But the humor was bittersweet. The truth was, Jacin only touched her when he was helping her through a particularly awful hallucination. Otherwise, he hadn’t deliberately touched her in years. Not since she was fourteen and he was sixteen and she’d tried to teach him the Eclipse Waltz with somewhat embarrassing results.
These days, she would have auctioned off the Milky Way to make his intentions a little less honorable.
Her smile started to fizzle, and then his did, too. “I’ve missed you,” she said.
His gaze dropped away and he shifted in an attempt to get more comfortable against the dial. Locking his jaw so she wouldn’t see how much every tiny movement pained him. “How’s your head?” he asked, once her words had cloaked them both.
“The visions come and go,” she said, “but they don’t seem to be getting worse.”
“Have you had one today?”
She picked at a small, natural flaw in the linen of her pants, thinking back. “No, not since the trials yesterday. I turned into a girl of icicles, and Aimery lost his head. Literally.”
“Wouldn’t mind so much if that last one came true.”
She shushed him.
“I mean it. I don’t like how he looks at you these days.”
Winter glanced over her shoulder, but the courtyards surrounding the dais were empty. Only the distant bustle of music and laughter reminded her that they were in a metropolis at all.
“You’re back on Luna now,” she said. “You have to be careful what you say.”
“You’re giving me advice on how to be covert?”
“Jacin—”
“There are three cameras on this square. Two on the lampposts behind you, one embedded in the oak tree behind the sundial. None of them have audio. Unless she’s hiring lip-readers now?”
Winter scowled. “How can you know that for sure?”
“Surveillance was one of Sybil’s specialties.”
Winter crossed her arms. “She could have killed you yesterday. You need to be careful.”
“I know, Princess. I have no interest in returning to that throne room as anything other than a loyal guard.”
A burst of lights overhead caught Winter’s eye and she glanced up. Through the dome, the flames of a dozen spaceships were already fading as they launched themselves from Luna’s ports and streaked across the star-scattered sky. Heading toward Earth.
“Soldiers,” said Jacin, following her gaze. She couldn’t tell if he’d meant it as a statement or a question. “How’s the war effort?”
“No one tells me anything. But Her Majesty seems pleased with our victories so far … though still furious about the missing emperor, and the canceled wedding.”
“Not canceled. Just delayed.”
“Try telling her that.”
He grunted.
Winter leaned forward on her elbows, cupping her chin. “Did the cyborg really have a device like you talked about at the trial? One that can keep people from being manipulated?”
A light sparked in his eyes, as if she’d reminded him of something important, but when he tried to lean toward her, his binds held him back. He grimaced and cursed beneath his breath.
Winter scooted closer to him, making up the distance herself.
“That’s not all,” he said. “Supposedly, this device can keep Lunars from using their gift in the first place.”
“Yes, you mentioned that in the throne room.”
His gaze burrowed into her. “And it will protect their minds. She said it keeps them from…”
Going crazy.
He didn’t have to say it out loud, not when his eyes had so much hope and so much sympathy and when he was looking at her like he’d finally solved the world’s greatest problem. His meaning hung between them.
A device like that could heal her.
Winter’s fingers curled up and settled under her chin. “You said there weren’t any more of them.”
“No. But if we could find the patents for the invention … to even know it’s possible…”
“Now that the queen knows, she’ll do anything to keep more from being made.”
His expression darkened, his body slumped. “I know, but I had to offer something. If only Sybil hadn’t arrested me in the first place, ungrateful witch.” Winter smiled gently, and when Jacin caught the look, his irritation melted away. “Doesn’t matter. Now I know it’s possible, I’ll find a way to do it.”
“The visions are never so bad when you’re around. They’ll be better now that you’re back.”
She thought he flinched, but maybe it was the flicker of torches around the dais.
“I’m sorry I left,” he said. “I regretted it as soon as I realized what I’d done. It happened so fast, and then I couldn’t come back for you. I’d just … abandoned you up here. With her. With them.”
“You didn’t abandon me. You were taken hostage. You didn’t have a choice.”
His brow furrowed and, after a moment, he met her eyes again. This time, there was truth in the look.
She straightened. “You weren’t manipulated?”
“Not the whole time,” he whispered, like a confession. “I chose to side with them, when Sybil and I boarded their ship.” Guilt washed over his face, and it was such an odd expression on him Winter wasn’t sure she was interpreting it right. “Then, I betrayed them.” He leaned his head back against the sundial again, harder than necessary. “You should hate me. I’m an idiot. I made a mistake.”
“You may be an idiot, but I assure you, you’re quite a lovable one.”
He shook his head. “You’re the only person in the galaxy who would ever call me lovable.”
“I’m the only person in the galaxy crazy enough to believe it. Now tell me what happened. What mistake did you make that is worth hating you for?”
He swallowed, hard. “That cyborg Her Majesty wants to find so much?”
“Linh Cinder.”
“Yeah. Well, I thought she was just some crazy girl on a suicide mission, right? I figured she was going to get us all killed with these delusions of kidnapping the emperor and overthrowing the queen … to listen to her talk, anyone would have thought that. So I figured, I’d rather take a chance and come back to you, if I could. Let her throw her own life away.”
“But Linh Cinder did kidnap the emperor. And she got away.”
“I know.” He shifted his attention back to Winter. “Sybil took one of her friends hostage, a redhead girl. Don’t suppose you know—”
Winter beamed. “Oh, yes. Her name is Scarlet. The queen gave her to me as a pet, and she’s being kept in the menagerie. I like her a great deal.” Her brow creased. “Although I can’t tell if she’s decided to like me or not.”
He flinched at a sudden unknown pain and spent a moment re-situating himself. “Can you get her a message for me?”
“Of course.”