Luna sucked in a deep breath beside me. “We did it.” Her voice shook and she released a nervous chuckle.
The glow of moonlight limned her features, reminding me of the first time I saw her—armed with a bow, moments after she saved my life. She looked like some kind of dark wood nymph, and I had wondered if she was even real.
I still held her hand. It was easy enough to pull her into my arms. She fell against me, fitting into me like a long-lost puzzle piece. I dove for her lips, claiming them hard, talking against her mouth. “Not touching you, pretending like I didn’t burn for you . . .”
She lifted up on tiptoes and leaned into me, and I let myself have her for one moment.
“I’d thank you to take your hands and lips off my betrothed.”
Luna and I sprang apart. For a moment I felt like a boy again when my nurse caught me at mischief. Until I remembered that Luna and I were right. Not a mistake. I took her hand again and faced the two men waiting for us, pulling my sword free in one smooth move.
Chasan stood there in his leather doublet with his hands on his hips. Beside him stood that hulk of a soldier, Harmon, who had accompanied him the first day we arrived at Ainswind.
Luna, unsurprisingly, knew it was the prince. “Chasan! How did you know—”
“I’ve been watching the two of you for days. Amusing, really. You try to act as though you aren’t interested in each other. Try being the operative word.” He shrugged. “I thought it best to assign my man here to watch you both. Glad I did.”
I should have known. Chasan couldn’t take his eyes off Luna. If anyone would have noticed the long glances and the lingering touches, it would have been him.
Luna’s chin lifted. “We’re leaving,” she declared. “You can’t stop us.”
Chasan smiled, eyeing her up and down like she was a meal he wanted to devour. “I can. I will.”
“I’m sorry, Chasan.” Luna squeezed my hand and pressed close beside me. “I can’t marry you. And I can’t stay here.”
Harmon drew his monster of a broadsword. It could cleave a man in half. His face was impassive as stone as he lifted it, ready to engage. Chasan crossed his arms and adopted a self-satisfied grin. It was the smile of a man who knew he’d won. Only I didn’t know that. I hadn’t accepted that. I never would.
I tightened my grip around Luna’s hand and lifted my own sword, nodding at Harmon. “Is he going to kill us? Defeats the point, doesn’t it? Of bringing us back to Ainswind with you.”
Chasan cocked his head. “I don’t really care what becomes of you.” He locked in on Luna, and damn if something didn’t heat in his eyes. “It’s her I want.”
My lip curled. “Easy to make threats and declarations when you’ve got him.” I nodded at the massive hulk beside him.
Chasan’s smile slipped. “Oh, you want to finish this?”
I stared at him for a long moment, the soft sounds of the Outside a heady thing swirling around us. Each insect buzz, bat chirp, and sliding rock sat thick as syrup on the air.
In the far distance, a dweller cried, tinny and reedy on the wind.
“You and me.” I held his gaze. “It’s what I’ve longed for.” Ever since the moment I saw him interact with Luna, even out of my head with toxin fever, this had been simmering up to a boil.
Chasan settled a hand on his man’s arm, prompting him to lower his sword even while never taking his gaze off me. “Winner takes all?”
“Agreed.” I nodded at the giant. “And he doesn’t try to stop us from leaving.”
“That confident you’ll defeat me?” Chasan started to shrug out of his leather doublet, revealing a fine linen shirt beneath. He handed the garment to Harmon.
“That confident I won’t?” I rebutted.
“No weapons,” Chasan replied, rolling his cuffs to his elbows. “Only one of us walks away alive.”
Luna’s hand clenched around my bicep as I tossed my sword down. “No, Fowler! What are you doing?”
I covered her hand with mine, gave it a light squeeze, and then lifted it off my arm. Lifting my bow, I handed it to her for safekeeping. Her wide dark eyes fixed on me, her mouth parted in a small “o” of wonder as I lowered my head and pressed a hard, quick kiss to her lips. “I know what I’m doing.”
“I don’t know that you do,” she whispered back, her head chasing after my lips as I stepped back out of her range.
Turning, I faced the prince.
It was the only choice.
TWENTY-FOUR
Luna
I STOOD IN the familiar Outside, my heart a wild drum in my aching chest, actually wishing that I was back inside the castle. If it meant Fowler would be safe and not locked in a fight for his life with Prince Chasan, then yes. I wished for that.
The air filled with grunts and the brutal sound of fists slamming into skin and bone. They hit the ground, rolling, tussling. I could not distinguish who was who. There were only pained gasps and ragged breaths.