“Game? Yes, I suppose it is one, but one that’s as old as time. Perhaps you’re a little rusty. Normally I wouldn’t be so blunt. But you strike me as a woman who appreciates the facts. I speak of courting. Of seduction. Of wooing.” He batted his lush eyelashes her way.
“You promised never to speak of last night?”
“Last night? Oh, the ball. Yes, it was rather entertaining. Did you attend? I would have liked to have seen your costume.”
“You… you are so… irritating.” And confusing. Why was he doing this, speaking of courting, seduction and wooing? “We had an agreement. You promised.”
“Do you have any hobbies? I myself am fond of riding, fencing, reading poetry, and vastly enjoy escorting beautiful women through lovely but thankfully deserted woods. That way I can pledge my troth in private and steal kisses with no witnesses nearby to scandalise.” Brandth leaned over, planting a quick kiss against the scarf covering Perri’s cheek.
“Troth? Does madness run in your family?” And how was her cheek heating? his lips hadn’t even touched her bare skin. At least he wasn’t using last night against her with all his blathering… oh. That sly dog. But it left her twice as confused. What could he want of her now? She had given him everything a woman had to give last night. There was no reason, none, for Brandth’s current behaviour.
Taking a deep breath, she pondered her options. Badger him until he confessed what he was up to. Or table that and question him about what she really wanted to know. “What did Regal have to say to you?”
“Threats. Lies. Rumours. All done with the sincerity of a priest on the pulpit. He really is quite masterful. I think his trick is to actually half believe everything he says is true.”
“He threatened you?”
“No, he threatened you. He really didn’t like it when I threatened him right back. I don’t think he’s used to anyone seeing past his mask. I must warn you, his kind aren’t used to being on the back foot. He’ll strike out. Probably from afar… at first. He’ll be looking for weaknesses in order to capitalise on them.”
“I’m aware things might get… nasty.”
“He brought up your face covering. Mentioned… scars.”
“I would have been surprised if he didn’t. It’s an obvious route.” Perri took a quick, tight breath. “What about you?”
“Me?”
“Aren’t you curious? About what I have hidden beneath the veil? You know of the incident ten years ago, you must have put it all together. You’ve seen Alia’s scar, you must have surmised what it is I’m hiding.”
“You have extraordinarily lovely eyes.”
What?
“They remind me of the colour of the deep seas off the southern coast of the Middle Isles. I had been wondering for a few weeks why I kept thinking about a day I spent swimming there, and then you wore the mask last night. And I realised I must have seen your eyes before. During my convalescence from that fever I’m guessing. A man could fall happily into those eyes of yours and spend his life drowning in their beauty.”
“There’s more to me than just my eyes.”
“If I hadn’t agreed not to talk about last night I would happily wax lyrical about your enticing full bosom, your shapely legs, that erotic dimple on your left side just where your back becomes your as-”
“We’re not talking about my body, we’re talking about my face.”
“No. Regal is. You are. I’m a man who has built a career out of understanding people, how they think, what their motives are. I have witnessed depraved things. And seen indescribably selfless acts of kindness. Discovering that beauty can coexist with evil quite happily. But I have determined that love is what fuels the human soul. It’s ephemeral. Unfair. Capricious. All consuming. Worth both living and dying for. But the one thing it cannot exist without is trust. And once that is gifted, then the body, flesh, looks… all of that is inconsequential. We fade away to dust once we are dead, but our souls are lifted to the heavens. I expect a soul filled with love must positively fly there, buoyed by such a blessing.”
“What are you saying?”
“You fill my soul, Perri Gloomenthrall, do I fill yours? No, don’t say anything. Words are not what I crave. Let us continue on our walk, the day is glorious, is it not?”
“Ah, yes.” Perri managed, her mind whirling. Love? That was absurd. Brandth did nothing but prod, poke and challenge her at every turn. Insisting she speak her mind. Verbally jousting with her non-stop. Trying to make her laugh. That wasn’t love, was it?
Although, what did she know of love? Perri had spent her marriage trying to be deserving of Regal’s love. Measuring her success by the approval in his eyes… turning herself into a doll of Regal’s making.
Brandth, on the other hand, insisted Perri reveal her true feelings, hammering away at her carefully constructed healer shell until she acted… human she supposed.
Wasn’t that what love was? Revealing your true self and still being loved despite your foibles, flaws and mistakes made. And Brandth had dug and dug until he uncovered the real Perri and now he claimed that he loved her… or could love her.
But what of her feelings? She found Brandth frustrating, irritating, and oft times exhausting. But she looked forward to her interactions with him. Looked for Brandth when he was absent. Hyper aware of him when he was nearby. Enjoying perhaps more than she should verbally fencing with him. Matching wits. Scoring points. Could that be love?
Perhaps. Maybe. But that was only part of the equation. The word love fell too easily from people’s lips. Brandth knew that, had even pointed it out. Advocating that in order for love to exist, to thrive, trust must be its building block. Did she trust in Brandth enough to lift her scarf and have faith that what he saw beneath would not matter?
