“I don’t wantyouto go.” The words slipped out of their own accord, barely audible.
Taevas squeezed her waist. “And I can’t be without you. How do we negotiate this?”
“Negotiate?”
He spun her slowly, careful to never put too much space between their bodies as he turned her to face him. His tail coiled around her leg with an affectionate, possessive squeeze.
Something in his gaze was different when he looked at her then. It was intent, almost cool. Like he was looking at a wily opponent rather thanher.“I’ve been treating you like you’re mine because you are, but I’ve neglected the other parts of you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m Isand, but you’re a queen. We’re leaders. We do politics. We negotiate terms to make mutually beneficial arrangements. I need you and I need to get to the ’Riik. You need me and don’t want to leave. Now we have to negotiate to find a compromise.”
She sputtered. “I’m not aleader?—”
“You are,” he firmly interrupted. “You are a natural leader, Alashiya, and even if you weren’t, you are by birth and by my Choice. So tell me your terms. What do you want?”
“I— I don’t want anything!”
Taevas breathed deeply. “Believe me, Iknow.But I’m not asking you as Shiya. I’m asking you as Alashiya, descendant of the first nymph and queen of this grove. I’m asking you asIsand,not as Taevas, your husband.”
“I…” She shook her head.
He didn’t show her any mercy. In that same cool, professional voice, he said, “Your people are leaderless in the UTA, Alashiya. I’ve seen them. They haphazardly vote on a representative and send them to Congress every year, always a new one, never anyone who dares to speak up when it counts. No one thinks of nymphs when laws are made. They have no voice. If you could be that voice, what would you ask for? You said to me that people see nymphs as easy pickings. What would change that?”
He’d always seemed grand to her. A little larger than life, even before she grasped who he really was. But now he was something different. His expression, how he held his shoulders, the tone… Taevas wasn’t humoring her. He wasn’t indulging in her whims to get what he wanted. He really, truly wanted to know — not as her lover, but as aleader.
The sense of power it gave her was dizzying. Too much. Queasiness made her stomach turn.
“I don’t know. I need to… I need to think about it.”
“Then think. Come back to me with your terms.” The mask of the Isand cracked a little, revealing the softness underneath. It gleamed in his violet eyes when he leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead.
“Would you really give me anything I asked for?”
His expression took on a strange, almost wry cast. “As my queen, I’m required to negotiate with you, purely on principle. But asmine,I’d give you far more than you could ever ask of me.”
“What if this doesn’t last?” The words came out of her all mangled and mashed up, like her vocal cords did their best to reject the very concept. Somehow they made it out, though she wasn’t sure it was a good thing. The moment they hit the air, everything went very still.
Taevas took his time answering her. “Is that what you’re afraid of,metsalill?That when we leave this place, I’ll forget about you?”
She looked away, too exposed by the questions. “I just meant that if— There’s a chance we won’t— I have to know if your promises will hold if it turns out we’re not…”
Gods, I really can’t even string the sentence together.That hook in her chest, the bright, hot feeling in her blood — it wouldn’t allow it.
“I owe you a life debt. If it wasn’t for you, I would’ve been found and probably executed. I’ll be indebted to you for the rest of my life, no matter what happens between us. The entire Draakonriik, every dragon under my command, my clan — all of them are in your debt, Alashiya. You don’t know what that means yet, but you will.”
If I could ask a leader of the UTA for anything for us, what would it be?
She thought that Taevas must be a bit of a liar, because a natural leader might’ve thought of it already. They probably would’ve considered how to angle their advantage, the favors they’d be owed by him for what they’d done. They wouldn’t havetried their damnedest to chase him out of their house whenever the opportunity arose.
But the thought was there now, a seed planted in fertile soil. She could already feel the roots unfurling. Soon enough it’d grow into something real, something she coulddo,and then all her excuses about why she couldn’t leave would mean nothing.
Nausea bubbled in her stomach, but for the first time, a little bit of excitement came with it. She couldn’t dwell on that too long, afraid that even acknowledging that shemightwant to go would scare away what tiny amount of courage came with it.
Hands shaking for a different reason, she stepped out of his hold and moved to scoop up her basket from where it sat by the door.
“Shiya? Where are you going?”
