KNOX’S POV
“I know. I’ve had three hours to become paranoid.” She drops sideways into my lap, settling in like it is a chair she booked in advance. My arms wrap around her waist instinctively, pulling her flush against my chest. She picks up the plate. “Everything from our kitchen passes through half the house. This came down the mountain in a box that never left us.” She tears a piece off the loaf. “Also, I ate some already, and I’m still alive. So there is that.”
“You tested it on yourself?”
“I sampled it. Don’t ruin the word.”
I stare at her, my chest tightening.
“You used yourself to test whether my dinner was poisoned.”
“Oh, shut up and open your mouth.”
“Ember.”
“Open, Your Majesty.”
I groan, but I open my mouth. She feeds me the bread, her fingers brushing my lower lip.
Th
