Free The Spirit Heir by Kaitlyn Davis Page B

adventure and of the long journey ahead. The near-death experience had changed Rhen—Jinji could tell that where he doubted her before, he now believed her fully and understood the threat the shadow posed. Though his people were at war with human forces, he knew something more sinister waited to attack. Something neither of them knew how to fight.
    Rhen broke contact first, dropping his head into waiting hands, running his fingers through unruly locks growing curly in the breeze.
    Jinji waited for him to speak, sensing the questions burning his tongue. Ticking her thumbs, she counted the moving bodies below. Guards marched across the wall and servants scuttled across the yard. The lords and ladies were still cooped up inside, eating the dinner she was so glad to flee.
    "Jin, can I ask…"
    She pulled her eyes from grounds far below, back to the private space around them. The sky behind Rhen was growing darker, making Jinji all too aware that their time was almost up. When night fully descended, pushing the last vestiges of the sun out of sight, this moment of sanctuary would be over.
    "Why'd you lie?" Rhen muttered, unable to look at her, speaking more to the ground.
    Jinji swallowed the lump in her throat back down. She had known the question would come. It had only been a matter of when.
    "I never meant to," she confessed, voice as soft as the fading light around them. Her fingers shook with the memory of how they met, the day her entire tribe was killed, the distinct awareness that she had been, and in many ways still was, completely alone. "When you first found me in what was left of my village, I had woven the illusion of my brother's face without realizing—the spirits were listening to a prayer I never even spoke aloud. When I woke beside the stream, I was shocked to see his face and not mine reflecting back at me. And at the time, I didn't know you—didn’t know if I could trust you. Being a boy just seemed easier, safer."
    "And later, after we became friends?" A twinge of sadness laced his tone, something Jinji was sure he tried to hide but couldn’t quite erase completely.
    She turned away, unable to bear the look on his face, the haunting dark green his irises had become. "I didn’t know how. I didn’t want anything to change. My destiny was the shadow and yours was the war, and I thought we would one day part ways so there was no reason to admit the truth. But then—" Jinji paused, biting her lip. Was she ready for her true confession?
    "Then what?"
    Breathing deeply, she pressed forward. "Then I ran away. On the morning of the ceremony, I was trying to leave—"
    "Without so much as a goodbye?" Rhen interrupted.
    "But as I was leaving," Jinji continued, ignoring the waves of anger being sent in her direction, "I came across a little boy who was almost killed by his father, a man possessed by the shadow. And the little boy was a fire spirit, just like you, and I knew in that moment that I couldn't abandon you—that you were in danger. So I ran back as fast as I could, and I tried to save you, but…but, I was too late."
    Jinji’s voice cracked as the memory exploded full force in her mind—all of the desperation returned to her veins, making her heart pump with exertion.
    Rhen pulled her into his arms, burying her against his chest as her body shook. With soothing murmurs, he ran a hand up and down her back. His other rose to cradle Jinji's head, fingers fiddling with the short hairs at the base of her neck.
    Jinji breathed in his smell, fresh leather mixed with salty air, and let the feel of his tight muscles ease her fear.
    "I'm sorry," she whispered.
    Rhen’s only response was to squeeze his arms tighter, pressing her body fully against his, but she prayed that it meant he forgave her.
    Resting in his arms, Jinji realized a little bit of the lie still remained, sealed behind lips that would never open in confession. Because she couldn’t help but feel as though their bodies molded perfectly