Glint (The Plated Prisoner 2)

I fidget on my feet. “Do you think King Ravinger will declare war? Do you think it’ll be you battling tomorrow?”

He shrugs. “Who knows? That’s up to the kings. I’m just here for the wine.”

A laugh bubbles out my throat, Judd successfully popping the unease that had started to boil in my stomach again.

Movement out of the corner of my eye grabs my attention, and I turn to see Rip standing just at the edge of the tent. His posture is stiff, his face stern with a line pulled between tense brows, mouth pressed in a tight line. His eyes are on me.

The smile on my face wipes away.

Seeing my expression, Judd turns to follow the direction of my gaze.

Rip’s eyes flick to him for a split second. “Leave us.”

Judd passes me an unreadable look before he slips his hands in his pockets and walks off, taking the last of my happy distraction with him.

Now alone, Rip tilts his head at the tent, and I walk inside, warmth greeting me from the coal bank. Rip foll

ows after me, bringing a chill with him.

Something is off. Something is wrong.

The tension is thick enough to slice, and he’s too still, too shadowed. His aura, which I’ve grown so used to, is restless, churning with agitation.

My hands wring together. “What’s wrong?”

He stays where he is, right at the entrance of the tent, with a foot of space between us that somehow feels both incredibly far, and much too close.

“King Ravinger will be here soon to meet with Midas.”

A little lightning bolt strikes into my stomach. I shouldn’t be so afraid. I’ve known this was coming. Yet now that it’s here, I can’t stop my heart from racing or my stomach from writhing in dread.

“What’s going to happen?”

To me. To Midas. To him. To them.

Rip shakes his head once. “That remains to be seen.”

I cross my arms like I can ward off the unease.

He watches me for a long moment, making me wind up so tight that I don’t even feel my ribbons around me.

“I have a question for you,” he finally says.

Something tells me I don’t want to hear it. “What is it?”

His black eyes are locked on my face, and I don’t know what he sees, I don’t know what he thinks. It’s like this every time I’m around him, but right now, it makes me want to scream.

“Do you want to stay?”

My lips pull downward as his question spins in my head. “Stay?” I repeat breathlessly.

Rip takes a single step forward. Just one, but it divides the space between us in half. He’s like he was that night, after I sent the hawk. Quiet. Pensive. An intensity about him that takes up all the air, makes every single one of my senses go alert.

His voice drops. “You don’t have to go back. I could make it so that you could stay.”

The breath catches in my throat when I realize what he’s saying. I’m stunned, confused, I don’t know what the hell to say.

“I could make it happen. But you have to tell me now, before King Ravinger arrives.”