Adelaide Alaric stared at me with a calm smile on his face. “If this is the length I have to go to talk to you,” he said, “then no, I don’t get tired of myself, Addy.” I gasped in disbelief as his lips curled even more, and he kept staring at me like I was the only thing that mattered to him in that moment. “No guards—not even one?” I asked, raising an eyebrow as I quickly scanned my surroundings. He went from a dozen to two, to none. Quite the achievement. He shook his head. “I got my voice back because of you,” he said, tapping my thigh for a second. “Told the king enough is enough.” I fluttered my eyes, surprised by the confidence in his tone. Even though I had encouraged him to do it, he had done something I had struggled with my entire life—rebel against his overbearing parent.

