Page 32 of A Kiss of Embers
“But…” he rasped. “You are the queen. You should be their leader. Not their puppet.”
“I am. But politics run far deeper than mere titles, especially where peace is concerned. You, of all people, should understand.”
He ran a hand over his jaw, now covered in stubble from their three-day journey through the forest. “How many concubines have you chosen?”
“None yet.” Her wings drooped as she leaned on the log against her, head rested on a fist as she now more brazenly gazed at her enemy. “It is customary to choose on one’s twenty-fifth birthday.” She paused. “I turned twenty-five the night Pri got captured. I feel guilty for the relief I feel for delaying the choosing for another full moon.”
Bastien moved closer until they almost touched. Almost, but not quite. She couldn’t fathom why she wanted to feel his warmth, his solid presence, his calm, comforting touch. It was silly that when his arm brushed against hers, her insides trembled in the most pleasant way.
“Because of your past?” he asked quietly, patiently.
After a long few moments of staring into the flames, she nodded. “It would be the assault all over again, but with three men instead of one, despite the change of circumstances and the fact that I would be choosing it no matter how much I don’t want it.” She swallowed, but her voice escaped as a raspy whisper anyway. “I want love. I want kindness. I want to know what it’s like to be touched with a gentle hand.” She sighed. “But it’s too late for me. I never bothered with forming relationships with the opposite sex within the three clans. So each of my concubines will be little more than strangers.”
He scratched his head before combing his fingers through his long hair, working to unravel a knot in the snowy white strands. “I can’t fathom what a…situation…that would be like. We have monogamous marriages in Attleglade. Many of them are arranged, especially with how exclusive the council likes to keep our settlement.” He frowned, though she wasn’t sure if it was because of the direction of his thoughts or because his knot was being particularly stubborn. “Marriage candidates have to be thoroughly winnowed with their background, blood origin, and even physical traits before they’re considered worthy of the marriage pool. And to avoid inbreeding, of course.”
Surprisingly, she laughed and shook her head. “A monogamous marriage? I can’t imagine what that’s like. I had three fathers growing up. Two of them are still alive.”
“That is the strangest thing I’ve ever heard of. Three? Truly?”
“Uh-huh.” She laughed again at his incredulous stare.
“And how many siblings do you have? Not counting Pri, of course.”
She shrugged. “In a way, she is both my daughter and my sister. But stranger things have happened within my family.” And then she held up four fingers. “I have two older brothers and two younger. But unlike other cultural traditions, the first female inherits the power and position of Ember Queen.”
A long pause passed between them as if he were trying to grasp the nuances of her culture. “Wait, wait, wait. So if you died, would Pri inherit the power? Does the power transfer through blood? Or birth?”
“For her sake, I desperately hope it passes through birth. Because her life would be put in danger if anyone found out the truth.”
Another stretch of silence followed, and Seraphina couldn’t lie. She hated the quiet tension and preferred Bastien’s quips and attempts at flirtation.
“You became Queen at fourteen years old,” he finally said.
“Like I said, stranger things have happened within the family. This is only one of them.”
Guilt over her mother’s passing hunched her shoulders. Her death had occurred many years ago, but Seraphina could never forget it was her fault her mother was dead. But what alternative had there been? She was a frightened child back then. Her mother had saved her life, sacrificed her own to save them both.
Bastien startled her out of her thoughts as he moved even closer until their legs and hips touched one another. She glowered at his shoe resting against one of her feet and glanced up at him with furrowed brows.
“I will kiss you again,” she warned.
“Is that a threat?” He lowered his voice to a whisper, his gaze shifting to her lips. “Or a promise?”
“A threat, I assure you. What happened in the cave is not usually how my kisses transpire.”
He tipped his head and offered her a charming smile. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach at the saucy look, and she hated it. “No? Then it seems you reserve such kisses only for me. I must be special.” His fingers lightly traced the scaly patterns on her shoulders before following the creamier complexion of her lower arm. “The first thing they teach us as patrol guards is how to fall.” Her breath hitched when his gentle touch moved to the back of her hand. “The second is how to flirt.”
“Ha!” she laughed. “I don’t believe it for a single second. You were born that way. None of the other guards flirt like you do.”
“You’ve been watching us?”
“I’ve followed each of you around.” And then her breath fled her entirely as he picked up her hand and cradled it in his lap. “Release my hand,” she demanded half-heartedly.
“Why? We’re friends.”
She laughed again at the absurdity of the situation. How had it come to this? Within a matter of days, he’d managed to charm her, to get under her skin, to get her to speak of things she hadn’t told another soul other than her mother.
“We arenotfriends.”
