Tipp looked as if he might expire on the spot if he didn’t ask a million questions about what he’d just seen, but at the queen’s stern look, he exhaled loudly with resignation.
“Don’t worry, we can write notes to each other when Edna’s not looking,” Oriel whispered to him.
Ariana made a disapproving sound, and her young son sent her a sheepish look.
“Um, during our break,” Oriel quickly added.
Tipp snickered until the queen’s eyes came back to him, at which point he bit his lip and looked guiltily at the ground.
“Well, I for one am starving,” Caldon declared. Turning to Kiva, he said, “We need to get more protein into you, so you’re coming with me to the kitchens.”
He didn’t wait for her to agree before he took off after his family, with Tipp and Naari trailing them. Jaren remained behind, and Kiva hung back with him, sensing there was something on his mind.
Only when the others were out of sight did he clear his throat and say, “Tipp seemed to handle that well. The magic, I mean.”
Kiva snorted. “If he didn’t already idolize you, he would now.”
“And you?”
Her humor fled as she realized Jaren wasn’t worried about Tipp’s reaction — he was worried about hers.
“I already knew about your magic, Jaren,” she said slowly.
“Not to that extent.”
She eyed him carefully and agreed, “No. I suppose not.”
Jaren looked away and ran a hand agitatedly through his hair.
“Hey,” she said, reaching for him and pulling back at the last second, clenching her fingers to keep from taking his hand in her own. “What’s going on?”
“It’s just . . .” he said haltingly. “I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”
Kiva blinked. “Afraid?”
“Of what I can do,” he clarified. “Of whether I’ll hurt you.”
Taken aback, Kiva didn’t know how to respond. But then she saw the fear in this eyes and made herself say, “When you sucked all the air from the room, I nearly panicked. But you know why I didn’t?”
Jaren shook his head.
“Because I knew you wouldn’t let anything bad happen to your family.” Quietly, she added, “Or to me.”
His tension faded. “I wouldn’t. Not ever.”
Kiva was painfully aware that one day soon he might not be able to keep that promise. And yet, she hadn’t lied — she wasn’t afraid of him. Of his power, absolutely. But not of him. Never of him.
She was in so much trouble.
Biting her lip, Kiva made herself look away, but as she did, the air shifted between them, as if they both suddenly became aware of how close they were standing, how alone they were. Her eyes flicked back to his, warmth flooding her veins when she saw the look on his face.
“Kiva,” he whispered, moving closer. “I —”
“Excuse me,” came Caldon’s loud voice from the entrance to the cavern, causing Kiva to jump backwards, “but did you not hear me say I’m starving?”
Heart thumping, Kiva muttered, “Have I mentioned how much I hate your cousin? Not a little. A lot.” Despite the words, she was overwhelmingly grateful for the interruption, fearing what might have happened if Caldon hadn’t returned when he did.
Stupid. She was so, so stupid. She needed to be more careful, to be smarter. What had just happened with Jaren — or nearly happened — couldn’t happen again.
“Right now, I hate him a lot, too,” Jaren agreed under his breath.
“You know the acoustics in here mean I can hear you, right?” Caldon called. “Hurry your asses up!”
Both Jaren and Kiva sighed at the same time, then shared a look of amusement before heading toward the passageway and starting up the endless stairs toward the palace. Each new step made Kiva’s muscles scream with pain, offering a reminder of where she was, who she was with — and why she was there to begin with.
She had a role to play. She had a mission to fulfill.
And no matter what, she would not let her family down.
CHAPTER NINE
That afternoon, Kiva returned to the tunnels, striding along the underground thoroughfare with a fake confidence, acting as if she had every right to be there. Her intentions were risky, but with the Royal Council meeting having been rescheduled to later that day, she couldn’t pass up the chance to at least try spying on them.
Kiva had watched Jaren carefully during their walk to the training cavern, and there had been one doorway in particular that he’d scowled at as they’d passed by, the expression so foreign on his face that she’d felt a burst of triumph. While she didn’t know what time his meeting had been postponed to, she was prepared to linger in the tunnels all afternoon if it meant she might overhear something of value.