Page 10 of Earth Dragon
“I’m warm enough,” she said. “Besides, a fire might make me feel at home.”
“We wouldn’t want that,” he agreed.
He thought he saw the smallest glimmer of amusement then. He shouldn’t want to see it, but he was gratified that it was there all the same.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
“Because I want you to understand that no arrow will find you here. No enchantment or spell will invade your person. You are to be protected, upon the honor of a king.”
She watched him in the flickering light from the candle, her dark eyes gleaming with its reflection. She should have looked like the monster she was, but she did not. She looked like the woman he had almost gotten to know, the woman that had beguiled him with stories of her travels. She had seemed so open, so inviting, so ready to meet an equal. He had thought…
But no, he had not thought at all.
He had only felt.
And look where it had gotten him.
“I will have a bathtub brought in for you tomorrow,” he said. “And I will tell the guards they are to bring it whenever you have need of it. All you need do is ask them and it shall be done.”
She gave a slight nod, turning from him again. He supposed it was a dismissal, which made him linger. He did not take his leave on her command and his stubbornness bloomed into a push for him to walk into the room. He stopped in front of the cold hearth, looking up at the intricate carvings in the wooden mantelpiece.
“Why are you being so hospitable?” she asked.
It was an excellent question. Why was he showing a touch of hospitality when two hours prior he had chased her from the dining room? Looking at the flowers and vines interlocking in the wood he knew he’d come to her room for one reason only. Quite suddenly he felt certain that what he was about to say would be the best solution for everyone involved.
“Because I have something to ask of you,” he said.
“Oh?”
He turned his head to her. The window was open, a soft breeze stirring those black locks of hers. She stood straight-backed; hands folded in front of her. Even the grey dress seemed to glitter with unseen jewels in the moonlight. She looked strangely regal. As though the room itself framed her that way.
“An arrangement,” he said, turning to fully face her.
Her brow furrowed. “What kind of arrangement?”
“The beneficial kind,” he said. “For both of us.”
She unfolded her hands, looking as though she wanted to move away from him, or at least turn from him. He supposed that standing face to face felt like a challenge. Perhaps it was. She didn’t move. Instead, little to his surprise, she held her ground. Clearly, she expected him to elaborate. He waited for the right words to come to him.
“I have nothing to offer you, my lord,” she pointed out. “You know that.”
She thought he was there on a quest for further information about the scheme she had been entangled in. He smiled then.
“That’s not entirely true,” he countered. “There is something you have that I would go so far as to say I need. And I didn’t know it until an hour ago.”
“What is it?” she asked, the tension increasing.
“My father is old,” he said.
“I cannot take away his old age.”
Ewan smiled again. “No,” he agreed. “You cannot. But you can help me unburden him. He wishes to be free of the crown, as most old kings do, and he has set me my task to have it placed on my head instead of his.”
“The trial,” she breathed, taking a slight step back as though he had raised a hand to strike her. “You mean to kill me.”
He should not blame her for drawing conclusions—it made sense that the act requested of him would be one that set him on a path of a king protecting his kingdom no matter what—and yet he felt his patience wear thin immediately.
“I just told you the lengths I have gone to in order to secure the safety of my people. I just told you that the same protection will be afforded to you. And now you accuse me of plotting violence? I am not the one prone to scheming here.”
