Lyrani moaned softly as Nash traced his thumb around her nipple. His tan hand was stark against her brown skin. He studied her, her closed eyes rimmed by thick lashes, her rumpled black hair spread over the silken pillow, her teeth gnawing at her lower lip.

She had acquired a scar at the edge of her jaw on a mission a few months ago. She wasn't perfect according to the definition of the word, but Nash had never seen someone so beautiful. Sometimes, he still couldn't believe that she was his.

Still drawing circles on her soft skin, he kissed her neck. "Feeling better, Lyr?"

"Yes." Lyrani opened her eyes with a small smile. "I'm sorry that I got jealous. It's not that I don't trust you... It's just...I don't know." She looked away from Nash, staring up at the ceiling.

At night, the stars gazed down at them, but in the afternoon, the roof's tint was still active, keeping out the sunlight that would make Nash's midday naps impossible and bleach away the dark colours in his room.

"I guess I just didn't like that Advisor Lach knew more about the threat facing you than I did. She seemed so smug about it too." Lyrani rolled her eyes.

Nash kissed her earlobe before pulling away to look at her. "Anesse is very confident about her worth as an advisor and her ability as a negotiator with the other clans, but she isn't anything more than that to me. You have nothing to worry about."

"Now I feel silly for lashing out as I did in the meeting." Lyrani shook her head as she curled against Nash's side, resting her head on his chest.

"It's not silly to be jealous, Lyr. It happens." Nash pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear as she tilted her head up to look at him.

"Does it now?" Lyrani slid her arm over Nash's waist, pulling him as close as they could be just short of their bodies meeting, intoxicatingly so.

"Yes."

She raised her eyebrows, a question in their movement.

Nash sighed, drawing Lyrani closer to him than he deserved. "Do you think I don't worry that you'll go off on a mission and meet someone who's better for you? Someone who doesn't need you to risk your life to save him constantly?"

He was the weak link in Lyrani's life. She was surrounded by strong, independent people who fought for the causes they believed in. And then there was Nash.

He hadn't even been able to resist his grandmother's spirit. He had killed countless beings across the realm because his will hadn't been able to overwhelm hers. He had nearly killed Lyrani because he wasn't the fighter she was, the sort of man she deserved to be with.

"Nash." Lyrani brushed her mouth against his. "I don't like that you're always in danger, but I don't mind rescuing you. I love that you're so kind and gentle." Her eyes latched onto his and held them there. "You know, when the palace was burning down over a year ago, an ECISI agent would've probably left me to burn with it and saved themselves, love be damned. We've been trained to recognise situations where saving someone else involves too much risk to us. But you still saved me even though you could've gotten yourself killed. I've never met another man like you, Nash, and I know I never will. I love you too much to try." She cupped his face in her hand.

"Then you know how I feel about you." Nash kissed Lyrani's wrist before propping himself up on his elbow. "Any other ECISI agent would've left Vlitavia once they knew they were facing Rayn. They might've even killed me in the hopes of stopping her. It would've been easier and probably safer for them, but you took a different path."

Lyrani stared at him as transfixed as if this wasn't their story he was telling but one that she had never heard before.

"You saved me at grave risk to yourself when I didn't believe I was worth the effort. You gave me a chance I didn't deserve and a love I deserved even less."

"Nash..." Lyrani held him close to her. "You held off Rayn just to free me from the dungeons. You broke your ribs falling with me from the top of the old Vlitavia Palace. There is nobody who deserves my love more."

Nash smiled as he brushed his hand against the small of Lyrani's back then ran his fingers down to her backside. He revelled in the smoothness of her skin and the firmness of her breasts as they pressed against him. He had done everything he could to make sure he could hold her like this, and he was glad that he had.

"You were worth it. The pain, the ribs. All of it."

"And you're worth every day I spend out in the realm investigating threats and conflicts for your sake." Lyrani smiled up at him.

It mesmerised him. It was as bright as the light Nash commanded. Lyrani Esch may control the shadows, but she didn't belong among them.

She drew Nash to her for a kiss. He took hold of her thigh as she draped her leg over him. Her lips were like a shadow on his, there, caressing him one moment, then gone the next.

"Why didn't you tell me about Anesse, Nash?" Lyrani rubbed the ends of Nash's shoulder-length hair between her fingers, her eyes demanding an answer.

Nash trailed a fingernail over her skin. "I did mention to you that I had a new advisor, but I didn't think it was important to tell you anything more than that. You've been so overwhelmed lately that I didn't want to add to that."

"Nash." Lyrani fell back onto the bed, raising her eyes to the ceiling before bringing them back to him. "I worry more when I know less about what's going on with you. I know my work is intense, but I always have time for you even when I don't have time for anyone else. That's what relationships are for." She bit her lip. "You took on Rayn's burden alone, and I want you to know that you never have to do that again because I'm here for you now. Okay?"

Nash kissed her hand. "Okay."

Perhaps the way he kept so much to himself was less about burdening Lyrani and more about habit. Nash had been an only child with only Benje and his mother for company. He had been a lonely ruler when Rayn's spirit drove away anyone who might care about him, no differently than she had when she was alive.

But Lyrani was here now, a good, beautiful habit to break his bad ones.

Nash took hold of Lyrani's hips and fell back on the bed, taking her with him. She crushed against him as their mouths met with the fervour driving their words. He gripped Lyrani's thighs as she straddled him.

If paradise existed, it was in these moments, with Lyrani against Nash, with no interrupting meetings or party guests, with their breaths and their bodies speaking the language of passion.

Then a shadow passed outside of Nash's window. It was quick, just a flash that might've been in his imagination, but that sickening sense tightening his stomach told him it couldn't be, just as it couldn't have been last time.

"Nash? Everything okay?" Lyrani followed his gaze to the window. Seeing nothing as he did, she looked up at him, frowning.

"Yes." He nodded for emphasis, to convince Lyrani as much as himself. He drew her to him and traced his fingertips over her shoulder blade even though his eyes stayed fixed on the window.

There was nothing to see. Perhaps it was just Nash's paranoia or a trick of the light. Perhaps the illusion he had seen last time had been the product of a sleep-hazed mind.

"Nash." Lyrani turned his face to hers.

He tried to smooth over his expression so that she wouldn't see his concern because this was nothing to waste her time over, but her agent's eyes missed nothing.

She frowned. "Did something happen?"

"I'm not sure."

Lyrani's eyes narrowed, turned firm, insistent. Nash wouldn't dare to disobey her when she wore that look, even though her bare flesh was pressed against his, even though his fingers were mere inches away from distracting her body and her mind.

"Tell me."

Nash swallowed. "It was late at night, about a week ago. I was sleeping, alone," he added for clarity, "but I suddenly woke up with the sensation that I was being watched. I thought I saw a pale face through the window, but when I looked closer, there was only frost crusted over the glass. I blinked, and it was all gone as if I was only dreaming."

"Given the palace's security and your bedroom being so high up, it's unlikely that any intruder could've gotten so far without anyone seeing them." Lyrani frowned. "Was there any other evidence suggesting that someone had been there?"

Nash shook his head. "There were no sightings of any strange people or footprints or any other proof of a trespasser."

"That doesn't mean there was no one there, Nash." Lyrani's frown deepened. "Anesse mentioned other strange things have been happening at the palace. What were they?" Lyrani leaned closer to Nash, resting her hand on his stomach.

He could concentrate on little other than her touch, but for the sake of her mission and both their lives, he summoned enough focus to answer her. "Someone tried to poison me again. There was a loose step on the way to my apartment. Luckily one of the guards caught me before I fell past it. I'm sure someone was hunting me when I went to the river to bathe. They might've succeeded had Anesse not come to remind me about my meeting when she did."

Lyrani took a deep, shuddering breath. "Have you been seeing the half-elves around the palace?"

Nash's gaze drifted out the window as he thought back. "No. I've been seeing strange things, just shadows, not really faces or figures. They might be halflings, but I've never gotten a good enough glimpse to tell."

"What about Isarea and Benje?"

Nash's palace manager and right-hand man had earned Lyrani's trust after they helped her save him and Vlitavia over a year ago, despite her rocky start with the latter. There was no one she trusted more at Vlitavia Palace other than Nash. There was no one Nash trusted more either.

"No, they haven't seen the halflings either."

Lyrani pressed her lips into a line. "So, Anesse is the only person who claims to have seen the half-elves?"

Nash nodded.

"I can't believe an entire clan has been implicated on one woman's word," Lyrani murmured, more to herself than to Nash.

Nash squeezed her shoulder. "Anesse is looking out for me, Lyr. Everyone else at the palace has different jobs, but her sole purpose is to assist me. Besides, Lord Dundor trusts her. I don't think we should be worried about her."

"Even the trusted can be mistaken, Nash." Lyrani's face darkened.

Nash sighed as he pressed his head into the pillow, holding Lyrani close to him. Perhaps he had been so keen to take Anesse's word that it was the half-elves because he wanted it to be them. He would rather have them hunting him than the fairies. He'd rather have Lyrani tracking them than the Phoukas.

"Lyr..." Nash swallowed. Still, the words rushed out of his mouth. "I'm scared for you, and if I could keep you from going on this mission, I would."

"I know this is hard," Lyrani murmured, running her hands through Nash's hair.

He closed his eyes to savour her touch.

"But this is my job. I've been on countless other missions before. I'll get through this one as I got through all the others. I'm more worried about you, being in this palace at the mercy of whoever is trying to hurt you."

"I'm safe here, Lyr." Nash kissed her forehead. "I have Benje, Isarea, and Anesse. They're all looking out for me."

Again, a shadow passed over Lyrani's face. It slunk away as soon as it appeared, diminishing in the light of her smile. "And, of course, I'll be back before you can want me again."

"I highly doubt that." Nash pulled her to him.

Their lips met and slow danced, and Nash's heart was already speeding up again.

Lyrani moaned, her fingernails pressing into Nash's shoulder. He pushed her onto her back, and then he was on top of her. She closed her arms around him.

There was nowhere in the realm he'd rather be. He would miss being in her embrace until she returned to him.

Lyrani would return. Nash had to believe that, or he wouldn't let her leave for her mission.

There was a brisk knock on the door. Without waiting for Nash to answer, it swung open.

Anesse's blonde head peered into Nash's apartment. "I do hope I'm not interrupting...oh." She saw Nash and Lyrani tangled in each other and his sheets.

Nash shielded Lyrani's body with his as she pulled the covers up to her shoulders. She exhaled in exasperation but said nothing.

Anesse smiled at her. "Agent Esch, your carriage to Yidelhorn station awaits."

"Already?" Lyrani frowned down at her forearm before remembering she had left her watch on Nash's nightstand. She snatched it up and buckled it around her wrist.

"Time hurries along when you're enjoying it." Nash nipped at her earlobe.

Anesse cleared her throat.

Nash's cheeks warmed. He had forgotten she was there. "Thank you, Anesse. We'll be down in a few minutes."

The advisor's eyebrows scrunched. She opened her mouth as if to say something but thought better of it. With a nod, she left Nash's apartment, closing the door behind her.

Lyrani shot Nash a look as she untangled herself from him. "That's not the first time someone has walked in on us."

He raised his eyebrows. "That's because we were in my office last time."

It had been Benje who walked in unintentionally. He had rushed out and slammed the door behind him as soon as he realised what he was seeing, apologising profusely. He hadn't been able to look either Nash or Lyrani in the eye the next day, but he had since recovered from the ordeal.

Lyrani hadn't, however.

"And we were in your room this time." She slid out of Nash's grasp and slipped out of bed. "Usually one waits after knocking to be admitted into the room. Someone should tell Anesse that."

Nash chuckled as he got out of bed after her. He slid his arms around her waist where she stood gathering her clothes to put them back on. "Or we could just lock the door from now on."

"That's a much better idea, Your Majesty."

Lyrani smiled as Nash kissed her forehead. It was nice to talk about what they would do in the future. It seemed like a promise to the mysterious forces in the realm that they did have a future together, that Lyrani would return to find Nash and Vlitavia intact.

He hoped for that with all his heart as he watched her slide her underwear and then her legging over her hips. She was the most capable ECISI agent Nash knew. She had said that she would triumph over this mission, that it would be no different from the other challenges she had faced, but that didn't reassure Nash.

This mission would be different, he was sure. Her missions involving him always were. They always asked for too high a price, and she was always willing to pay it. For the first time in the last year, Nash wished Lyrani Esch didn't love him as much as she did.