A set of stairs led to a single room with a bed the size of a deep sofa and a bathroom small enough that she could touch both walls if she stuck her arms out.
“My mate died in the war,” the woman said. “He was a soldier. Got caught in the chest by one of those Rogos grenades. Tears of the goddess.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“It was a horrible thing what Eleanor did to our kingdom.”
They all exchanged sober nods.
“Anyway, we kept this room in case we ever had a whelp, but that’s no longer in the cards for me.” The pain in her voice almost broke Harlow’s heart.
“How much are you asking?” she blurted.
“Forty-five dragmars a month.”
What luck! Harlow bounced on her toes. The rent was incredibly low, lower than any she’d come across in the kingdom. She could afford it now! She didn’t have to wait. “I’m interested.”
“I’ll need the first month’s rent, and I have some paperwork.”
“Can I come by tomorrow?” She hadn’t brought any money with her, fearing if she had it, she’d cave and spend it on a carriage.
The woman looked between her and Marius, an appalled expression crossing her face. “Is this some kind of a joke? I didn’t think you were looking for yourself. You can’t both plan to fit in that bed even for an infrequent rendezvous! And if you don’t mind my saying so, I know who he is, and he should provide better for you.”
Harlow waved a hand in the air. “Oh! We’re not together. He’s just a friend. And it is for me. I need to move out of my parents’ house.”
The woman rubbed her chin and seemed to contemplate her options. “All right. Bring the money tomorrow, and we’ll sign the paperwork.”
Harlow clapped her hands and gave Marius an excited embrace. She had her own place! One more step toward her dream of independence.
Chapter Thirteen
Marius followed Harlow as she spilled out into the street. She was practically dancing. “You can’t honestly intend to live there!”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re a former aristocrat, and that apartment was barely large enough for a hound,” Marius grumbled. The house didn’t look safe to him. Would it fall down around her while she slept? Would she be robbed because the door didn’t lock properly? Two women living alone in a place like that might as well paint a bull’s-eye on their backs.
“It’s what I can afford,” she said cheerfully. “It’s all I need. It’s just me after all.”
“It’s a hovel.”
She beamed back at him. “But it’s going to be my hovel and mine alone.”
Marius blinked at her and suddenly understood, or at least he thought he did. “You want to escape your parents’ reputation.”
She sighed. “That’s part of it. Although honestly, that reputation is undeserved. They’re not bad people, and if it was only their reputations to be contended with, I wouldn’t want to move.”
“Then what is it?” He fell into step beside her and, before he could overthink it, slipped his hand back into hers.
“They’re starting to pressure me to… move on to the next stage of life.”
“To marry and bear whelps,” Marius ground out. It wasn’t an uncommon thing in their culture, but suddenly the idea left a bad taste in his mouth.
She gave him a knowing nod. “They have the best of intentions. Each of them framed it up as saving myself from a sinking ship. I understand they want better for me. But I’m not willing to marry to advance my position. I want to wait for love… for my true mate. I don’t want to rush into a marriage just because I need the money or connections. I’d rather be alone and living independently in that apartment than carrying the weight of a contractual marriage on my shoulders. That’s not a relationship. It’s a cage.”
Marius wrestled down an impulse to insist she absolutely not marry any other man. He had no business saying such a thing. He certainly was not marriageable material himself, no matter how much his inner dragon wanted to claim her as his own. Besides, to bring up such a thing at this moment, when she was opining her future independence, would likely put to rest any possibility of a future relationship.
His past self would have fallen into this trap, tried to force her compliance with his will. New Marius, with all his flaws and idiosyncrasies, understood he had no power and therefore nothing to wield over her. His only hope was to relate to her. And so that was what he tried.
