Fantasy of Fire (The Tainted Accords #3)(60)

I take a deep breath. “And that includes telling you that all the changes you mentioned are good changes. What you’re observing is my happiness.” My heart breaks at the sadness I see on his face.

He turns sorrowful brown eyes toward me. “But why does Glacium make you feel that way?”

I shrug. “It’s just the absence of mother. The people here haven’t been poisoned by her and Cassius. I have friends here. People who genuinely like me.”

He dips his head. “It has taken me a long time to warm to the Bruma here. One thing eventually broke through.” I raise my brows at him to go on.

“The way your friends treated you when you showed them your face,” he says softly. “You never would have received that reaction on Osolis. You never will. Where the Bruma lack civility, they have heart.” He touches my cheeks and I start. Trails of tears track down my cheeks. I’m so proud of my brother. I don’t care if Landon objects; I wrap my arms around his waist and squeeze tightly.

“That … bitch, Jacky, made me realize I’d been acting quite harshly, too,” he says gruffly. I laugh up into his face.

“You just swore!” I whack him on the shoulder. He finally returns my hug, a wide grin on his face. I smile into his chest.

“I’ll always protect you,” I say.

“My life for yours,” he says, letting me go. “You were halfway through dressing,” he reminds me.

I salute him as he heads to the door.

I retreat behind the screen and strip out of the harness. Jovan called the guards away while I crept up here. The king had declared Frost a useless representative of the people and declared Blizzard sole minister. There’s no way I would’ve been able to keep up the Frost appearances. And Crystal would die of stress if I asked her to pretend to be me again. Of course, Frost didn’t leave without giving Jovan a piece of her mind. I grin as I remember my exact words.

“If I put half as much effort into the Outer Rings that I put into growing so large, Glacium would be a better place.”

It takes me half a second to realize the words I’m thinking have been said aloud. I scream and whirl, searching for the voice. I scream again when I see a large shadow on the other side of the screen.

“Jovan!” I cover my chest. I wouldn’t put it past him to peer over the top. He was Bruma, after all.

“I believe those were your very words,” he says.

I leave the trousers half done up and tug my tunic on. I round the screen and aim a punch at his ribs. He grabs my hand and pulls me tight against his body, ignoring my glare to run one large hand through my hair. He takes a gentle handful of it and brings it to his nose. I wiggle in place, but stop dead-still as I feel something against my stomach. He lets me jerk away, amusement flitting across his features.

“We got lucky today,” he says. He’s decided not to tease me. I jump on the topic as though it’s my lifeline while he moves to sit down at the end of the bed.

“The crowd could have gone either way,” I say truthfully. I lower myself onto the long seat beside him.

He plays with the hilt of his sword. “And you still went out?” he asks.

I raise one shoulder and watch as he takes several breaths. He runs his hand through his light brown hair. I itch to do it myself.

“I’ve failed you,” he mumbles and I stop in my tracks.

“What?” I say dumbly.

“I should have come up with something to keep you from feeling you had to put yourself in danger.” He shakes his head angrily, and I give into temptation, reaching up to brush a few light brown tendrils from his face. He gives me a curious look.

My face warms and I pull back. “I knew you wouldn’t ask. I thought the idea had occurred to you. I saw you glance my way a few times. And the danger from the people for myself was minimal; it was more a matter of how many of Blaine’s … uh, how many instigators where out there,” I stutter. He tenses at the mention of Blaine, but doesn’t pursue my slip. The issue is still raw from last night. Obviously neither of us wishes to revisit it. It doesn’t mean my resolution to bring Blaine down is gone. But Jovan has made it clear he won’t be a part of it. And right now? I just want to feel some normalcy between us.

Jovan nods. “I keep running the situation over in my mind. There’s no other way it could have ended so well.” He turns and gives me a whisper of a kiss on my lips. As always, all thought goes out of my head. I lean into him, trying to deepen the kiss, but he leans away and peruses me with serious eyes, noses nearly touching. “Thank you,” he says.

I clear my throat. “Things seem to go better when we work together.” It just slips out. I wince at the admission.

“They do,” he says softly. He leans in and kisses me again. Deeper this time. I relish the feeling of how my lips meld with the warmth of his. Who knows how many more times I’ll feel his mouth on mine? A breathless moan escapes me and I jerk at the sound. But Jovan doesn’t seem to mind it one bit. He reaches over and grabs my hips, sliding me onto his lap, unbuckling his sword belt with one hand and throwing it to the floor when it gets in the way. I stare at him, my mind in turmoil. This shouldn’t be happening, but I want it to. I even orchestrated it: stroking his hair, encouraging his kiss.

“Lina,” he whispers, gripping my chin. “Stop.”