Making a maid a courtier was unheard of.
There was a deeper cause for this plan ever forming in his head and, knowing him, she was going to have to drag it out of him.
She had her suspicions, and they wore perfectly tailored, entirely respectable dresses, had their black locks in studious order at all times, and wore a smile that could fool an attacking legion of soldiers into putting down their arms and following them wherever they led. But Iona didn’t want to jump to any conclusions.
She ignored how her shoulders had grown rigid and how her scraping of the sponge had become a little more vigorous at the thought of the lady, creating reddening trails across the skin of his back. He grunted, but even though it might have been in pain, he didn’t protest. So, some pleasure must be there too.
The thought made her stop, unceremoniously dropping the sponge in the bath water and sitting back, resting her wet hands on her lap.
It took a moment, then he turned to look at her over his shoulder.
“I will never fit in at court,” she said simply. “What in the seas gave you such an idea?”
“The whales,” he replied, making her smile despite herself. “They sing to me at night, songs of the greatness you’ll display. All who meet you will fall at your feet, overjoyed just to be near you. All who see you will love you, as I do. You have nothing to worry about.”
“Those whales are crafty,” she smiled, resting her gaze on him.
“They’re wise,” he corrected. “And surprisingly good at harmonizing.”
She laughed then, shaking her head at him.
He always set her at ease, no matter what the issue was, no matter what she was going through. He never failed to make her believe, deep down, that there was a solution to every problem. All they had to do was find it and implement it. Of course, that certainty came with the privilege of being born into a position in their society that was not only indisputable, but that came with a set of keys that could open any locked door. Any at all. She had never taken advantage of it and had prided herself on that. He had offered once or twice, when her life had taken a turn and she felt at an utter loss, but she had refused. And he had never pressed his power on her. Instead, they had found solutions befitting her station.
This, however, seemed a solution to a problem he had yet to share. One that wasn’t hers. And the solution was so stratospherically out of her reach that he must have known she would never accept it. So, why was there still that hope in his gaze?
“You cannot be serious,” she challenged that expression.
She should ask him outright, put her suspicions to rest with the truth and have done with it, but her heart was picking up its pace and her mind didn’t want the truth slithering around in it. She didn’t want to hear it.
You’re going to have to, she told herself.Ask him.
“You would get to travel with me,” he said. “Once I am crowned, there will be lots of it. I can’t be a king who roots himself to his throne and acts as though his borders are there to protect him, protect his people. I will not close us off in such a way. I will broaden the minds of my subjects by encouraging travel and the welcoming of strangers into our kingdom. Borders are meant to be crossed, other kingdoms are meant to be explored, friendships are meant to be formed. Alliances and trade agreements are meant to flourish. This is what my father has taught me; this is what makes for a stronger rule. I want you by my side for all of it, but I cannot…”
He trailed off.
Of course, he could not. If she wore a maid’s uniform and her most comfortable sandals, her auburn hair in a loose bun on top of her head with locks freely flowing out of it all day long, then she would not be fit company for a monarch.
“I will never be accepted,” she said.
“You will,” he stated, twisting himself around so he could rest his arms on the edge of the tub, expectant look on his face. “It will take time, but you will grow to be an accepted part of my court. I swear it.”
She shook her head at him.
He knew how she had always longed to travel.
“And what of your queen?” she asked, hoping the question sounded as casual as she wished it to.
“I’m not yet mated,” he remarked casually, almost painfully so.
“No, you are not,” she agreed, considering a change of subject, but she had to hear him say it now that she’d brought up this unspoken thing that had been in the air around him for the past few months.
Well, if she was honest with herself, then the truth was that she had begun to see it—truly notice it—in the past few months, but chances were that it had been there for much longer. She had not even thought to look for the signs of infatuation he was displaying in almost painfully obvious ways now that she was aware of them.
“Whoever you choose might not look at you favoring a servant in such a way with as kind eyes as you would credit them with now,” she said, her mouth growing dry as she felt the poke was a stronger one than she would have braved a mere few weeks earlier.
Whoever you choosewas as good as a statedI know you have chosen.
“They will know you, and they will love you,” he replied firmly.
