Chapter 11: Then I'm Early

I let go of his hands and closed the black book.

"You know something," I said.

"Yes."

"Is it going to change what I do tomorrow morning?"

His throat moved.

"Yes."

"Then tell me tomorrow."

He stared at me.

"Astrid, the second term. You said I never hide anything the Crown knows."

"I did. And you're hiding it, and I'm letting you, and that's my choice, not yours."

I walked out of the vault and up the stairs without looking back.

He followed me through the dark corridors of the east tower, a pace behind, and he did not ask where I was going.

I walked past my own door and stopped at his.

I turned around.

"The hearing isn't over," he said, very low. "Crispin hasn't been sentenced. You said not until it ended."

"Then I'm early."

I took him by the front of his shirt and pulled his mouth down to mine.

He made a sound I felt in my teeth.

For one second, he held perfectly still.

Then his hands went into my hair and he kissed me back, hard and deep.

The door banged open behind me.

We went through it together and did not stop.

My coat hit the floor, and his, and then I was backing him toward the bed with my fingers working at his buttons.

"Tell me to stop," I said against his jaw. "Say it now."

"Never."

"Good."

I shoved the shirt off his shoulders.

His chest was hot and hard under my palms, and the old scar from the arrow showed pale on his left shoulder.

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