Page 11 of The Flame and the Forsaken

Never had she so openly bared her physical self to anyone.

The light inward gasp from Erran had her toes curling to keep from reaching for the robe again. “Do you see these scars?” She pointed at two faint white gashes, one near her breastbone, the other, a longer one, across her torso. “Childhood injuries,” she lied—not fully a lie though. She’d still been a child when she’d earned them.

“Aye,” Erran croaked. His hand pulled at the stubble on his chin. His eyes danced between his cautious assessment and the nearest corner.

“I want you to brag to your mates about us, and when you do, mention the scars. Make sure everyone can hear when you do. There’s no way you could know about either of them unless you’d seen me in the flesh.”

Erran nodded slowly. “Seen and noted.” He coughed to clear his throat. “Should I do the same...”

Mariel brushed a hand across the air, indicating he should.

He removed his empty sword belt first, unclipping it and laying it across the arms of a nearby chair. His suspenders came next, then his shirt, revealing the other half of the view she’d gotten earlier. Hard lines cut across his tanned flesh, tightening with his movements as he unlatched his trousers and tugged them down. Her mouth watered in defiance of the power she still—barely—wielded over the moment.

It was the bewildering twinge of weakness that made her say, “That’s enough. I can... There are freckles on your chest. Have them elsewhere?”

Erran glanced down at himself. “Aye, my inner thighs. Knees. Back of the calves, at least in the warmer months. Feet. Toes, anyway.”

“Cock?”

He blurted an unflattering laugh. “Nay, not there.”

“You can get dressed.”

He seemed almost comically relieved as he yanked his trousers back into place.

Mariel snatched the robe from the floor and disappeared behind the armoire. She took a moment to gather herself. “Aye, so you understand then?”

He appeared just on the other side, close enough for her to hear his raspy breathing. “Thing is... I never bragged to my mates about Yesenia. I always felt what we did was just for us.”

“You’d be lying, not bragging.” She shrugged her nightgown on, tugging it over her still-damp skin. “Think of it as playacting, and you’ll find it comes easier.”

“You sound like you know a thing or two about it.”

“I might.”

“Do you lie often?”

“When I need to.”

“Have you lied to me?”

“Aye.”

Erran snorted. “At least you were honest about that.”

She nearly laughed, but shared jokes were for friends, and they were not friends, even if she didn’t find him near as galling as she’d expected to. He could be an ally, and she needed him to be, but for only as far as it served her. Forgetting who he was would undo everything she’d worked for. His kindness and beauty were curses, blights of ignorance. And ignorance, in her experience, could be as dangerous as malice, if not more.

Mariel emerged from behind the armoire. “Everyone lies, Errandil. Either from necessity or greed or just boredom.”

“Not me,” he said, defiantly shaking his head. “What else do I have, if not my honor?”

“Honesty and honor may start with the same letters, but they are not the same,” Mariel replied, looking up at him. “You said outside we share the same wants. Would I be right in saying you don’t want me any more than I want you?”

He hesitated before nodding. “Not because there’s anythingwrongwith you, Mariel. You’re...” A frown preceded his next word. “Interesting.”

“Wasn’t fishing for compliments. Only way to get out of doing the thing is lying about doing the thing. We go on long enough like that, act convincingly enough when eyes and ears are turned our way, they’ll assume we gave it our best. Enough time passes, we either start actually sharing a bed or... or they’ll grant us an annulment, because you need an heir.”And by then, I’ll have what I need and can walk away.She tossed a glance at the door, beyond which the servants were undoubtedly scrambling to make sense of the whispers they couldn’t hear. “If we don’t do this, they’ll never give us peace.”

He followed her gaze, his expression thoughtful. “So this is to be our marriage then? Lies and evasion?”

---