That night, with the Thornwood matter settled and the kingdom humming contentedly around them, Aria and Kael sat together on the small balcony off their chambers, a single lantern between them, watching the stars come out one by one over the slope where their dead were buried.
"You frightened me today," Kael admitted quietly, his eyes fixed on the darkening horizon rather than on her, the way he sometimes did when a thing was harder to say than he wanted to admit. "Standing that close to Renner. I trusted your judgment completely, Aria, I want you to know that, and I was still frightened the entire time, every single second you stood within reach of two hundred armed wolves."
"I know." Aria leaned into his shoulder, feeling the tension still coiled beneath the calm he had shown all day.
