I flick my gaze up to see him staring at me intently, his eyelids partially drooped as he takes in my every movement. I swallow hard as I force my gaze away. “Do your people allow for divorce?”
Marcello pulls back, his eyes widening. I’m surprised at his surprise. But perhaps he is just surprised at my own forthrightness. I wince slightly as I glance down at the scale on my arm as the Werma’s words dance through my memory.
Make it a match of true love, she says. But then she doesn’t tell mehowto do that. I know so very little about love, but I’m pretty sure that asking him if he wants to get a divorce isn’t the way to go about it.
“I—well, yes, but…” He pauses and licks his lips. “Yes, I suppose we do.”
I nod. “Good, I suppose neither of us are truly trapped then.” It’s a lie and I know it. I still need to get him to fall in love with me, and I with him before either of us are truly free. Or…
“I suppose not,” Marcello says heavily as he looks down at the sheen of the paste on his hand reflected in the firelight.
I move past him, grabbing linens from the top shelf. The Werma, for all her issues at least is a creature of habit and hasn’t moved anything since the last time I saw her after my coming-of-age ceremony. I take the linens, folding them in half and begin wrapping one up and down my arm. I tuck in the stray piece and gesture once again for Marcello’s arm. He holds it out grimacing as I begin to bandage.
“I can’t believe your people have it though. You go through a very painful ceremony just to then turn around and divorce each other.”
I pause, my fingers on the edges of his bandage as I try to tie it in a knot. I look up at him. “Oh, divorce is not as common due to life expectancy, it’s just an option in our case.” Assuming I don’t die young like so many others. I finish tying the bandage and step back. “There.”
He holds up a single finger. “Your uh, your bandage is dangling.”
I look down, cursing softly when I see that the end of the bandage that I tucked in came undone.
“Here, allow me,” Marcello says stepping toward me. I stiffen as he comes within a hairbreadth of me. If I turn my face will collide with his shoulder as he bends over my arm. He takes his time tying the bandage, moving so slowly and gently that for a second, I think he hasn’t even started yet before he leans back. “There. That shouldn’t be going anywhere.”
I arch a brow as I look down at his hands. I reach out, grasping the one that isn’t bandaged and look it over. “You have soft hands for a soldier.”
He pulls his hand out of my grasp, tucking it behind him. “That’s because I’m no soldier. I’m a scholar.”
“Is that why you were deserting?”
Marcello blinks, looking at me confused. “I beg your pardon?”
“When I captured you, you told me that you were no threat since you were deserting.”
“Oh.” Marcello drops his gaze to the floorboards. He kicks at a discarded mouse’s skull. “I suppose there’s no harm in admitting the truth now. I am no deserter. I’m a military strategist. I was scouting because I feel as if a map on a table can tell very little when it comes to staging battles. I wanted to go out and see the landscape for myself but then we were set upon by those wolves, and I was separated from the rest of my party. And then there were the dragons, and then…you. I told you I was deserting because I thought perhaps if you thought I wasn’t a military target you would let me go.”
I’m not sure why knowing that Marcello lied should make me upset. After all, he was trying to do what he could to survive. We were—still are—enemies. And yet, his words still fill me with fury.
“So, I wed a liar not a coward. This is good to know.”
Marcello snaps his mouth shut, his jaw ticking slightly.
I step past him, moving to the cauldron over the fire and sniff, taking in the scent of herbs and spices. “Are you hungry? This doesn’t smell like a potion, so I presume it’s dinner.”
“Not really,” Marcello replies, shifting so that he is still looking at me.
Indeed, I have no appetite either.
“I’d really rather talk,” he supplies, edging a bit closer.
“I don’t want to do that,” I reply stiffening. Marcello seems to be one for words and if he thinks that he will force me to like him without actions to back him up then he is mistaken. I am no fool that he can lie to and trick into loving him.
The Werma’s warning lingers on the back of my mind, but I shove that aside. Is it true love if he turns me into his willing servant out of love? I think not.
I will not be the first to fall.
“We know so little about each other, Laduga…”
“That would be because we met this morning.” I stop myself from saying that is exactly how I would like to keep it. I don’t know how things work in the land of the empire, Imperialis, but we don’t tend to bare our souls to our enemies here in Nelgata. The thought of revealing my deepest thoughts and fears to anyone, let alone an enemy from an invading land…
