"Well," I heard myself say. "If you really can't think of anywhere."
He turned his head.
My voice went two notches quieter than I'd planned.
"You could come crash with me."
One beat.
I scrambled to cover it. "I just mean. Maia and I won't be in a palace. But the couch is fine. If you can deal with the size."
He looked at me for a long time. His face didn't move. The gold in his eyes did. It went softer, the way water goes when the wind drops off it.
"I will."
Two words. They landed like a signature.
Somewhere in the trees an owl called. His head tilted half a degree toward the sound, professional, automatic. I missed the flicker that moved across his collar in the same heartbeat, dim red brushing a green edge it shouldn't have been able to reach, and falling back.
I'd dropped my
