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should ask our host for something better.”
    The green circle that rimmed her irises flashed, indicating Loku had whispered something to her, and she choked back a giggle. “I think it might be best if we don’t cause any trouble on our way to Boznac.”
    He didn’t even want to know what the god of chaos suggested. Loku’s ideas usually resulted in more work for him. “I agree. In the meantime, I’m going to sleep on the floor in here, just to be safe.”
    “You can sleep in the bed, if you want.”
    Her cheeks turned such a delicious shade of pink, he almost took her up on her offer. He missed the way her body fit so perfectly against his, the way she sighed in her sleep before she snuggled closer to him, the way her eyelids fluttered when she dreamed. Part of him still cursed that day he refused her when she asked if they could be something more.
    Thankfully, Cinder hopped up on the bed and stretched out. “There doesn’t seem to be any room for me.” In more ways than one. The way she moped over Kell today told him she’d moved on. And as much as he wanted to, now was not the time to try and win her back.
    “We can push him off, Dev. He’s just a wolf, after all.”
    Cinder lifted his head and growled, his flash of fangs telling them he was quite comfortable where he was.
    Dev cast a ward around the room and leaned his head back against the wall. Once he had her safely behind the walls of the Mages Conclave, he could sort out his feelings for her. Until then, he needed to keep his mind focused on keeping her safe. “It’s for the best.”
    “Are you certain we have to go to Gravaria?”
    Her question pinged around in his mind like a caged hummingbird. The raw edge to her questions revealed her uncertainty, and he tried to imagine what she was feeling. This was a girl who’d always existed on the fringe of society, who’d been abandoned by those she cared about, who was now being forced to leave everything she’d ever known behind. “Yes. You’ll see. When we get to Gravaria, you won’t be the odd person in the room. You won’t have to worry about being killed for your powers.” He thought about her Milorian heritage, even though giving her a family might prove perilous in its own way, and added, “You’ll find a place where you belong.”
    She remained so quiet, he thought she’d fallen asleep. But when he looked her way, she was staring into space, her lips pursed in thought. “I hope you’re right,” she whispered before lying down and pulling the covers up to her chin.
    He stared into the fire long into the night, hoping he was right, too.
     

Chapter 5
     
    Arden pulled her horse to a stop on top of the ridge and gasped. The port town of Boznac sprawled below, and beyond that, the sea stretched as far she could see.
    Dev rode up alongside her. “I told you the sea was as vast and blue as your eyes.”
    But he wasn’t looking at her when he spoke. Instead, he stared at the expanse with a wistful expression that stirred something deep inside her chest. During the whole journey to Boznac, she mourned leaving her homeland. Now, as she watched Dev, she realized how painful it must have been for him to leave Gravaria and stay with her all winter. “You’re ready to go home, aren’t you?”
    He turned to her, the pale spring sun catching on his hair and making it glow like flames. “Yes,” he replied in a raw voice that told her much more than that simple word conveyed.
    She bolstered her courage and forced a smile on her face. Perhaps the change of scenery would do her good, just as Dev had promised that night two weeks ago. “Then let’s not linger here any longer.”
    Ortono came up to her other side, and she rode past the city walls flanked by two men she trusted. She hadn’t felt any traces of the foreign magic since the night of the earthquake, but Dev insisted she was still in danger. And judging by the commotion they created while riding through the city streets, she could see