“I’ll have you know, Your Highness, I’ve had my share of would-be husbands,” she says as she clumsily waves her hand, the wine sloshing over the rim of her glass. The words are casual, but it sends a searing hot streak of jealousy through me. And I cross my legs at the ankles to stop myself from jumping to my feet and demanding the names of all the men she’s been with so I can send the King’s Guards to slit the throats of each and every one of them. Who in the realms has had the absolute pleasure and privilege of knowing what she looks like, feels like, naked? Knowing what she sounds like when she comes apart in the throes of climax?
I shake my head to clear it of thoughts I have no business having. “You? Fair share of men? Never. Not sweet, innocent, naive little Eirabella?” I taunt her, hoping she’ll give me more details, at the same time, not wanting to hear that she’s ever known the touch of another man.
She grins, her eyes locked on mine as she runs her tongue over the scarlet wine spilled over her fingers, the action making my cock ache. “You’ll be surprised. I might even give your playboy ways a run for their money,” she winks, lustily.
I stiffen. “What playboyways?”
She scoffs and rolls her eyes. “Please. I’ve heard all about you warming all the Dukes’ daughters’ beds. And I’ve seen how all the females of the court look at you.” She dramatically flutters her eyelashes and pretends to swoon. I laugh again. It’s a perfect imitation of the ladies of the court, except the effect is charming and adorable on her. Not a single one of my mother’s ladies-in-waiting holds even the dimmest of candles to her. No matter how hard they have tried. “Caelum has told me all the stories,” she confesses.
“Don’t listen to him,” I hiss at the sound of my cousin’s name. “He’s a dick.”
She just rolls her eyes. “What’s your problem with Caelum anyway?”
“Nothing. Everything,” I snarl at the memory of him on top of her that day in the combat room. And the sound of her laughter as he trained with her. Laughter that belonged to—not to him! “He’s an incorrigible flirt.”
“As, apparently, are you!”
I grit my teeth. “Don’t believe the stories. Have you ever seen me flirt with anyone?”
She tilts her head again and scrutinises me closely, as if she’s sorting through her memories. I raise my eyebrows in wait. I know what the answer is; she’s the only person I’ve flirted with for the longest time. The only one I’ve felt both comfortable and attracted to that I would even want to flirt with.
“I guess… not,” she admits with a shrug. “Is it because you feel disloyal to Val? You whispered her name in your sleep the morning at the inn.”
Shit. I did what? My tongue freezes in my mouth as I pour more wine into her glass. Also, how does she do that? Ask the questions that I don’t even want to ask myself? Taking a breath, I force myself to say, “Um, I believe you have already asked your allotted question for the day. Not to mention abonus one.” I force my voice to be light even as my heart squeezes.
Trust me to give up all my secrets in my sleep. It does sting… that she doesn’t seem the slightest bit fazed that I seemingly whispered another woman’s name in my sleep. I know how I had felt when she did the same thing that night…
“Fine.” She rolls her eyes. “What about this question since you’re too chicken to answer that last one: what were you even doing in my room that morning? After we’d agreed that Mathis was going to guard me.”
Shit. I’d almost rather answer the other question. But… this might be the chance I have to ask some questions of my own.
I clear my throat, remembering that night like it was just yesterday. “Mathis was taking the main watch, so I was sitting in the room for a little while. You started screaming. In your sleep. A nightmare. You were very distressed. So, I tried to wake you, but you wouldn’t—you just kept screaming, wailing at the top of your lungs. I, er, I guess I was scared you’d wake up the whole damn inn, so… I held you.” That’s not a complete untruth. I was afraid of that. It just wasn’t the main reason. Her complete and utter… fear… that night had been so visceral, I couldn't just leave her languishing in it. I would’ve done anything to make it stop. “Anyway, it seemed to help. Not entirely. But… eventually, you quieted and then fell asleep. When I tried to leave, you asked me not to. So… so I stayed.”
“Oh.”
I swallow. “You sounded so pitiful that even Grellor looked like he was going to hug you.”
“But he didn’t, you did.”
“It wasn’t a hug,” I argue. “It was a…compassionate action designed to calm you down and get you to fall the fuck to sleep.”
She grins, knowing better. “Oh, Rylan, such romantic words. Is this how you tell all the women you looooove them?”
I scoff. “Never have. Never will.”
She blinks and then slowly nods. “Well, then, thank you. For… staying. It must have been quite uncomfortable for you. Not like I had been the nicest to you. Before and after.”
“It was uncomfortable,” I tell her the truth. Waking up curled up next to her, hard and wanting her was just about the most uncomfortable I’ve ever been in my whole damn life. “But you have nothing to thank me for. Whatever you were dreaming of, it was making you extremely distraught.” I weigh up something inside me, and then push on. “Since we’re asking about things we murmur in our sleep, who is Samfer?”
Her face instantly darkens and I almost regret asking. I wouldn’t fault her for deflecting just as I had, but she doesn’t. She’s infinitely braver than I am. I’m not too weak to admit that.
“Samfer is one of the reasons I’m still here. Why I’m staying. Why I didn’t leave the day you brought me here, and why I didn’t leave after my burn out.”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“Do you know… about the deal I made with your father? Did he tell you about it?”
What is she talking about? “No.” I pull myself to my knees, sitting up straight. A deal with my father? That has never turned out well for anyone. I’m living, barely breathing evidence of that.
