“Ugh.I was just vomiting,”I croak, turningmy head away,disgusted enough for the both of us.
“Beauty doesn’t leave,love,just becauseone’s sick.” Hecrouches down in front of me and grabs my chin with gentle fingersbefore turningme back to face him. “Does yourlovinghusband not show you that?”
Jerking out of his grasp, I clench my fists as I try to stand. Hitting him wouldn’t be a great start to negotiating for peace.
“What do you want with me?” I ask as I stumble back, my legsstillfloppy beneath me.
Standing, hereaches inside his jacket, and I tense, wondering what horrors he’s going to pull out.
“Here.” He offers me a plain flask, and I stare at it, my brain trying to decipher what my eyes are seeing. “It’s just water. To wash your mouth.” He unscrews the lid. “I would’ve brought wine, but I didn’t think you’d drink it if you couldn’t be certain about what it was.”
“There are a lot of poisons that are tasteless, odorless, and –”
He raises it to his lips and drinks without hesitation. The Adam’s apple at his throat draws my attention as he swallows. Once. Twice. Not a little sip, wary of ingesting too much poison. But a hearty gulp that tells me what he says is most likely true.
Still…
“Why?” I ask, staring at him as he lowers the flask and offers it to me once more.
“Because I’m a gentleman.”
I snort. “You kidnapped me!”
He takes a step towards me, his dark-gray eyes flashing with humor. “No, you came out on your own and then grabbed my arm to run away with me.”
My eyes narrow. I can see why no one has sat down with him to discuss peace negotiations. Talking to him at all is a chore. “After youcoercedme by threatening my people,” I remind him.
He cocks his head to the side with a smug smile. “Was itcoercion or was it a lie?”
“You didn’t.”
“Didn’t coerce you or didn’t lie?”
My mouth drops open as utter rage for myself hits me. “I’m sostupid.”
His smile falls. “No, Sau.Naiveisn’t the same thing as stupid. Besides, it’s not your fault Caden keeps you locked away in some ivory tower, which by the way, isn’t even very nicely decorated, to keep you ignorant of the world.”
I stare at him wordlessly. Out of all the ways I thought this would go when I slipped out ofthebasement, this is definitely not one of them. Though to be fair, I don’t even know what thisisreally. He isn’t trying to kill me.He’s nottorturing me or cutting off parts to send to Caden to twist him into doing whateverhewants.
He’s…complimenting me? Wasthoughtful enough to bring a flask of water for after we phased away?
What.
The.
Fuck?
My mouth opens, then closes again,my thoughts still awhirl.
“Drink,” he says again, offering me the flask.
Wordlessly, I take it. Sniff it and then raise it to my lips when I don’t smell anything suspicious. The cold liquid hits my mouth, and I swoosh it around to get rid of the vile taste of my vomit before swallowing.
I tense, expecting to die or at least go into a seizure of intense pain.
But there’s nothing.
It’s just water.