with a nod. “This is your life, Auren. If you wish to stay away from prying eyes, then that’s what we’ll do. But you don’t have to hide here. You are nobody’s pet to be kept. Your life is your own, and the choice is yours.”
The choice is mine.
So unprecedented. Choices have never been mine, so I don’t want to waste a single one.
“I don’t want to stay inside anymore.” The confession rushes out of me, like the words are afraid that if they don’t speak quickly enough, the opportunity will be taken away.
He grins, instantly making my own lips tug up. “It’s your first day out of the snow and the cold. I think that’s cause to celebrate.”
I smile so wide that my cheeks hurt, but then it falters. “But what about Manu? Don’t you have things you need to handle now that we’re back?”
“Manu and the kingdom can wait for one more day. You’re more important.”
My heart feels like it swells and does a flip all at once. “Are you sure?”
He places his hand at my back—very low on my back—the tips of his fingers grazing the curve of my ass as his voice tilts down close to my ear. “Come on, Goldfinch. Let’s go exploring.”
Exploring.
I can’t deny the thrill that goes through me at that word. With a grin, I race ahead for the stairs, and I feel a rush of air when my shirt rides up just a little too far. I clamp my hands down on the hem at my butt, looking over my shoulder. “Whoops.”