"Come with me."

Sven took a firm grip on my arm and led me into the palace, the guards following at a discreet distance. I waited until we were inside to pull away because I didn't want to ruin the effect he'd just had on the crowd, after all. He let me go with a frown.

"Let's go to the audience chamber," he suggested, walking away down the hall before I had a chance to respond.

"All right, Your Majesty," I muttered under my breath as I followed him.

He shot me a glance that let me know I hadn't kept my voice low enough.

And didn't I feel just terrible about that?

Opening the door, he gestured for me to go inside, closing it after us.

"Are you all right?" he demanded, reaching out as if to touch me, but letting his arm fall back down by his side before he did, his expression unsure.

My stance softened a little.

"I'm fine," I reassured him. "Just a couple of pushes."

He scowled, pushing his hair back off his face in frustration.

"A couple of pushes," he repeated, shaking his head. "They could have really hurt you, Adara," he said in a low, gruff voice. "You shouldn't have gotten into that crowd to begin with. You should have turned around as soon as you saw it. You need to take more care with your safety."

That was a whole lot of opinion on what I should have done. I sighed in exasperation, drawing his eyes back to me.

"You should have stayed back from the crowd," I pointed out. "They could have hurt you a lot worse than they hurt me, considering you were the reason they were there in the first place."

"It isn't the same—" he started, scowling.

"You're right, it isn't," I interrupted, not willing to be lectured on this point. Especially not when he was being so hypocritical about it. "You are the king. So you being incapacitated or..." I skipped over the worst scenario, not wanting to even think about it. That was a real risk he had taken. "Something happening to you wouldn't just have been bad for you. It would also destabilize the phoenixes as a whole, something I'm not even sure we could survive again. So yes, it is different. Very different."

He took a step closer, his mouth pressed in a tight line.

"You think I gave a shit about any of that when I saw you in the middle of the crowd?" he growled, his eyes glittering with fury. "All I could think of was what would happen if someone decided pushing wasn't enough."

But underneath that anger was something that gave me pause. He was scared. I felt my stomach flutter. He was scared for me. And I knew he was being completely sincere.

You don’t get scared for someone unless you care about that person. I took that knowledge and held it close to my chest. I let myself have at least that.

But I wasn't backing off of this. Not when I was right. This was a hard truth, but it was one he needed to hear. He couldn't think like a regular person anymore. He had a heavier responsibility now. That crown was more often a burden than a blessing.

"You signed on to do this job," I said softly. "You have to give a shit now. It's part of it. Part of all this," I added, gesturing to the palace around us. "You owe it to the people.

His eyes narrowed.

"I don't have to do anything," he snapped. But then he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, closing his eyes briefly. Getting himself under control. "Okay. Fine. You're right. I shouldn't have waded into the crowd. I suppose I haven't adjusted my thinking, not in that way." He took a step back, his eyes level. "But I'd do it again, Adara. If I saw you vulnerable like that..." He clenched his jaw. "So...try not to walk into any more violent mobs. Is that a fair solution?"

My mouth twitched.

His quirked in response.

I nodded, biting my lip.

"That seems fair," I agreed in a measured tone. "I think that's something I can promise."

"Good," he said, turning and walking to his oversized desk. "Now that we have that ironed out, why don't we go over what we just learned straight from the source?"

I nodded, following him to the desk more slowly. The argument felt like it had almost...melted something between us. We hadn't addressed what had actually caused the tension to rise in our relationship, but the first real interaction we'd had in days somehow managed to make a dent in the problem. I felt like I could breathe, even though we were here alone, something that usually always put me on edge.

I took a seat. I hadn't expected that outcome at all.

"Do you want me to start with the first one or group them?" I asked as I took out my tablet.

"However you want to organize it," he replied, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms, his head tilted back to look up at the ceiling as he waited.

I nodded, starting at the top.

In more ways than one.