Free Beneath the Surface by Lindsay Buroker Page B

intelligent. Also, when he’s standing at your back, people tend to go along with your ideas, no matter how... eccentric they may be. He’s been my adviser for the last year.” Hm, given how much destroyed property Amaranthe had left in her wake, maybe that wasn’t much of a selling point. “And if I’d listened to him on occasion, we probably wouldn’t have gotten in trouble so often.”
    Sespian snorted.
    Sicarius’s eyelids drooped to slits. It wasn’t exactly a look of disapproval, but it was possible he was questioning his decision to employ her as his advocate in regard to Sespian. Amaranthe gave him a cheery smile. Too late now.
    “ Regardless,” Amaranthe said, sliding open the table’s lone drawer and causing paper to rustle inside, “I didn’t invite you two here to discuss this. There’s too much work to be done before Sespian can climb back onto the throne, if that should be what fate holds. I thought we could simply sit here, talk, and build a sense of camaraderie since teamwork will be of the utmost importance going forward.” And since Sicarius hadn’t shown any initiative in talking with Sespian on his own.
    “ You want us to bond,” Sespian said, his tone as deadpan—and unimpressed—as Sicarius’s usually was.
    “ I believe that’s what I said, yes.” Amaranthe smiled again—her lips would probably be sore from all the exercise they were getting. She pulled out a frosting-stained bag. “We’ll have lunch and a pastry, and appreciate—er, grow accustomed to—each other’s company.”
    That earned her utter silence. Lovely.
    Amaranthe laid out the food Sespian had brought, wishing their cabin had such fancy accoutrements as plates and silverware. The room lacked a third stool, so she planned to retreat to a bunk, leaving the two men to face each other and perhaps—dared she hope?—chat amongst themselves. She pulled out the pastries and laid them beside the potpies Sespian had brought.
    “ What are those?” Sicarius pointed to the sweets.
    It surprised Amaranthe that he cared enough to ask. “Honeycrests and cinni-stumps.”
    “ You acquired new ones?” Sicarius asked, a hint of censure in his tone. Ah, that was it. He didn’t care about the names. He was appalled that a person might not only want sweets but want them again and again.
    “ Akstyr ate the other ones,” she said, deciding to blame someone who wasn’t around rather than admitting that she’d wolfed down two herself. “Besides, I could hardly suggest that Sespian eat emperor’s buns .”
    As before, Sicarius didn’t seem to find the name amusing.
    At least Sespian smiled. “I’ve had them before. It’d be more appealing to see you eat them though.” He gave her a shy smile, then seemed to notice Sicarius staring at him, and the smile faltered. “Sorry, that was crude.”
    “ No, it’s all right.” Amaranthe needed to set things straight with him. “It’s just that...” She tried to get Sicarius to meet her eyes, wanting his approval before speaking words aloud that she’d yet to voice to anyone else.
    It took Sicarius a moment to stop staring at Sespian—at least he wasn’t glowering, not the way he had with Mancrest, but his regular expression wasn’t that inviting either. He met Amaranthe’s gaze, seemed to read her question, and nodded once.
    “ We’re...” Amaranthe started. The words caught when Sespian swung his brown eyes toward her, eyes full of youthful hope mixed with a wariness for what was coming—he had to have sensed this on some level. “We’re a we,” she finally said, pointing back and forth between herself and Sicarius. It wasn’t particularly eloquent, but judging from the ashen color that came over his face, Sespian understood.
    Tempted to lift a fingernail to her lips for gnawing, Amaranthe waited for his reaction. She didn’t think he’d explode and throw a tantrum—he wasn’t that young—but she feared harsh words and stung emotions. Especially when