Though she kept her gaze on his face, she was vaguely aware that he’d drawn her into a chamber with soaring ceilings.
“There now,” He released her and then held out his right hand. “Let us be friends again?”
“Friends?!” Of all the—friends! With aduke!?
“Friends,” he confirmed. “Unless, that is, you consider me beneath your touch?”
“You...” She pushed his hand away. “You’resuchaduke!” she spoke his title with all the venom and confusion and frustration that had been building within her for days.
His left-cheek dimple briefly appeared. “Well, now, thatisan insult. ...Which rather places us on equal footing, does it not? You feel I’ve insulted you, and now you’ve returned the favor.”
She glanced heavenward. “But youarea duke.”
“The slight was not in the word, but the tone, as you well know. Come” —again, he offered his arm—“let me show you the library. The workman only recently finished the addition—and I confess I find myself extraordinarily pleased with the result.”
She’d barely given their surroundings a glance. Now, however, she took in the room. Three-stories of bookcases set neatly within tiers of balconies surrounded them in a semi-circle, all standing opposite a single wall of glass that felt, from this vantage, as if it extended to infinity.
For a moment she could not find her voice.
Threefull floors of books. More books than could ever be read in a lifetime. And he’d saidrecentlyfinished. Did that mean the room was of his design?
His nose wrinkled as he laughed. “My castle, you disdain. My library, however...”
She craned her neck toward a ceiling painted night-sky blue and set with glass that formed the constellation of Heracles. She dropped her gaze, turning wonderingly to the series of marble sculptures anchoring the room. The one nearest them depicted a rather impressively muscled man with a sword confronting a multi-headed beast.
“The hydra?”
“Yes.” He indicated the next statue. “And the boar. Then there’s the cattle, the hind, the stables...” He stopped next to a statue of a man and woman, both finely formed.
“And here,” she said, “is the poor, unfortunate Amazon who, though willing to give up her belt, is then brutally murdered.”
He frowned down at the depiction of Hippolyte handing the hero her girdle. “Not Heraclesfinestmoment, I’ll admit.”
“Ah, but an excellent warning to women...concede nothing, else you be stripped of the whole.”
Something flashed behind his eyes—something that left her feeling adrift. He drew back, brow furrowed as if he were wading through his own internal quagmire.
He pursed his lips. “You do not concede anything easily, do you?”
“Not easily, no.” Or so she’d vowed.
“I understand,” he replied thoughtfully. “Though, I trust that, for harmony’s sake, we’ll eventually learn how to negotiate to our mutual benefit.”
He was babbling again.
What did he mean byeventually? Orharmony? Or, for that matter,mutual benefit? Had he lost his mind the moment they’d entered Hevenhyll?
“Alicia,” he changed the subject, “tells me Fee could escape the tower of London, if given the chance to try. I should think you’d appreciate extra help.”
Of course, he hadn’t forgotten—nor, apparently, forgiven—the incident. “Felicia never goes far.”
He gazed out the window, surveying the fields beyond the baily with a severe expression. “Just the same, I would hate...” His voice faded. “She’s not familiar with these grounds.Youaren’t familiar with these grounds. A child could easily”—his voice cracked—“get lost.”
“But...” Not one retort came to her lips. “But...” she tried again and came up empty a second time.
He softened, chuckling quietly.
She sent him a furious scowl.
