He chuckled, the throaty sound tickling something within me. “Your Graceis a bit too…dainty for my preferences.”
I blinked. “Your Terrifying-ness.”
He cocked his head, considering the term. “Better. As for why I’m here, Cal tells me you keep asking about Stefano, and Stefano keeps asking about you, so I’m bringing you to visit him.”
Finally.Last I’d heard, Stefano was still recovering from his wounds. I’d been dying to check on him, needing to see for myself that he was okay and smack him upside the head for nearly dying for me.
“Felda’s going to give you an earful for allowing me to walk to another part of the Citadel.”
“I can handle Felda.”
“If you say so.” I set the stew down.
Harthon shifted in front of me, preventing me from swinging my legs over the bed. He nodded at the bowl. “Finish the stew first. Then we’ll go.”
I shook my head. “Let’s go now.”
He didn’t move. “It wasn’t a request. Eat.”
I peered up at him, not liking the demand in his tone. Seconds ago, when he’d made a reference to who gave orders around here, he’d been joking. Now, he wasn’t.
“No.”
His expression became steely. “No isn’t an option.”
I drew back. “Then whatisan option?”
“Eating, or the word ‘yes.’”
Stubbornness morphed into something ugly. “If acquiescence is the only response you’ll accept, then I have no options. And if I have no choices, then you’re taking away my autonomy. In which case, you still consider me to be a traitor. Your prisoner.”
After my conversation with Ana, I’d finally assumed we were past the whole “prisoner” situation. Maybe I was being dramatic, taking what started as an innocent conversation in this direction…or maybe I wasn’t.
Silence stretched. When he finally spoke, he didn’t confirm or deny my statement. He only said, with utter implacability, “You aren’t getting up from this bed until you eat.”
I clenched my jaw. “What am I, Harthon?”
He dropped his fists into the mattress, bringing his face level with mine. “You are the woman who’s going to eat your damned stew before you see Stefano, because sustenance is what allows you to heal, and I need you to heal.”
That didn’t answer my question at all.
He straightened and handed me the bowl. I glared at him, refusing to take it.
“I’m not above feeding you,” he threatened.
Knowing he would follow through, I pulled the bowl from his hands and began to eat with more aggression than necessary.
He sat on the edge of the bed, the mattress dipping. “We’re going to First after the Conquering Day celebration,” he informed me. “We’ll be visiting Sixth and staying with Aric first. He’ll see it as a diplomatic gesture, acknowledging our alliance. But it’ll also allow us to see what he knows about First, scout the area, and rest before crossing those borders.”
The childish part of me didn’t feel like talking to him. But the mature part, the one with the multicolored eyes and a duty to uphold, had to.
Albeit with a short tone.
“Is the Conquering Day celebration just an anniversary of the day you took over the Territory?”
“Yes.”
I couldn’t help but say, “Creative name.”
