After a second he pulled back a little, still holding my hand. “I want to show you something. I think you’ll like it.”

I let him lead me over to the red fence beside the castle, watching him stretch over the top of the gate to unhook the latch. Asher shoved the gate open and it swung inwards with a squeak of protest, revealing the garden inside. My jaw dropped.

It was like the secret garden or something.

There was a river running through the center, crossed by an arching stone bride. Smooth white sand had been raked into patterns here and there, and a brilliant red Japanese maple drew the eye like a magnet.

I let out a breath and turned to Asher, discovering that he’d been staring at me the entire time.

“Do you like it?” He said softly.

“It’s beautiful. Breathtaking.”

Asher took my hand again, and I followed him over the stone bridge. There were bright leaves scattered over the footpath, crunching under our feet as we walked. He paused in the middle of the bridge. “Sometimes if it gets too hectic I come here to think. It’s always quiet here.”

I took a deep breath, enjoying the smell of freshly cut grass and the sound of the river running beneath us. “It’s wonderful.”

“Does it make you feel better?” He looked anxious, as if his happiness somehow rode on my answer. I gave him my biggest smile. “Yes, it’s nice to…to get away.” I stared down at the stream, watching the water trickle over and around the black rocks. Asher came up behind me, slipping his arms around my waist.

His breath tickled the side of my neck and stirred my hair. “I’m sorry about the elite guard. They’ll get over it. They’re overprotective idiots.”

“It’s okay.” Shutting my eyes, I leaned back into him, feeling his arms tighten around me. He rested his chin on my shoulder. “So, you’re staying, right?”

Grinning, knowing he couldn’t see my face at the moment, I let the silence stretch out for a couple seconds. Long enough for him to shift behind me and sound worried when he said, “Right?”

Finally, when I still didn’t answer he spun me around to face him. “Jess?”

My straight face slipped. “Of course I’m staying, isn’t it obvious by now?”

Asher relaxed, shaking his head with a chuckle. “Geeze, you had me going there for a minute.” He pulled me close again, leaning down to press him lips firmly against mine. The kiss deepened, sending a shiver through me. He tasted hot, spicy like cinnamon. I reached up, hooking my finger gently into his messy curls His hands pressed the small of my back, crushing our bodies together. The link surged through us then, leaving me gasping against his lips. Making my head spin.

I could feel his heartbeat echoing mine, picking up speed. My mind was brushing the edge of his consciousness. He was revealed to me. It felt like he was burning, catching fire from the inside out. Everything in him was focused on…me.

At last, after what seemed like a moment that stretched into an eternity, we broke apart. My face felt hot, and I brushed my hair back self consciously. Thankfully Asher looked just as disheveled as I did. He let out a great huff of air. “Wow.”

There, that reaction. We couldn’t possibly just a fling, could we? I’d been connected to him, I’d felt the intense focus on me. He felt the same way I did. The memory of Juku’s words, about me weakening the royal blood line rang in my ears, souring the light, happy feeling that had been blooming in my chest. I pushed the thought aside. It was a stupid thing to dwell on, I should just be enjoying the moment. Some part of me longed to ask him though. What were we? Were we dating? Did jotun even date? Was this serious? Because it felt serious.

Just coming straight out and asking would feel weird. Not to mention it would be a total mood-killer.

“Are you okay to go back?” Asher asked. “I’ll stay with you, if anyone so much as looks at you funny I’ll scowl at them. Like this.” He pulled a horrible face, drawing his brows down and twisting his mouth in a smile, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I think they’ll wonder if you’re having some kind of facial spasm. Then they’ll wonder what else I’ve done to you.”

He laughed and leaned in closer. “Your kiss gives me seizures.”

“Gosh, that’s sexy.” I rolled my eyes.

“I can’t help it. It’s your fault.” He leaned down and brushed his lips over mind, and I tilted my head and tried to lean up into the kiss. Teasing, he pulled back, and I let a little growl slip out before I could help it. Asher laughed, catching my bottom lip gently between his teeth. One hand slipped up the back of my neck and into my hair, tangling his fingers into it, tugging gently. My head tipped back and I grabbed his hips, pressing him against me insistently. His mouth was hot as he trailed kisses down the side of my neck, brushing my hair back, burying his face in my shoulder.

His voice was muffled. “I guess we have to go in sometime. So they don’t think I’ve kidnapped you and whisked you away to get married.”

Now the bubbly feeling was back in my stomach. And I thought it would be weird for me to mention marriage. His head jerked up and he looked straight at me, worried suddenly. “I’m kidding, of course.”

I laughed, trying to make sure it didn’t sound hysterical. “I know. It’s…that’s fine. I’m not freaked out by that or anything.” I didn’t say anything else. If he was joking about marriage then we had to be at least dating? Right? Isn’t that how it worked?

Really, I had no idea how it worked. I’d held hands once a long time ago, with this kid in kindergarten. Bobby, that was his name. He’d always had sticky hands because he liked to play with the glue. Smearing the white paste onto his hands and peeling it off when it dried. What a weirdo.

That was the closest I’d ever come to a relationship, and I doubted Bobby-of-the-sticky-hands counted towards relationship points. I had zero experience.

But, I decided I could take the marriage joke as a good sign. Guys that were gun shy of that sort of thing probably didn’t joke about it.

“Yeah,” I said, trying to sound casual. “I’m ready to go in if you want. It’s been awhile and Cordy and Lettisha are probably wondering if I’m okay, since I kinda stormed out.”

We walked for the gate, and Asher paused for a moment at the end of the gate. “Hey, when we linked like that…did you…did you feel anything in me.” He hesitated. “I mean like, something different.”

It was hard to say in the turmoil of emotions, and I shrugged helplessly. “What kind of thing are you talking about?”

“I felt. I felt your fire. I felt heat, and I felt like it connected to something inside me. Just for a second, and then it was gone.”

            Now it was my turn to hesitate, remembering that burning sensation I’d felt in his consciousness. I’d dismissed it as just another sensation. It was hard to separate them when you were being bombarded. But maybe it had felt differently for him. Was he hoping he had some kind of dormant power? What if he didn’t and I told him about what I’d felt and it got his hopes up?

Asher was studying my face. “Spit it out, Jess. I know you well enough by now. I can tell you’re thinking about telling me something. What is it?”

“I might have felt something,” I admitted. “But…I don’t know what it was, Asher. I don’t want to tell you I felt something and then have it turn out to be nothing.”

His face fell, making me feel instantly guilty, but he said, “I know. It’s no pressure. I think I’m just guilty of wishful thinking.”

I reached out and grabbed his hand. “You know it doesn’t matter to me, right? I don’t think it really matters to anyone. If anyone bugs you about it, it’s because they’re jealous.”

He grimaced. “Like Juku, right? He’s jealous.”

“He’s an ass.”

Asher’s frown twitched, finally melting into a smile. “You have such a way with words.” He surprised me by hooking an arm around my waist and pulling me tight against his hip. “You know why he’s jealous right?”

“Because you’re the prince.” I leaned into him, resting my head against his shoulder, inhaling deeply. He always smelled so good. This time it was the tart smell of green apples in his hair, some kind of shampoo. Of course, that made me picture him in the shower…

I was blushing bright red now.

Asher was still talking, completely oblivious to my dirty thoughts. “He’s jealous because of you. He clearly likes you.”

“I think he just likes attention.”

“Is it so hard to believe that people might like you?” Asher shook his head at me. “ Because I like you.”

“Well, you can’t account for taste.” I dodged away when he tried to poke me in the ribs, laughing.

“Come on.” He reached out and grabbed my hand. “Let’s go inside, and they can stare at you if they like. They’ll have to stare at me too, because I’m not letting go.”

“It’ll be bad for your reputation.” I tried to tug my hand away, secretly delighted when he only held on more tightly.

“Screw my reputation. Screw the elite guard. I don’t care about that. I don’t care about anything.” He pulled me close and kissed me firmly again, and in that second his stomach growled loudly. He looked down at it, expression sheepish. “Maybe lunch. I care about lunch.”

“Let’s go then.” I let him lead us inside, not pulling away from his firm grip on my hand, or trying to fall back behind him when we walked into the dining hall. It was almost empty, since we were so early. Asher indicated a table near the front, a short distance away from the royalty’s head table.

Megan and Loki were already sitting down, goblets of wine in front of them. Surtr was sitting on one side of Loki, talking to him in a low voice, and the Queen appeared to be deep in discussion with a tall, white haired woman about her own age.

Asher gave his parents a wave and a grin, and they both waved back. Neither of them looked shocked to see us holding hands. I felt something slowly unravel in my chest, tension that I hadn’t realized I was holding in. If the King and Queen didn’t mind seeing us together, then nothing else really mattered, did it?

The elite guard could take a long walk off a short pier.

I squeezed Asher’s hand, suddenly fiercely happy. He grinned at me, and I almost laughed at the proud look on his face. “See?” He said. “I told you everything is fine. My parents like you.”

I was about to reply when someone plunked down beside me, vibrating the bench and startling both of us. Cordy’s hair was messy, and her cheeks were flushed. “Hey guys, Lettisha was just teaching me some magic.”

Lettisha came up behind her, sitting down next to her in a much less startling fashion. “Teaching you magic tricks,” she corrected Cordy. “You don’t actually have any magic.”

“Don’t rain on my parade.” Cordy pouted. “I could have tricked Jess into thinking I was magic.”

“I’ll pretend,” I said. “If you want to try to impress me.”

“Never mind, I’ll stick to pulling coins out of someone else’s ear.” Cordy looked around the hall, watching the tables start to fill up as more of the jotun arrived for lunch. “Maybe out of Jason’s ear. He’s cute.”

“He’s engaged.” Lettisha rolled her eyes.

“Spoil sport.”

I shifted on the bench slightly, noticing Juku had walked into the hall with the rest of the elite guard. He studiously ignored me, pausing at the side table he said something to one of the servants, receiving a goblet of wine from the man.

“Ignore him,” Asher said. “He’s not even worth your time.”

“I know.” I shifted my gaze back down to the table, determined not to look. “I know that. It’s fine.”

Asher changed the subject, turning to Lettisha. “Charlotte still out looking for the wolves?”

“Yeah.” Lettisha drummed her fingers on the table, smiling as one of the servants set a goblet of wine down beside her. “But I think they’ve sort of moved out of the area, so it could take awhile.”

“Wolves?” I asked, nodding my thanks when the servant set another of the wine goblets in front of me. “What wolves?”

“We have a sort of understanding with one of our local wolf packs,” Asher explained. “We help one another out. They should be able to sniff out the rebels for us, if they’re still here somewhere.”

“Okay, weird.” I tried to picture wolves tracking down the rebel jotun. It was a weird thought. Absent mindedly I reached for my goblet, only to find Cordy drinking from it. “Hey!”

“They didn’t give me one.” She grinned, and her since she had red wine decorating both corners of her mouth I couldn’t help laughing at her.

“You’re ridiculous.”

Asher and Lettisha were still talking about the wolves, mentioning long, complicated names that I didn’t understand. I picked at the plate of food the servants had put in front of me, trying to ignore the looks the elite guard were shooting me (It doesn’t matter anymore) and half listening to Cordy babbling about the new magic tricks she’d learned. After a minute she trailed off, and I glanced up from my roast beef to see her smile had faded. “Cordy?”

It was like slow motion.

I watched Cordy’s face go slack. Her hand moved as if of its own accord, and the silver goblet went over with a crash. Scarlet wine splattered across the table top, spraying my arm and sending up the sharp smell of alcohol.

Cordy’s eyes were wide and glassy. Her mouth was open, she was gasping for air.

“Cordy?” My voice was high pitched with worry.

I shot up out of my chair as Cordy slumped over sideways without another word. “Cordy!”