Page 14 of Earth Dragon
She remembered greeting him in the harbor as he arrived in Fawha. She had glimpsed him whenever he visited Malcolm but had not been brought into the tighter circle back then. She had never gotten the chance to get to know him until the tournament. The ease of their conversation had been new to her. Typically, she was the one who made others open themselves up and share themselves, but with Ewan, it had been she who had found herself answering any question he threw at her. She had been honest with him about everything. He simply hadn’t known to ask the right questions to get a confession out of her.
He had taken her hand once as she was balancing on the narrow edge of one of the fountains. She had faltered and his hand had been there, without hesitation, to steady her. She had never felt anything like the happiness she had felt in that moment. It had been like the rushing of the river beneath them had entered her veins and she had felt connected to everything around her, but most of all to him.
She had wished he would kiss her then but had stopped herself.
Because she had remembered her true purpose and falling for a prince of the four kingdoms was not a part of it.
She hadn’t been falling, she kept telling herself. It had been a momentary lapse in judgment, and this was nothing more than a captor negotiating with his captive. She had no standing here. She held no leverage. Except for one thing.
“I may not be ready to produce an heir for some time,” she said slowly. Aside from trusting his honor, keeping an heir from him was her only assurance that she would be kept safe. “It could be years,” she added.
He nodded slowly. There was no clouding of his brow or even a crease of displeasure on it. He had not come here to bed her.
For some reason, it made her hearts feel lighter. This was not about claiming her body, at least not in that sense. Her stomach, however, felt heavy with disappointment, and she quickly got rid of the feeling. She might enjoy the curve of his lips and the cut of his jaw, but to desire him would be detrimental.
He did not love her.
He never would.
“I understand why you’d need time,” he merely said.
Did he look relieved? Did he not want to bed her? She felt a different kind of bristling within her, chasing away the last vestiges of her disappointment. If he thought of her as undesirable, then she’d take so many lovers that he’d have to open his eyes to the truth. But even the idea left a bad taste in her mouth. She didn’t yearn for lovers. The truth was, she no longer knew what she wanted since she was expected to no longer want anything, but rather merely to accept whatever was offered to her. And this offer, this arrangement, seemed as good as anything else.
“Are we in agreement then?” he asked.
She took him in. Those soft dark locks and how they caught the light of the candle, those high cheekbones and the invitingly shaped lips. The way he carried himself and wore his princely finery without a second thought. And his hands, which were well-shaped and strong.
“Yes,” she said. “We are in agreement.”
“Swear it on your inner dragon,” he prompted.
“I swear it on my dragon fire,” she said. “May it fail me if I fail you.”
He paused, gaze resting on her, then he gave another nod and left the room.
She watched him go, wondering what exactly she was getting herself into.
***
The following morning, she stood by the window, brushing her hair and looking down at the spot where she had seen Ewan linger the night prior. She had thought he had turned his head to her, that their eyes had met, but it had been so dark and such a great distance between them that she hadn’t been sure. Still, she realized she was smiling to herself and killed it off before it could reach her hearts.
There was no hope to be had of things changing for her.
She was a refugee and a prisoner. She was a traitor. And no crown would change that. He would always know. It would be all he ever saw her as.
But hehadasked her to be his mate…
She growled at her hearts insistence that there might be more there. Her mind constantly turned the situation over and over, around and around went her thoughts, examining the possibility that he had come to her because their time in Fawha had made him care for her. Perhaps he couldn’t admit it to himself that he did, not with what she’d done looming over them both. Perhaps he was holding back.
“Stop it,” she muttered to herself.
It was going to be a show, nothing more. And she couldn’t have it go to her head whenever he looked at her with warmth and adoration. It wouldn’t be real. She had to steel herself against wanting it to be.
There was just such alluring safety in the thought of his love. If he loved her, he would protect her. And if she were his mate then she would belong to him and her father…
Her father would have no more say over her.
There was a knock on the parlor door. It opened without her responding with anything, but at least a knock was better than him continuously barging into her rooms. Once he entered her bedroom, she noted that he was wearing dark brown breeches and a leather jacket. The outfit worked to show off his muscular thighs perfectly and his broad chest. He looked so good it sent her hearts fluttering nervously. The outfit also told her that he was going hunting.
