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It reminds me of the spots in my shattered, twisted vision that I couldn’t see until I enhanced my eyesight. The area where something attempted to cover up the message intended for me.

With that in mind, I unfurl my wings to improve my vision.

Around me, others follow suit. Rose stares open-mouthed at us, her face tinged with jealousy.

Agnar’s eyes brighten with understanding. “It’s like the earth magic I use to make a cave entrance look like solid rock when it’s just a thin veneer of sandstone.”

The room’s a little crowded with everyone’s wings out, but we shift around so we can all see what we missed before.

Sterling bends over the flame, his focus sharpening. “I recognize that cave. It was in the Withered Undulations. That’s where the portal lies. We can go straight back to it.”

Maybe my mangled vision wasn’t a failure after all. The gods certainly speak in strange ways.

Chapter Twenty-Four

After an afternoon of meeting with the council, planning, and packing, Sterling and I are finally alone together. His eyes smolder with a molten gleam as they track me across our bedchamber, though I absorb other details as well…the way his shoulders sag, how his fingers fidget with the edge of his sleeve. A habit he’d vehemently deny.

Too much time has passed since we’ve been alone together. I’ve spent too many days with only the memory of his voice to keep me company. Now he’s here and I find myself suddenly tongue-tied, unsure of how to bridge the gap that absence carved between us.

“What happened while I was gone?” He attempts to sound casual, but I don’t miss the underlying strain.

“Later,” I say as I cross the room. I don’t want our reunion tainted by plots and politics.

He reaches for me as if on instinct, hands settling on my hips when I step between his knees. The familiar warmth of his touch seeps through the fabric of my breeches, and a jolt of awareness shoots through me.

I’ve missed this. I’ve missed us.

He draws me down onto his lap, and I go willingly, straddling his legs.

“First, a bath.” After spending the night in a cave, there’s no way I’m going to make love with Sterling until I’m clean.

His throaty laughter rumbles through me as he lifts his arm, sniffs his armpit, and scrunches his nose in an exaggerated manner that pulls a chuckle out of me too. “That bad? Bathing in rivers isn’t the same as bathing here, but⁠—”

“No, you smell like home.” I cup his cheek with my palm and gently stroke the stubble. “But as much as I want you, I think we’ll both feel better if we washed up first.”

The hard lines of his face melt into something softer. “You just want to get me naked.” His hands slide up my back. “And I’m okay with that.”

“And wet. And lathered up.”

I press a quick kiss to his lips before standing. He accepts the hand I offer, allowing me to lead him into the adjoining bathing chamber.

The room has become one of my favorites in the palace. A high-ceilinged space with warm stone floors and an enormous tub fed by hot springs that run deep beneath Tirene. Steam rises from the surface of the water, curling upward in lazy tendrils. I busy myself with the jars of fragrant herbs on a nearby shelf, selecting dried lavender and mint.

Sterling stands behind me, close enough that I can feel his warmth, but not touching. I’m acutely aware of him observing me as I sprinkle the herbs into the water and release their scent into the steam. “I missed this.”

I pivot to face him, my fingers slipping to his shirt fastenings. “The bath?”

“You.” He allows me to undress him. “Just…you.”

I work in silence, sliding the fabric from his shoulders. New scars ravage his skin alongside the old ones I know by heart. My gut clenches as my fingertips trace one on his ribs that’s still pink with healing.

“It’s nothing. A careless moment.” His body still carries the lean muscles of a soldier, but the fatigue shows in the slope of his shoulders, in the subtle hollows beneath his cheekbones. Whatever he found on his journey has taken a toll.

For now, I opt not to press him and instead continue undressing him until he stands naked before me. As always, the sight of him steals my breath, and my lower belly dips.

No one could argue that Knox Sterling Barda isn’t a magnificent specimen of a man.

He steps into the tub with a grateful sigh, sinking down until the water reaches his chest. I gather soap and a cloth and kneel at the edge of the tub. We’ve shared the intimacy of me washing him before, this simple act of care.