Rebel Spring (Falling Kingdoms #2)(55)

She didn’t hesitate in her answer for a moment. “I know I am.”

“You’re so young—and more than a little naive. Maybe too naive to be queen.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Insults, rebel?”

He laughed at this. “When we first met you called me a savage. Now I’ve earned the slightly more respectable title of rebel.”

One moment he mocked her, the next he seemed so sincere and real. “When I first met you, you were a savage.”

“That’s entirely debatable.”

“That you’ve held on to this weapon for so long makes me wonder how much has really changed.”

“Looks like we’ll have to agree to disagree.” He shrugged the sleeve of his shirt back on but didn’t fasten the ties across his bare chest.

“I guess we will.”

“We’ll have to stay here for the night.” Jonas glanced past the camouflage covering the entrance to the cave, his jaw tight. “I hope my friends managed to get away.”

“I hope so too.” Cleo didn’t want any of them to die—not even the unfriendly Lysandra. The girl only acted as she did out of pain. She’d lost so much. They all had.

Jonas turned from her. “You need your beauty sleep, princess. I’ll keep watch.”

“Jonas, wait.”

When he glanced back at her she pulled the tie from her long hair and let it cascade over her shoulders. His dark eyes followed the fall of her golden hair down to her waist as if mesmerized. “I need to go back.”

Jonas’s gaze snapped back to her eyes. “Back where? To camp? Can’t do that, your highness. It’ll be watched by soldiers for days to come. We’ll go to the other location at daybreak.”

“No . . . that’s not what I meant. I need to go back to the palace.”

He gave her an incredulous look. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am.”

“Then let me make it very clear to you, princess. You’re not going back to the palace. Not a chance. Got it?”

Cleo began pacing back and forth in the cramped space, her heart pounding. “The king will not agree to any rebel demands to have me released—but he still wants me back for the wedding to his son. The road will continue on and your keeping me here will have no effect at all. The longer you hold me hostage, the more people will die!”

“I thought I already explained to you, princess, that in war people die. It’s the way it is.”

“But your plan isn’t working. Don’t you see? Keeping me in your camp does nothing except give King Gaius full permission to kill. My absence has not solved any problems for me or for you; it’s only created more of them. I must find the search party and . . .” She tried to picture it, what she could possibly do to end this without more blood spilled. “And I’ll tell them I escaped during their attack. That’s why I took my hair down; they’ll recognize me immediately, even in these clothes. They’ll take me back.”

“And then what?” His tone grew sharper. “Nothing has changed.”

“Nothing will change if we continue along this path.”

Jonas stared at her as if he honestly couldn’t understand why she insisted on arguing this point. “Is forest living too hard for you? Too scary to make your home deep in the Wildlands with the rest of us? Need to return to your luxurious life? To your beloved betrothed, Prince Magnus?”

Her cheeks flushed. “I despise him every bit as much as his father.”

“Words, princess. How am I to believe them? Perhaps you’re so committed to the prince and your upcoming royal wedding that you’re having second thoughts about the defeat of King Gaius if it means joining me and living away from such luxuries. After all, your road to become queen is split into two paths, isn’t it? One is alone as heir to the throne of Auranos, the other is on the arm of the Prince of Blood when he takes his father’s place.”

This boy seemed to live and breathe to argue with her. “Don’t you remember, Jonas? You yourself told me that would never happen. That they’d kill me before I ever become queen, no matter what. You think that’s suddenly changed?”

He faltered. “I don’t know.”

“Exactly. You don’t know. Apart from those who are being slaughtered by the king’s men, I have friends at the castle who are in danger without me there. And—and I have something else of great value I can’t turn my back on.”

“What?”

“I can’t say.” The ring was a secret that she refused to share with anyone. She desperately wished she had it with her right now.

Jonas glared at her. “Princess, you are such a—”

But then he froze, grabbed the candle to snuff out its flame, and pushed her against the wall.

Then she heard what he had—voices outside the safety of the cave. The guards had returned to give the area another sweep. Her heart pounded so loud she was certain it would give away their location. It felt like hours that they stayed like that, as quiet and still as marble statues. Pressed up against him, Cleo smelled his scent again, pine needles and open air.

“I think they’re gone,” he said at last.

“Perhaps I should have called out to them. They could have rescued me from you.”