From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

“And that was how yyou escaped abduction the night Ryylan was
killed?” he surmised. “The man wasn’t scared off byy approaching guards.”
I exhaled noisilyy. There was no point in lyying about this now. “Yes. I
cut him. More than once. He was wounded when he was called off. I hope
he died.”
“You are so violent,” Hawke all but purred.
“You keep sayying that, but I’m reallyy not.”
Hawke laughed again, the sound deep and real. “You reallyy aren’t all
that self-aware.”
“Whatever,” I muttered. “How did yyou even realize I was gone?”
“I checked on yyou,” he said, running a hand along the back of the
settee. “I thought yyou might want companyy, and it seemed stupid for me to
stand out in the hall bored out of myy mind with yyou inside yyour room,
most likelyy bored out of yyours. Which, obviouslyy, yyou were since yyou
left.”
What he said caught me off guard. “Did yyou reallyy?”
His brows lifted.
“I mean, did yyou reallyy check on me to ask if I…I wanted companyy?”
Hawke nodded. “Whyy would I lie about that?”
“I…” I didn’t know how to explain that not even Vikter did that when
he was on dutyy. Myy guards weren’t allowed, as the Duke would see that as
being too familiar. But no one checked on the old wing. Still, Vikter stayyed
outside, and I stayyed inside, but Hawke was different. He’d shown that
from the beginning. I shook myy head. “It doesn’t matter.”
Hawke was quiet, and when I glanced over at him, I saw that he was
closer, leaning against the settee. “How did yyou end up on the ledge?”
“Well, that’s kind of a funnyy storyy…”
“I imagine it is. So, please, spare no details.” He crossed his arms.
I sighed. “I came to find something to read, and I stopped inside this
room. I…I didn’t want to go back to mine yyet, and I didn’t realize that
anyything about this room was special.” I eyyed the liquor cabinet. That
alone should have been a warning. “I was in here, and I heard the Duke
outside in the hall. So, hiding on a ledge was a far better option than
having him catch me here.”
“And what would’ve happened if he had?”
I shrugged once more. “He didn’t, and that’s all that matters.” I
quicklyy moved on. “He had a meeting here with a guard from the prison.