Page 23 of Enamored
If I was already battling an attraction to him so soon after his return, what would have happened if we’d stayed together? Perhaps we would have fallen in love.
Was it possible the king had hoped to prevent that, knowing it would lead to even greater heartache?
Maxim returned his attention to me. “I admit, I would have encountered great difficulty in relinquishing a maiden with your intelligence as well as your grace and beauty.”
Somehow this compliment coming from Maxim meant more to me than any I’d received over the past days. His words filled up the empty places in my heart—perhaps even starting the process of healing it.
“Thank you, Maxim.” I couldn’t contain a smile, the thrill of being with him at long last pushing out the angst of the past. Neither of us had wanted the parting. Now that we were together, we needn’t worry about having to go our separate ways again. “We can be friends now, can we not?”
Chapter
8
Maxim
Friends?
Her meadow-green eyes watched me expectantly, and her smile remained wide enough to reveal her dimples. Dimples I’d not yet seen since being with her. Dimples I’d once adored. Dimples that I now wanted to see every day.
“How can the king or anyone else look askance on the renewal of our friendship if I am betrothed?” She spoke the words as if her upcoming betrothal would negate the attraction flaring to life between us. Surely she wasn’t naïve enough to think so. As much as she might want to downplay that attraction, magnetic energy had most definitely sparked. While it could never become anything beyond a few sparks, a powerful pull toward each other was still there.
“I missed your smile and your dimples.” The honest words were out before I could stop them.
The green of her eyes brightened. “And I missed the quirky way you always made every situation into a mathematical problem.”
“Quirky?” I smiled in return, letting go of all my other concerns and simply basking in this reunion. “I didn’t realize my wizardly mathematic abilities were quirky.”
“How many other men have you met who calculate the square footage of a rock crevice just for fun?”
“I have met quite a number, actually.” I missed the friends I’d made. Many of them would end up joining an abbey. A few might become tutors or teachers among the nobility. Only the most privileged and brightest would start the next phase of training and become Erudites.
“Tell me about your life these past years, Maxim.” She settled back as though intending to stay for a while.
“’Twould take me days to tell you all. ’Tis best left for a time when you need tales to put you to sleep.”
She laughed lightly at my attempt at humor, which had never been a particular strength of mine. But I had improved some in my wit and strangely wanted her to know it.
“Please, Maxim.” She reached for my hand, clasping it between hers.
At the innocent touch, the beginning of an avalanche rumbled inside. I fought to quell the desire, knowing if I pushed for anything beyond friendship, I’d scare her away.
I glanced over my shoulder toward the hillside and the sky. I didn’t see any signs of the draco. “We have a little time before we can chance returning to the others. Tell me what you’d like to know most about my past years. All of the exciting mathematical equations I’ve so brilliantly solved?”
Her laughter filled the small space between us again. “Tell me about where you lived first after leaving and then where you went after that.”
“The tale is a long one with many bends in the road.”
“I would like to hear it anyway.”
“Very well.” When Sagacites started their training, they traveled from abbey to abbey, learning under the best teachers and reading the treasured scripts at each holy place. The Sagacite was only ready to move on when he’d read and learned everything the abbey had to offer and when the abbot deemed that the Sagacite was surpassing the headmaster in knowledge and wisdom.
Very few Sagacites were able to travel to all the abbeys throughout Norvegia. But I had accomplished the feat, the same that Rasmus had. I’d spent the longest at St. Olaf’s in the Frozen Wilds. The monks there had been devout and yet welcomed me like a son. Even when I surpassed my superiors, I’d stayed a year beyond what I needed to.
As I finished my shortened version of the past ten years, Elinor squeezed my hand, which she still held between hers. “I am glad to know you were happy.”
I loved the feel of her fingers surrounding mine and didn’t want our time together to end. But I feared at any moment, one of the king’s knights would come searching for the princess and find us lying together. They would prod me back before the king at the tip of a sword, making all kinds of accusations. I would lose my chance of attending the Studium Generale and of being greater someday than Rasmus.
This situation with the princess was more than a little precarious. I couldn’t anger the king, who had long ago forbidden me to develop a fondness for Elinor. And I couldn’t anger Rasmus, who had commanded me to make Elinor fall in love with me. How could I possibly satisfy both authorities? Especially without hurting her in the process?
