Page 47 of Cage of Darkness
Jana’s eyes flashed withfury.
Kerdan took Allyssa’s hand, kissingthe top of it. Clearly, he wanted the queen to think they hadsomething beyond a physical relationship. What she couldn’t figureout was why.
“And should you think aboutkilling my father in order to rule Russek, don’t. After him, thethrone goes to me, and then I have uncles and cousins you knownothing about. You can’t kill them all. It’s time you understandthat the throne will never be yours.”
The queen bristled.
“Didn’t my father ever tellyou the line of succession is through the men?”
Allyssa couldn’t help herself andsaid, “I guess you could say you are a harlot of sorts.”
Kerdan chuckled as Jana’s face drainedof all color.
The queen took a stepcloser to them, lowering her voice. “How do you think I’ve managedto survive all these years? You have no idea who you’re up againstand the lengths I’m willing to go to get what I want. So go aheadand threaten all you like because when this is over, I’ll besitting on the throne andbothof you will be begging for mercy that will nevercome from me.” She turned and swept out of the room.
Kerdan slammed the door shut,laughing.
“I hardly think thesituation is funny.”
He shook his head. “She had armor onunder her dress.”
“As protection fromyou?”
“Possibly. I’m sure herenemies are vast.”
“We need to talk about whatjust happened,” she said. “But first, put a shirt on.” Holding therobe tightly around her body, she gingerly sat on the couch, herstomach and arm stinging.
The prince slid a shirt on and tiedhis pants. “I apologize,” he said, combing his hair back with hisfingers. “I thought it best.” He sat next to her on the couch. “Letme see your wounds.”
“They’re fine.” Sheclutched the robe firmly shut.
“You’ve inspected them toensure they are healing properly and there is no sign ofinfection?”
Well, no, she hadn’t.
“What’s the matter?” heasked.
She fidgeted with the sleeve of therobe. “Why did you remove my clothes? Did you know Jana would comehere?”
“I had no idea she wouldshow up. Not once has she ever visited here before.” He twistedtoward Allyssa on the couch, reached out as if to take her hand,but withdrew, awkwardly placing his hands on his lap. “After youpassed out, I removed your clothes for two reasons. First, to makesure you hadn’t sustained cuts elsewhere. Second, I feared therecould be some residual poison on the fabric.”
She couldn’t even look at him. He’dseen her naked. Covering her face with her hands, she didn’t knowwhat to say as shame coursed through her.
“Allyssa,” he said gently.“There is no need to be embarrassed.” He pulled her hands away fromher face. “My main goal was to help you. You need to understandthat I consider you a valuable ally on equal footing as one of mylieutenants. I can’t afford to lose you. I treated you as I would amember of my personal guard.”
Even though there was nothing romanticbetween them, she still didn’t like the idea of him seeing hernaked.
He sighed. “I’m sorry if I offendedyou. My only concern was saving your life—not yourmodesty.”
“I . . .” she stammered.“No one can know. I can’t have my virtue called into question.”Staying in his bedchamber was bad enough. If she made it out ofthis alive, her reputation would be sullied. Her only saving gracewould be that Odar wouldn’t mention it to anyone, nor would he holdit against her. However, if people found out, if Jana told someone,if the castle workers talked about what they saw and heard, therewould be no salvation.
“I won’t tell anyone,” hepromised. “Now, let me take a look.”
Her eyes widened, mortified. She heldthe robe closed, refusing to allow him to see her again.
“Fine.” He stood, turninghis back to her. “Check yourself. Make sure neither cut hasanything oozing from it and that there aren’t any blackmarks.”
She hurried and opened the robe,pulling up the shirt and examining the wound on her abdomen. Therewas a thin red line, no black marks, nor anything oozing from it.Closing the robe, she pushed up her sleeve. Again, the cut lookedfine. “All clear.”
