Kael didn’t give me time to overthink — or panic — or remember the ache of everything I had left behind in Herion. He took my hand like it was the easiest thing in the world and led me across the square.
His palm was warm.
Very warm.
And the longer he held on, the more I realized I should definitely stop thinking about his hands. Or forearms. Or the way he walked, like every step bent the world around him.
The scent of sugar and cinnamon swirled through the air, pulling us to a little bakery tucked between a bright orange apothecary and a shop overflowing with star-yellow scarves. The window was fogged from the heat inside. People laughed as they stepped out with paper bags that steamed in the cool morning breeze.
Kael pushed the door open for me — a chivalrous gesture that would be s
