Or why the strange, sluggish beat of his heart was a weight on her shoulders and a comfort all at the same time.
Chapter 15
Hellebore was perfectly content where she was, but where she was, however, was not perfectly content to let her stay that way.
She woke up, blearily blinking in the early dawn to see Taiyo pushing himself up and throwing one leg over to the other side of her so he was straddling her waist. She raised an eyebrow and said, “Dare I ask what you think you’re doing?”
“I’m keeping my word.” Taiyo sat back on his knees enough that he wasn’t completely cornering her in. “It’s morning. Now I get to be frustrated with you.”
“And you can only do that hovering over me and looking down at me?”
Taiyo raised an eyebrow. “I’m making sure you don’t bolt and almost get yourself captured again.”
Hellebore huffed but made no protest or attempt to shove him away. She just gave him the cool, indifferent look that always had his eye twitching.
If he got to be frustrated, she got to be emotionless.
“You went behind my back.”
“I did. And it was for nothing because my aunt didn’t even reply to the message.” And now Taiyo knew she’d been trying to pry into the past after they’d made it part of their rules not to.
“Not today, but soon, I will tell you what happened.” He didn’t even give her a chance to respond, breezing past it to continue, “More importantly, what concerns me most is that you knew it was likely a trap, but instead of thinking it through and trusting me, you only trusted yourself and didn’t think of the consequences.”
Hellebore gaped at him, processing his promise he would tell her and trying to catch up to what he’d just said. After opening and closing her mouth a few times, she started pushing herself up onto her elbows as she choked out, “I admit it. Yes, I was foolish.”
“I don’t think you realize what the real problem here is. You thought you could handle anything because you’re a skilled alchemist. That’s the only thing you were thinking.”
And now she’d exposed the truth. Everyone else was right about her, and he knew now he was stuck with a mediocre alchemist at best.
“I overestimated my own abilities, I am aware,” Hellebore said through gritted teeth, glaring up at him.
“No.” Taiyo leaned in closer, his hair spilling over his shoulder and the orange ends brushing her cheek. “Youunderestimatedyour value.”
His words slammed into her, nearly taking her arms out from under her. She shrank back slightly into the pillows helping prop her up, unable to make any sense of his words. How could he possibly think that?
“You still think of yourself as an alchemist exclusively. The fact that you are my wife, the queen, never crossed your mind. It never occurred to you that our enemies would take you because of your value to me and not because of your alchemy.”
He was right. But did she admit it? She’d done an awful lot of admitting to him the night before.
She whispered, “Should it have?”
“You are my wife.”
“Only so you could have an alchemist.”
His gaze darkened, and he shifted lower. His fingertips brushed her cheek, moving to gently cradle her jaw. “You might be my alchemist, but you are my wife first. Not the other way around. Is that clear?”
A knock sounded on the door, saving Hellebore from questioning what he was trying to imply by that specific phrase. “Your Majesty, did Queen Hellebore leave already?”
Her maids.
“No,” Taiyo called out, sitting back on his heels again, a smug grin on his face. “She’s right here. Go ahead and draw her a bath and she’ll be right in.”
Heat flooded Hellebore’s cheeks at the implication, and she quickly pushed herself up, glaring at Taiyo as her maids stammered an embarrassed assent from the other side of the door. Taiyo easily shifted back, letting her scramble off the bed.
She brushed off her clothes, but there was no use as they were filthy, and so were his. He was right, she did need a bath. She said, “While I will attempt to be more cognizant of my full position the way the rest of the world views me and I will promise to take more care and not go behind your back again, don’t think that or last night changes anything on a fundamental level about this arrangement.”
“A romantic, aren’t you?”
