Page 15 of Crimson Kingdom
Davin pulled her back for one last kiss, and I looked away. It was one thing to know about his trysts, but I really had no need to see them firsthand. When she finally skittered down the hall to her own rooms, I looked back at my cousin.
His dark hair was disheveled, and his cobalt eyes sparkled with barely suppressed mirth. I just shook my head.
“Row,” he said with a satisfied grin stretching across his lips. “What brings you here at this hour?”
I pushed past him into the room, and he shut the door behind us.
“Boredom, mostly,” I hedged. “Which is clearly not a problem you’re suffering from.”
I walked over to sit on his sofa, gingerly removing the articles of clothing that covered it and placing them on the floor.
Davin poured us both a glass of whiskey, handing me mine.
“Listen, just because you’re in a dry spell doesn’t mean you get to judge me for making the most of the delightful ladies at court.” He eyed me over his glass, and the renewed amusement in his gaze told me I wouldn’t like what he said next. “Though I would think that wouldn’t be an issue for you now that your precious Lord Theo is here.”
I hit him with the nearest pillow, and he quickly moved his whiskey glass out of the way, laughing. Our joking aside, Davin had a way of goading me into the truth without actually asking me things, and now was no exception.
“First of all,” I said, “not everyone is you. There was never a spell to dry up from. And if there had been, I would not be rectifying that with Lord Theo now.”
“I take it you aren’t thrilled that he’s here, then?” He raised an eyebrow.
Groaning, I took another sip of whiskey before leaning my head back on the sofa, closing my eyes.
“I see.” He nodded sagely, like I had said something profound.
“Do you? Because I don’t,” I replied with a sigh.
If I was being honest with myself, this, more than boredom, was what brought me here tonight. Even if he hadn’t been my best friend, Davin was the only one who came close to understanding everything that had happened in Socair.
He nudged me with his shoulder. “Do you want him to leave?”
I thought about the question for a moment before shaking my head. “I don’t know.”
He made a thoughtful sound before uttering his next question. “And…is it an alliance with Socair in general you object to, or onlyTheodope?”
“I don’t object to him,” I muttered, deliberately ignoring the rest of his question.
“I see,” my cousin repeated.
A solid minute ticked by in silence, then Davin slapped his hand on my leg twice, getting to his feet.
“All right, then. Let’s go.”
He threw on a shirt and splashed some water on his face. When he saw that I hadn’t moved, he walked over to me and pulled my hands until I was standing, too.
“We aren’t wallowers, you and I.” He handed me a threadbare cloak before throwing a similar one around his shoulders. “Besides, the locals have missed us since the Socairans’ arrival.”
I downed the last of my whiskey before shaking my head. “You know Da’ will murder us if he catches us leaving the grounds right now.”
My argument was useless since I was already tying the cloak around my neck, determined to go with him.
“Let’s not pretend that’s ever stopped us before.” With that, he flashed a smile, and we crept out of his balcony to sneak into town for the first time since Theo arrived.
I realized that he needed this, too. That for all his running around the court, Davin had spent six months imprisoned, just as I had, wondering if we would ever see home again.
That he, too, had returned to the scrutiny and judgment of our people and the guilt of what we put our family through.
But at least we didn’t have to think about that tonight.