A knock sounded on the bedroom door. She’d left the sitting room door open so she wouldn’t have to get up when Aren returned. She called for him to come in.
The door opened to reveal Em, and Iria sat up a little straighter, surprised.
“Hello,” Em said. “You look terrible.”
“Thanks,” Iria said dryly, even though she knew it was true. She’d caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror after bathing. The bruises on her face were an ugly shade of yellow and blue, and she was gaunt and pale.
Em shut the door behind her and crossed the room to perch on the edge of Iria’s bed. “Who did that to you?” she asked, gesturing to Iria’s face.
“Cellmate.”
Em glanced around the room. “This used to be my room, you know.”
“I remember. Where are you now?”
“With Cas.”
Iria smiled. “Of course.”
“You didn’t come out for dinner last night. Are you hiding from us?”
“Just from you, actually.”
Em gave her a mildly annoyed look, her lips twitching.
“I’m resting.” She pointed to her foot. “I’m injured.”
“I heard it’s healing very nicely.” Em walked closer to the bed. “Do you mind if I take a look?”
Iria threw the blankets off to reveal her feet, the right one bandaged. Em perched on the edge of the bed and examined her feet.
“It could have been much worse,” Em said.
“That doesn’t really make me feel better.”
“Sorry.”
A knock sounded on the door, and Aren stepped inside a moment later. He wore fresh clothes, all evidence of their journey gone. He looked relaxed and handsome, his eyes lighting up when he looked at her.
“How are you feeling?” Aren asked. He’d visited her last night when the doctor was there, and peppered him with so many questions that the man seemed a bit aggravated by the time he left.
“Fine,” she said.
“I was just making her feel worse,” Em said.
“She was,” Iria confirmed with a laugh. She actually hadn’t felt this good in weeks.
“I suspected as much.” Aren crossed the room and held out the measuring tape. “Do you mind if I measure your feet? A few staff members are going to help me build boots for you, but I need measurements first.”
She nodded, and Em moved away from the bed, letting Aren take her spot.
“We’re starting formal talks between the Lerans and the Ruined soon,” Em said as Aren held up the measuring tape to Iria’s good foot. “I wanted to check to see if there’s anything you want.”
“Anything I want?”
“In terms of your asylum here. I was thinking I could include you as part of the Ruined, because we’ll be asking for housing, reparations, things like that. But you’re welcome to negotiate on your own, if you want. Cas will be fair to you.”
“Cas won’t hold power for much longer, though,” Aren said, his eyes flicking to Iria’s. “It might be in your best interest to let us include you with the Ruined. We can request whatever you want.”
“What am I supposed to want?” Iria asked.
“I don’t know, honestly. Queen Fabiana asked to marry King Salomir when she defected from Olso, but I can’t imagine you want that.”
A laugh burst from her mouth so suddenly she clapped her hand over it to stifle it. Another one bubbled in her chest. Aren grinned.
“That’s a no to marrying Cas, then?” Aren asked.
She lowered her hand, giving in to the smile spreading across her face as she looked at Em. “No. In fact, I think I’ll go back to Olso if someone suggests me marrying Cas.”
“Hey!” Em exclaimed.
“I would pick prison over marrying Cas too,” Aren said.
Iria laughed again, realizing she hadn’t done that since last she’d seen him. A lot of people saw Aren as stoic and serious, and she’d always felt secretly smug that she knew the real him.
“You don’t need to know what you want right away,” Aren said. “Just think about if there’s anything you need. Maybe start with a document making you a citizen of Lera. Then Olso can’t ever demand your return, or legally take you again. You’ll belong to this country.”
“Will the Ruined be asking to be citizens of Lera as well?” she asked.
“I think so. We have no plans to go back to Ruina, so someone has to take us,” Em said. “I can just include you when we discuss housing and citizenship, and we’ll figure out the rest later, if you want.”
“Sure,” Iria said gratefully.
“Good.” Em walked to the door. “I’ll see you both later. Iria, you better start practicing with that boot when it’s ready, because I expect to start sparring with you again soon.”
The thought of sparring with Em was a little terrifying, considering she was often better than Iria, even when Iria was at her best.
“To the death, right?” Em said.
“What?” Iria asked with a short laugh.
“That’s what you always used to say when we sparred in the Ruina castle.” Em lifted her hand like she was holding a sword and tilted her head back dramatically. “To the death!”
“I did do that, didn’t I?”
“You were very intense.” She smiled at Iria. “To the death, then? Later?”
“I look forward to it,” she lied.
Em left, shutting the door behind her, leaving Iria alone with Aren. He’d finished measuring her foot but was still perched on the edge of the bed. They hadn’t really been alone since before he’d rescued her. She’d sent him away quickly yesterday, feigning exhaustion, when really, she just wanted to be left alone to feel sorry for herself.
They actually hadn’t had privacy since she’d deserted her fellow warriors and took off with him in the Lera jungle. If he’d stayed with her, and she hadn’t been taken back to Olso, they might already be sharing a bed by now. She might have grabbed him by the collar and pulled him beneath the covers with her.
Instead, he was clasping and unclasping his hands, like she made him nervous. “I should get started on the boot,” he said, standing. “Do you need anything?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“If you wanted to go to dinner later, I’d be happy to help.”
“No, thanks. The doctor said I should stay off the foot for a few days.”
He nodded, sliding his hands into his pockets. “I’ll come check on you later, then.” He turned and walked out, leaving Iria alone again.
FORTY
EM MOVED INTO the royal suite with Cas. All of his parents’ belongings had been removed, and the room that used to be his father’s was mostly bare except for the bed Cas had brought in from his old room.
She woke up in that bed every day with him. In the mornings, he would roll over and wrap an arm around her waist, pulling her close, and the sun would be high in the sky by the time they emerged from the suite.
Today, she lightly kissed his forehead, then scooted out of bed. He caught her hand as her feet touched the floor.
“Where are you going?” he asked.