She Dreamed Her Empire Would Burn, So She Set Out to Break Four Collars novel · Chapter 6 of 24
Chapter 6: The Roof
Ru kept his night watch on the roof of her tower, where the wind came off the Heartgarden and nobody could stand close enough to hear.
She climbed the ladder at midnight with the vellum folded inside her bodice.
He was sitting on the lead tiles with one knee drawn up, looking down at the pale glow of the World Tree.
He didn't turn around.
"You're supposed to be asleep."
"You're supposed to say, 'Highness.'"
"It's midnight," said Ru. "I'm off duty."
She sat down beside him, close enough that her sleeve touched his arm.
Below them the Tree's leaves moved in the dark, silver on one side and black on the other.
"You went quiet in the Registry," she said. "When I said four men."
"I'm not going to say it."
"Say what?"
"What you want me to say." His ears flicked. "That I'd give you my heart. That I'd let you take this thing off my neck. I've thought about it every night for a week, and I can't tell if I mean it."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm collared, Princess." He tapped the pale wood at his throat. "It listens to me. It listens to what I want. Three years I've stood outside your door, and every time you laughed, this thing got warm. How do I know if that's me? How do I know it isn't just the leash?"
She looked at him for a long moment.
"You don't."
"Thanks."
"I'm not finished." She turned to face him fully. "I can't know either. I'm the Emperor's daughter. Every kind thing I've ever done, somebody fed me the room to do it in. Maybe I only like you because you're the one who stood closest."
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