Page 44 of For Ever More

“I will talk to him,” Shenming says.

Jin shakes his head. “You and your soldiers will wait here. I will accompany Miss Yining there, if she wishes to go.”

The way he keeps calling me “Miss Yining” rankles. I’m beginning to understand how it irks when I call him “Lord Jin-Yong.”

“Are you ordering me?” Shenming asks stiffly.

Jin gestures to the attendants entering with trays of food. “I am inviting you to a meal, hosted by my uncle.”

Lord Chao folds his arms across his chest. “This is far more courtesy than your people have ever shown us.”

“I wish to see the prisoner,” Shenming insists. “The Elders should determine his fate.”

“The Elders have no right,” Jin says dryly. “The Prince of the Iron Mountains was rescued by my soldiers; he is our prisoner. He will tell what we need to know to Miss Yining—but it remains her decision whether to meet with him.”

“I will go.” Some of the tautness unlocks in my chest at how he still offers me the choice.

“Bring her back safely,” Shenming warns. “If she is harmed—”

“Then the assailant will have suffered tenfold worse,” Jin interrupts as he leads me away.

We head to the courtyard at the back of the manor where the prince is confined. “Say the word,” he tells me as we walk. “Ask, and I’ll take you away from Mist Island. You don’t have to do as they command. I know you have no desire to return to the Three Kingdoms.”

“Because I’m selfish? A coward?”

“Because you’re not a fool.”

“Then why did you volunteer to join us?” I demand.

“You make me reckless.” His gaze pins mine until heat rises in my face. “What is your reason?”

“I must travel with the Sun Dragon to the waterfall to return his magic,” I explain. “But the others don’t know about this—only Dian. And you.”

“You must be careful to hide your magic from them, especially that honorable captain,” he warns. “Is there no one else you trust among them?”

“The Moon Dragon advised discretion,” I say slowly.

“Did you ask why?”

“We’re not allowed to speak to the dragons. Even then, it was breaking the rules.”

Jin frowns. “According to the old stories, dragons were kind, they cared for people—neither arrogant nor hostile. Why would they keep themselves away?”

“I don’t know,” I reply. “But there are many rules on the island to protect us.”

“You didn’t question them? They’ve changed you,” he says penetratingly.

“It’s my home. I’m trying to respect how things are done, to fit in. I can’t just leave if things go wrong, not like in the Iron Mountains.” I glare at him, stung by his words. “Are you trying to dissuade me from going because you don’t want me to yield the magic? Because you’re worried I won’t be able to help you after?”

Vile words that I regret as he studies me stonily. “If you think that, you don’t know me at all, you haven’t heard anything I’ve said. While I need your help, I won’t let you suffer for it. There are other ways to secure what we need—as we are doing now.”

As he strides away, I catch his sleeve. He halts but doesn’t turn. “I didn’t mean it, Jin.” I swallow through the tightness in my throat, casting pride aside. “You’ve helped me… even when there was nothing to gain.”

“No longer calling me ‘Lord Jin-Yong’?” A shadow of his teasing self, his mouth curved in a smile that I haven’t seen for weeks. “Tell me more of this ‘understanding’ between you and the captain?”

“Are you jealous?” I want him to be.

“No,” he says bluntly. “Because it’s not real.”