A traveler stood at a crossroads, uncertain of which way to go.
The Mistress of Frogs whispered in his ear, Just as lightning transforms the tree into cinder, so does doubt change progress to stagnation.
—COLLECTED FOLKTALES
Jack padded into Jasminda’s chamber well after midnight, unsure of what his reception would be. His heart was weighed down by heavy chains, and the only thing that could lift his spirits was her—even though she would be well justified in refusing to see him.
She was still awake, sitting by the fire, staring pensively into the dancing flames. He approached with halting steps. She looked up, eyes shining with unshed tears, and Jack dropped to his knees.
“The servants are gossiping something fierce. Is it true? The refugees are being sent back to Lagrimar?”
A great hollow space opened in Jack’s chest. He nodded.
“Oh, Jack.” She collapsed against him. He exhaled the breath he’d been holding since he’d seen her last.
“I have prayed to the Queen, but She has given no counsel. I do not think I hold Her favor.”
“Jack,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around him and drawing him closer. His body relaxed, at home with her in his arms. “You are a good prince. You are selfless and fearless.”
His head dropped. “I am constantly afraid.”
She grabbed his chin and tilted his face up. “But you rise above it.”
He smiled grimly. “Even you are too good for me.”
“Nonsense,” she said, and pressed her lips to his. He kissed her back greedily, holding her head firmly in his grip.
“I’m so sorry about earlier,” she said. “I wasn’t myself.”
“No, I’m sorry.”
She brushed her fingers across his lips. “I have no right to change the rules we both agreed upon.”
He shook his head. “I don’t want there to be any rules for us. I just wish…” He squeezed her tightly to his chest again, not sure even of what to wish for. A different world, a kinder one.
He rose and lifted her so he could sit in the chair with her on his lap. He rubbed circles into her back, noting the tension in her muscles.
“What will happen to me?” Her voice was empty as an echo.
He shifted so he could peer into her eyes. Misery suffused the beauty of her face. “Jasminda—”
“Half-breed. Mongrel. That’s what the papers say, right? I do you no favors by staying here. And didn’t the True Father’s letter say every Lagrimari must be sent back?”
Jack’s lungs compressed as if he were at the peak of a mountain sucking in air too thin to quench his need. “You are not Lagrimari.”
“Am I not?” Her eyes were almost wild. “I may have been born in your land, share half your blood, but I’m not one of you. I’m not one of them, either. I don’t belong anywhere, Jack.”
“No,” he said, voice steely. “No, you belong with me.” He held her tighter, his chest vibrating with the racing of her heart.
“For how long? How long until you must find an acceptable princess? One that you need in order to regain the people’s trust? We were only ever going to be temporary.”
He crushed her to him and stroked her soft, springy hair. “Are you saying you want to leave?”
“No.”
“Then—”
“But I cannot stay.”
He shook his head rapidly, desperate to jostle a solution into his brain. “If being prince is good for anything, then I should get to be with the woman I love.” He pulled away and clutched her hands to his chest. “Do you hear me? I love you.”
Saying it out loud took the edge off the panic building at the thought of her leaving. “You are strong and intelligent and fearless and beautiful. I had never even hoped a woman like you existed. I love you, Jasminda.”
Tears traced her face. “I love you, too. You must know that. You are my whole heart, Jaqros Alliaseen. My whole heart. I never thought I would…”
She looked away, and he wiped her streaming cheeks.
“Do you want to know what I saw, in that awful test to find the cornerstone?” Jack’s voice sounded hollow to his own ears.
Jasminda looked up, eyes wide. They hadn’t spoken of their visions. He had no wish for Jasminda to relive whatever horrors she’d seen, but now he felt the need to tell her.
“I saw my land in flames. My people dying in the streets because of my failure. And I saw you.” His voice cracked. “I saw you being carried away from me. Ripped out of my arms, screaming.”
She cupped his cheeks, tears filling her eyes. She kissed him softly, first on his lips, then his cheeks, eyelids, nose, forehead, before returning to his mouth.
She was so gentle it made him anxious. He did not deserve such tenderness. He deepened the kiss, grabbing hold of her waist and stroking her side. The tightness she’d held melted away as her arms came around his neck.
Jack lifted her and carried her to the bed. She kneeled on the mattress as he stood devouring her mouth with needy kisses. She slid her palms down his chest and began working on the buttons of his shirt. Her expertise at removing men’s clothing had grown, and she had the shirt hanging open and the trousers pushed to his knees in record time.
As he was undoing the ties of her dress and sliding it over her head, a blade of awareness sliced into him. Jasminda was soft and pliable, her body receptive to his touch, but something was different. There was a distance present between them that had never been there before, even as she discarded her slip with a seductive smile and lay back, inviting him between her thighs.
Vowing to make this night more memorable than any other, he set upon her with a fervor, licking and stroking his way up her legs. He reached her core and lapped at her, stroking her entrance teasingly. She panted and cried out his name, begging for more, but he held off giving her what she wanted. He brought her to the brink of climax, then eased her back down, ignoring her protests.
Satisfied when her limbs shook with need, he kissed his way up her belly. One hand glided to her breast, and with the other he plunged two fingers into her center, causing her to buck, her back arching as moans of pleasure escaped her. She was more than ready. All it took was a thumb flicked across the right spot and she went over, cresting the wave.
When her cries gentled, they kissed and she guided him into her. The indefinable sensation of sinking deep inside her was so much more than lust. The gentle rhythm of their lovemaking sped up to a pounding beat as he fought to chase away the nagging worry, guilt, and fear. She loved him. She would stand by him in this dark time.
He drove into her, spurred on by her nails digging into his back and her mewls of pleasure. Losing himself in her skin, her scent, her cries, he could almost outrun the gloom of what was to come.
Afterward, she lay in his arms stroking his skin, not seeming to mind the sweat and stickiness after so much exertion. He held her tightly against him, as tight as he dared without crushing her. For even though she had been right with him the entire evening, a voice in the back of his head told him she was slipping away.