Jake takes advantage of my distraction to get inside my guard and disarm me. He looks so surprised that he almost forgets to follow it through, but then his shoulder slams into me, and I go down.

He points his sword at my throat and grins. “I’ve been waiting for this for weeks.”

I smile. “Again?”

He sheathes the sword and brushes damp hair out of his eyes. “Hell no. I’m going to enjoy the win.” He drops to sit on the turf beside me. We watch Tycho and Nolla Verin spar for a while, but their match has devolved into more laughter than actual swordplay.

At some point the silence between us shifts, becoming weighted.

I glance at Jake. “Something troubles you.”

“When you disappeared with Lia Mara,” he says slowly. “You crossed over, didn’t you? Into my world.”

I hesitate, then nod. “Yes.”

He says nothing.

I wait, then say, “I gave you my oath, Jake.” I am surprised how difficult the words are to say. For as long as I spent with Rhen, friendship seemed out of reach for so many reasons. With Jake, it felt effortless. Like it was waiting there all along, and I just needed to get out of my own way.

Much like my magic.

I glance at him. “If you are ready, I will return you home.”

Again, he is silent.

I wait.

Eventually, he says, “I want to stay.”

I look at him in surprise, and he frowns and glances away. “When Harper went back to Rhen after what he did to you …” He sighs. “I think … I think I realized that she was never going to leave. She might be mad at him, but she loves him, you know?”

I nod. “But that does not mean you must stay.”

“I know.” He pauses. “But I don’t have anything to go back to.” He glances at me. “My life wasn’t … it wasn’t easy. Not that it’s easy here, but …” His voice trails off.

Again, I wait.

Finally, Jake says, “Noah says he’ll stay if I stay.” He swallows. “It was different when you couldn’t take us back. Now … now it’s my choice.”

I remember the moment Lilith told me I could take Harper home at any time. I have no idea how she built the enchantment into the bracelet I kept stashed at Worwick’s … but I have time to learn.

“Jake—staying here will force you to make a choice, too.”

He frowns. “You’re going to have to face Rhen soon.”

“Yes.”

“It will pit me against my sister.”

I think about that for a long while. I don’t want to be at odds with Harper either. “If I learned anything about your sister in the time we were friends,” I say, “it is that we should not underestimate her.”

Days turn into weeks as the warmth of summer begins to ease into the cooler nights of autumn—my first true autumn since the curse held me captive with Rhen. I had forgotten the change in the air, the way the leaves brighten slowly at first, and then seemingly burst into reds and yellows all at once. Chimneys across the city spill smoke into the air at night and leaves begin to fall.

One particularly cold night, the palace is quiet and my friends are all occupied, so I go in search of Lia Mara. Her chambers are empty, but a guard directs me to the Great Hall—which I also find empty.

Light flickers through the doorway to the veranda, however, so I continue through.

She’s in a chair reading.

“I should have looked here first,” I say.

She smiles, then blushes, then eases to her feet. I do not miss that she hides the book in the folds of her robes. “I was going to ask if you’d like to dine with me, but you are always so busy, Prince Grey.”

“You say I am busy? I am not running a country. I am surprised to find you doing something as unproductive as reading.”

“Reading is not unproductive.” Wind rushes down from the mountains to lift her hair and make the torches flicker. She shivers.

I shrug free of my jacket and draw it around her shoulders. The same motions I went through before, but everything is so different now.

Lia Mara looks up at me, her eyes heavy with everything that has happened between us.

I brush a lock of hair from her cheek, allowing my fingers to drift along the curve of her ear. Her lips part, and stars find her eyes, but tonight we are very much not alone. Six of her guards stand on the veranda, along with Talfor and Cortney.

I am about to allow my hand to drop, when she reaches up to hold it to her cheek.

I smile and lean in to kiss her. Softly. Chastely. Then I draw back.

Her fingers tangle in my shirt and hold me there.

“You’ve grown so determined,” I say.

She doesn’t smile. “Please don’t pull away.”

We have reached this point a dozen times. My heart beats a staccato rhythm in my chest, as I want nothing more than to pull her into my arms.

But things are different now. She is different now.

I allow my hand to drop. “What could the Queen of Syhl Shallow be reading that would make her blush?”

She lifts the book as if she’d forgotten it was there. “Ah … something about an alliance.” Her cheeks redden further. “Between a man and a woman.”

I take the book from her hands. I do not know the word on the cover, but I flip through the pages.

“I know you cannot read that,” she says.

“You might be surprised.” I stop on a page, recognizing a few words. “Indeed, I believe Talfor has said some of these words when he brags about his—”

She snatches the book out of my hand and raps me across the knuckles with it. “I will find you new tutors.”

“Could I not learn from the queen herself?”

Her expression sobers. “Every time someone says queen, I feel a little jolt inside, like they’re talking about my mother.” She pauses. “I am sure you felt the same, when Iisak would call you Your Highness.”

I touch her face again. I cannot help it. We have so few moments to ourselves that even this feels destined to end too quickly. My thumb traces along her jaw.

“Grey,” she whispers.

Her voice is so serious that I mirror her tone. “Lia Mara?”

“What do you want to do about Rhen?”

My fingers go still against her cheek. Not, what do you want to do about Emberfall?

What do you want to do about Rhen?

“I do not want to go to war with him,” I say. “But too many people know the heir is real—that I live. I worry that Emberfall will tear itself apart as he tries to maintain his rule.”

“He is still your brother. He is still a prince. Do you think he would yield to you?”

I look at her. “Did Rhen give you the impression he would yield to anyone?”

She frowns. Sighs. “Well, I cannot keep my Royal Houses at bay forever.”

Just like that, we have returned to where we were the day I escaped Rhen’s courtyard. A queen in need of an alliance. A prince without a throne.

Lia Mara looks at her fingertips resting against my chest. “The day Nolla Verin came to fetch me … she asked if I was in love with you.”

I go still. “And what did you say?”

“I said … I said I could fall in love with you.” She pauses, and her eyes flick up to find mine. “But if you do not feel the same, I do not want you to act—I do not want you to feel obligated—”