I shake my head. I’m quite full, though I’ve eaten less than a fourth as much as he has. Not surprising, I suppose, considering how big he is.
“Well,” he says, after polishing off the bread. “It looks like you’re going to have a harder time getting to the Sorceress than you thought, Princess.”
I stiffen in my chair.
“This wouldn’t be a problem if you’d flown me right to her stronghold, like you promised.”
“I did the best I fucking could—I barely got us past the fucking desert,” he growls, narrowing his eyes at me. “Your brother kept me half starved in that dungeon—you’re lucky I didn’t fall out of the fucking sky in mid-flight.”
His words make me uncomfortable, and I don’t dispute them. But I’m still not sure how I’m supposed to get to the Sorceress now.
“Anyway,” Valen continues, “It doesn’t seem to me that we’ll be able to find her from the air. It sounds like she’s got a spell on her stronghold—if Maud is right, we can only reach it by following the path.”
I try to suppress the relief I feel when I hear him say “we.”
“So…you’re coming with me?” I ask casually, taking a sip of ale to cover my anxiety.
He raises his eyebrows.
“Do I have a choice? You’re still wearing the ring, and I still have on this fucking collar. Besides, I swore I’d get you to the Sorceress and back again and we Drakes keep our word.”
“Then I guess we’re going on foot,” I say. “Taking the path through the forest.”
He shrugs, his broad shoulders rolling.
“Doesn’t seem to be any other way.”
“No, I guess not.” I look down at my empty plate, not sure what else to say. I feel suddenly shy around him, though I don’t know why. Maybe because of what I saw him doing in the bathtub and the way I had to touch him to wash him clean. All of that was most improper and I hate him for it—or so I tell myself. But still, I can’t get the picture of his huge shaft jerking and painting his bare, muscular chest with white cream out of my head.
Valen doesn’t seem to have the same worries I do, though. He gives a bone-cracking yawn and rises from the table.
“I’m beat, Princess. Time to bed down for the night. Or at least catch a few hours sleep.”
“It’s the middle of the morning,” I point out.
“The sun is too high—you’re right. Let’s draw the curtains.”
He gets up and does exactly that. Then he goes to the large four-poster bed and sits heavily on one side.
“What are you doing?” I protest. “It’s not proper for you to take the bed. You should sleep on the floor—it’s the only gentlemanly thing to do.”
“Good thing I’m not a fucking gentleman, then,” he growls. “Besides, we have to sleep in the same bed—it’s part of the rules of the ring and collar.”
“We do not!” I protest indignantly. But then I remember again the words of the old, ragged manuscript—“Be ye aware that the one who controls the beast must also clean him and rest with him nightly.”
A very unladylike curse rises to my lips. What am I going to do?
“Come on, Princess—if you don’t lie down beside me, neither of us will be able to sleep,” Valen growls crossly. “I’m fucking tired, get your luscious ass over here!”
“I…I cannot sleep in the same bed as a man I’m not married to,” I protest. “My reputation would be ruined if anyone found out!”
“Well, there’s no one from your precious Court here to see you,” he points out irritably. “Besides, I know you’re a virgin. I won’t touch you.”
I hang back.
“Do you promise?” I ask, my voice coming out small and uncertain. I haven’t had to worry much about men trying to take advantage of me back home. As I’ve said before, I’m considered much too tall and overly-curvy to be attractive. But there was that one time with the Duke of Langerham. He’d come from a neighboring kingdom to visit my father and when he got me alone, he tried to?—
I push that memory to the back of my mind. I don’t want to dwell on the past—but I don’t want to repeat it either.
