my room to wash up, the stor

rue. I could tell by the way two guards outside my door straightened a little too fast when I passed, the way people do when they've ju

ve to wait

e with a book I wasn't actually reading. He didn't knock. He never did, I was starting to notice - like

id, no greeting, like we'd already

travel

st the doorframe, arms crossed, studying me the way Parker had at dinner, except it didn't

have exag

er's wife in front of ha

start

e it disappeared. "I'm not upset about it," he said. "I just want to understand why you hid it. You could have shown everyone wha

ful," I said. "Let people underestimate you. It's the only advantage I've had since I got here, and

sounded almost like respect, which surprised me more than I wante

"Almost sounded l

get use

king softly, the closest thing to easy silence we'd manage

aid then, and the ease w

l. "I didn't need t

to do back home whenever a question got too close to something I wasn't allowed to talk about. "Phiona shifted. You had every reason to answer that, a

didn't feel li

something you're

hest - to tell him what my father used to say, the fear in his voice, the thing that lived under my s

married yesterday. You still don't know my favorite color. I think we

ched him choose not to, though something in his eyes told me the choice ha

aid. "Keep y

nten

to talk himself into every single time. "For what it's worth," he said, not looking back at me, "Phiona's needed someone to knock her dow

y I'd turned over my wife the night before - trying to decide if there was something

at happens. No matter who challenges you. He'd never told me why. He'd only ever told me that it mattered, that it was the one r

ona shifted, some old instinct kicking in before I'd even had time to think about it. Like some part of me already underst

Maybe n

range, uneasy comfort of a compliment from a man I still wasn't sure I could trust. Whatever this marria

r of dinner being prepared somewhere far below. Tomorrow, there would be more of this. More Phiona, more

have this one quiet hour, and not thi