19. Just One More Night with You

I stared for a moment, contemplating how many more hardships I would willingly bring upon myself if I continued to take his hand, then felt tears burn in the corners of my eyes as I shook my head. “We can’t, Theo. We can’t keep doing this. It will only hurt us both more.” I stood to my feet and turned away from him, hugging myself and rubbing my arms as my throat thickened with emotions I could not comprehend. “Besides, I still have work to do tonight.”

There was a pause, a long silence where my words settled on us both like a heavy blanket. “Might I ask if it’s thievery or assassination that has you busy tonight? Or more snooping?”

I laughed and let his silly question break apart the pain in my throat. “It is the former. If it were an assassination, I would not be running around rooftops so flippantly, and my snooping ended with you and Margaret.” I grimaced when venom coated her name. I shouldn’t have done that.

I couldn’t see him, but I knew he had that stupid, smug grin again. “Jealous of Lady Margaret, are we?”

I turned around to face him as annoyance stirred in my belly. “Why would I be jealous of such a vile woman? In fact, she should be the one indebted to me, grateful I didn’t do more than break her—” I forced my mouth closed, wincing as my teeth smashed together in my desperate attempt to stop my confession.

I flinched when Theo’s laughter rang through the air. “I should have known it was you. I didn’t buy her riding accident story for a minute, not even when she fired that poor stablehand for it.”

I dug my fingers into my arms as anger rose within me. “That prick fired some innocent person just to cover her lie?”

“Such is the way of nobility, I’m afraid. It may not be for all, but for many. They care far too much about appearances and nowhere near enough about actual people.”

“These people are all vile.”

Theo took a few, slow steps toward me, watching my face to see whether I’d permit it. I knew I shouldn’t have, but I did. I didn’t stop him. In fact, I wished he’d come closer. “Do you feel that way about me? After all, I am the son of the great Duke Thadius of the Northern district. Or the Kingmaker, as your group so aptly refers to him.”

I cocked my head to the side and pinched my brows together. “Did you truly just give me the name of your father? You know it won’t take much for us to track him down.”

Theo chuckled and moved a bit closer, grabbing my arms that were still folded over my chest and watching me intently. “If it were that easy to kill my father, I would have done it years ago. He has countless guards and decoys, and a plethora of aliases he uses. He would be gone, or you would be dead, before you could even step foot in the Northern Palace.”

My lips parted, and any word I thought to utter never escaped my mind. Theo watched me closely, smirking at my inability to speak while his thumb that grazed my arm left a trail of goosebumps and fire along the skin beneath my thick sleeve.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I told you, Cat. I’m not your enemy,” he said quietly, his low voice breaking apart my own inhibitions.

“Then leave with me, Theo,” I pleaded, though I already knew his answer.

His smile fell. “I can’t, Cat. If I left, and then something happened to you, I—” He stopped, clenching his teeth together and dropping his gaze from me to the painted boards of the roof beneath us.

“I do not fear death, Theo,” I said as I stepped closer, just close enough to catch the faint hint of peppermint that sent my heart into a frenzy.

“Death is not my concern, Cat.”

I bit my lip and forced a long breath out of my nose. “So, I suppose we are back at square one, awaiting the inevitable day when we wind up killing each other, trapped to our duties or obligations of life. Though, based on your words, it seems death may be the more favorable outcome.”

The corner of Theo’s mouth turned upward again, and I smiled as he returned his gaze back to me. “Perhaps, though I suppose you would still say no to that dance?”

I flashed a mischievous grin as my hands moved to the pouch on his waist, swiftly removing it before he could have ever noticed. “I could be so inclined. I happened to have finished all of my duties for the night.”

I laughed as his brows furrowed together, and he let go of my arm to feel for the pouch on his belt that was no longer there. “You truly are quite the thief,” he confessed, joining me in my laughter. “So does that mean you will dance with me, just for tonight?”

“Just for tonight,” I repeated, far more for me than him.

There was no music, no other people, no assassins, no council. It was us, a rooftop, the bird that chose to like us both, and a canvas of stars that freed itself from the cloudy sky. The feel of both our calloused hands together, the smell of mint on his breath, and the gentle, synchronized beating of our two hearts left me wishing the night would somehow never end. Yet, of course, the moon fell all too quickly, and the smallest hint of sunlight appeared on the eastern sky.

“It’s time for us to go,” I said, feebly pushing myself away from Theo.

“Will you leave our next encounter purely up to fate once more?” He asked as he pulled me back.

“I’m not sure,” I answered honestly. “What if our next encounter ends with a blade at one of our necks, or poison down your throat without an antidote?”

“I would consider that worth it for another chance to see you, Mouse.”

His face came closer to mine, and my entire body grew hot as my heart urged me to close the distance, but my head screamed against it. I stepped away just before our lips met. “That is not a good idea, Theo.”

“None of this is, Mouse,” he said while smiling.

I bit my lip and watched him closely. “You know this could never be.”

“I know.”

“You know that tonight must be the last time we meet like this.”

“‘The future is full of complex and impossible-to-predict possibilities,’” he repeated once more, teasing and taunting me with my very words.

“I’m serious, Theodore. This will only end in death and disaster for us both.”

“I would die a happy man if it meant one more night with you, Caterina.”

I drew in a sharp breath just as he stepped before me once more. “Theo, we can’t.” My voice was barely audible, but his clenched jaw told me he heard me.

“Goodbye, Mouse. I suppose I shall settle for seeing you in my dreams, waiting for our paths to converge once again.”

My cheeks grew red, and I ran from the rooftop without another word.