I would have castigated her for it, but I could see her worry. And knowing I’d put it there both humbled and confused me.
I clasped her hands in mine and gave a reassuring squeeze. “The minute Arim knew it was me, he eased the pain of the fire blast.”
At her wide eyes, I cursed myself for my poor choice of words.
Especially when she grabbed me by the shirt and tugged me around to see my back again. The touch of her warm palm on my skin sent a shiver of sensual delight through me. I could only hope it didn’t show.
When I glanced up at the others, I saw their not-so-hidden grins.
I swallowed a sigh.
“What? Did I hurt you?” Tessa stopped stroking me.
“No, I’m fine,” I managed, ignoring how much I missed her touch, and pulled Tessa to my side. “Now why don’t we sit on the bed and catch up with Arim like normal people?”
Cadmus snorted. “Don’t you mean, people pretending to be normal?” He whistled when Tessa and I moved past him to the bed. “No wonder you were worried, Tessa. Now that I can see it, Marcus, your back looks like shit.”
Aerolus reproved Cadmus for his language, and while they argued, I reassured Tessa I indeed felt fine. Seeing how disturbed she was by my back, I decided to cover it up. Except all my clean clothes were downstairs in the laundry when they should have been clean and folded and in my room.
Once again, Cadmus had slacked on his portion of the housework.
“I’ll just be a minute while I change,” I told her, sparing a scowl for Cadmus, who continued to ignore me in favor of arguing with Aerolus. “Don’t move, and don’t let anyone intimidate you.” I shot Arim a visible warning.
Despite my uncle’s vast power, I wouldn’t tolerate any more threats in her direction, from anyone.
Arim tilted his head in question but said nothing.
“I’ll be right back,” I promised and hurried out the door and down a flight of stairs to the laundry.
As I tossed off the ruined shirt and grabbed a plain, gray sweater from atop the dryer, I couldn’t help feeling useless. Once again, I was late detecting a threat. Tessa had responded instinctively to a shift in the energy fields.
Yet I, who knew better, casually accepted the disturbance, assuming it had been Arim.
What if Arim hadn’t been the intruding source? What if instead, Sin Garu had managed to find us and sent both the Netharat and the Djinn to counter the safety spells surrounding the house?
I threw on the sweater, feeling like a total failure. How could I hope to protect a kingdom when I couldn’t even protect a single woman? Twice now she’d come to my aid instead of the other way around.
Dejection settled heavily on my shoulders, and I gazed bitterly at my reflection in the paned glass of the room’s only window.
Royal Four, ha. More like Royal Three and a Mistake.
Lifting my chin, as I’d often seen Father do before addressing the masses, I called to the Beyond.
“Father, I deeply regret my shortcomings, yet know I pledge above all else my life for our world. In this I will not fail.”
I left, not wanting to imagine the disappointment in Father’s silver gaze.
An odd thought struck, that instead of the overking’s ghostly reflection, I’d missed the wavering image of sad frustration lingering over a once-great monarch and failing father.
I shook off such nonsense and trekked back up the stairs to those much more worthy than me.
Chapter 16
Tessa
“Very impressive,” Arim murmured as he studied me from the top of my head to my bare feet.
Nothing about the perusal felt sexual, yet I’d still been uncomfortably, thoroughly examined. Arim’s gaze made me feel like a woman first and foremost. And damn, did every guy from Tanselm rate an eleven on a scale of one to ten?
