Cage carries me down a hall I’ve never been down before, and I can’t seem to tear my eyes away from him. He’s cradling me so gently, and I feel more at ease than I have in months. I settle my head against his shoulder as he walks me through a tall archway and into what appears to be a labyrinth of rooms. A long corridor leads into a room with a bed that we pass by. Another room seems to be a dining room of some sort, and we pass yet another that looks to be a library, filled floor to ceiling with books. Cage carries me past all of it to a room that’s almost completely bare, with the exception of a large tub that’s filled with steaming bathwater, from the looks of it.
Cage sets me on my feet and removes my robe, letting it fall to the floor. And then he lifts me again, settling me in the hot water.
“Your queen’s maid will be along shortly to help you get clean,” he says, crouching beside the tub and swirling his finger through the water that’s slowly turning black from the ash on his skin and mine. It sizzles at his touch and begins to boil.
“I’m not that dirty, am I?”
Cage raises a brow at me in that way that he does. He seems to be just as surprised as I am that I’m getting flirtatious with him. This isn’t exactly how we do it. Cage and I haven’t liked each other since the moment I walked through the portal without permission.
But, well. Maybe I do like Cage, after all. I’ve never seen him like this before, playful and sweet. It’s a good look for him.
He grabs onto the side of the tub and leans in close to me, until I feel breathless at how little space there is between his mouth and mine. When he speaks, his breath is hotter than the water in the tub. “You’re absolutely filthy, my queen.”
A shiver runs through me, despite the heat, and when I think he’ll close the distance between us and kiss me, instead, he stands. “I’ll see you in the morning, at breakfast.”
Disappointment rises in my throat. “You’re not staying?”
Halfway back to the archway, he turns and looks at me. “My quarters are on the other side of the throne room. These areyourquarters.”
“We don’t…share quarters?”
He seems to regard me for a long moment. “That is not how it’s done here.”
I don’t know why his words seem to knock the wind out of me, but they do. Wasn’t the biggest reason I agreed to this whole thing was so I wouldn’t be so lonely? And now, what, I’ll bemarried to this person but we’ll never see each other or spend time together? I guess I’ll have my maid…
I don’t know what he’s seeing on my face, but he’s definitely seeing something because he turns his body back toward me and says, “We will sleep apart, my queen, but you are my wife, and I intend for this to be a marriage in every way. If you want me, you need only ask.”
Does he mean right now? Right this second? If I tell him that I don’t want him to go, that I want him to stay while I take a bath, will he do it?
I can’t even decipher my feelings for this person, someone who I thought I really didn’t like until he kissed me while he fucked me, and now I feel like a teenager, ready to beg for the affection of a king who has better things to do.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” I tell him, sinking down into the tub and watching the ash on my skin run off into the water.
I can’t read his face, not with his eyes just small flames in the darkness of his head and his mouth a thin line. And after a minute, without another word, he turns and leaves.
As soon as he’s gone, a woman comes in from a doorway on the other side of my bathing room. She has a jar in one hand and a towel in the other. She smiles as she crosses the room to me and sets the towel on a nearby boulder.
She bows, that same bow that I’ve learned to offer Cage, a slight lowering of the chin, quick and painless. “Hello, my queen. It’s an honor to meet you.” She doesn’t look much older than me, maybe in her early thirties, with her hair pulled back in a tight bun. She’s the first human I’ve seen in this part of the mountain.
I smile, but I'm distracted. I wonder what Cage would do if I just went to his room or if I begged him to stay here with me. I’m the queen. Doesn’t that get me special queen privileges, like having the king sleep in my bed?
Do Iwanthim to sleep in my bed?
Fuck, I don’t know what I want.
“Can I ask you a question?” I ask. My maid’s eyes go wide. I guess she wasn’t expecting me to speak to her while she helps me wash my hair. “How long have you worked for the king?”
Her chin wrinkles, and she pours something into the tub that immediately begins to bubble. “I suppose about six years now. I worked in the kitchen, but when we heard that you would be joining us, I applied to be your maid.”
“So, you know the king well?”
She sends me a quizzical look and then nods. “I guess you could say that. I’ve interacted with him quite a bit.”
“What kind of person would you say he is?”
She stops lathering shampoo into her hands and looks at me. “My queen, I believe the king is the kindest, most honorable person I’ve ever known. He shows empathy to his people and generosity. If it isn’t wrong to say so, I think you’re the luckiest woman in Isiriel.”
I sink down into the bath and consider her words. Should I expect less because I’m already the luckiest person in Isiriel? I should try not to overthink this whole thing. I’ve been married for all of twenty minutes.
