“Really?” His brows flew up.
“Really.” I started down the hall.
He stared at me for a moment. “Do you even know what time it is? It’s almost noon.”
Surprise flickered through me. “Really? I never— ”
“You never sleep this late,” he finished for me. “I looked everywhere for you this morning, Lis. Your chambers, the gardens— I ran into Naomi, who was also looking for you,” he said when he saw the look I gave him. “She told me about this arrangement.”
Ugh.
I held the gown tighter. “She shouldn’t have done that.”
“Because you weren’t planning to?”
“No, because she probably had to deal with you overreacting and freaking out,” I said, quieting as we passed one of the staff carrying a load of towels. “And I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“This morning.” I tucked a strand of hair back.
His jaw was working overtime. “It goes without saying— ”
“You’re not happy with this arrangement.”
“And neither are you, according to Naomi,” he shot back.
My lips pursed, but I stamped down on my annoyance. Naomi was likely just worried, and I’d clearly given her good reason to be. “I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the arrangement,” I began. “But Thorne and I talked it out, and I’m okay with it.”
Grady had stopped walking. “Thorne?”
“Yes?” I glanced back at him. “That’s his name.”
“And since when are you on a first-name basis with him?” he demanded.
Since I’d decided to stay despite what he’d told me last night.
I didn’t say that, because all of that was too hard to explain or understand. Hell, I wasn’t sure if I even understood. I turned down the hall. “It’s fine, Grady. Really— ”
“I really wish you’d stop lying to me.”
“I’m not.” I stopped, facing him. “I wasn’t thrilled with the arrangement, because he hadn’t asked me how I felt— what I wanted— but we talked it out. We came to an . . . understanding.” I think. “And I . . .” Pressing my lips together, I shook my head as I started walking. “I can touch him, Grady. I can touch him and not hear, feel, or think anything other than my own thoughts and feelings. I know you say you understand all of that, but there is no way you can truly fathom what that means.”
“You’re right,” Grady admitted after a few moments. “I can’t know what that means.”
He fell quiet as he trailed behind me, but that didn’t last long. “Is that the only reason, though?” he asked, voice low. “Because you can touch him?”
“Why?” I shot him a look over my shoulder. “What other reason could it be?”
“I don’t know.” He glanced up at the ceiling as he fell in step beside me. “Do you like him?”
“Do I like him?” I laughed as my stomach gave a weird wiggle. “What are we?” I nudged him with my elbow. “Sixteen?”
He snorted. “Do you?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I like him well enough to want to touch him, if that is what you’re asking,” I said, skin prickling. “I don’t know him well enough to like him more than that.”
Grady stared ahead. “Yeah, but even if you did know him, you can’t like him, Lis.”
“Yeah, I know. You don’t need to tell me that.”
“Just making sure,” he murmured.
Ignoring the sudden knot in my chest, I said, “Shouldn’t you be working or something?”
“Yes, but the Baron is holed up in his study with Hymel.”
They were likely trying to figure out where a thousand soldiers were going to camp. I pushed open the doors to my quarters. “Did Naomi tell you why the Hyhborn were here?”
“She did.” He sat on the edge of the chair. “Got to admit, that surprised me.”
“There’s something else I learned last night.”
“If it has anything to do with what went on in the chambers with the Prince, I’m not at all interested.”
“It has nothing to do with Thor— ” I caught myself when Grady’s stare jerked toward me. “It has nothing to do with the Prince, but King Euros,” I said, and then told him about how the King had preferred that Archwood go the way of Astoria. I didn’t tell him about the past— about the world that had fallen. Thorne trusting me with that was important, and knowledge of the past felt . . . it felt dangerous.