“It looks like someone’s been digging there. I suspect they used some of the material to create the swamp I saw in the hay maze. Perhaps they were able to enhance it using magic.”
“Are your parents…indulgent?” Elowen asked abruptly.
The day before, she would have been interested to hear about what he’d found inside the maze, but she was more irked than she should be by the cool manner he’d regained since then. She wanted to draw him out. Childish maybe, but…she wanted to get a reaction.
Theo seemed surprised by her question, but he considered it seriously before answering.
“No, I wouldn’t describe them that way. They’re honorable and fair, however, and I certainly wouldn’t call them unkind.”
“But they’re not warm,” Elowen finished for him. He hadn’t said it, but he didn’t need to. The information wasn’t exactly a surprise. “And do you take after them?” she asked boldly. “Rumor is that your brother doesn’t, especially. And when I met your sister, she seemed warm enough, if a little shy.”
“Miriam isn’t shy,” Theo said. “Just careful in unknown company.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” Elowen pointed out.
He let out a breath that was a little too long. “How can I? How can I hope to assess my own manner objectively? I believe I’m considered both responsible and unemotional, as my father is.”
“Like Patrick, too,” Elowen said, determined to draw him into something more than this cool formality. “Appropriate for a future king, I suppose, but I thought a younger prince would be allowed to have more fun.”
Theo smiled, but the expression startled Elowen. There was a bitter twist to it that she’d never before seen on his face.
“As a princess is?” he challenged, and Elowen deflated.
He was right. She knew better than to think that either Theo’s time or his responsibilities were up to him. But surely his manner was his own affair.
“You know the answer to that, I suppose, having a sister yourself. You were quick to defend Princess Miriam from being called shy. I think you have warmth for her if for no one else.”
“I hope I have warmth for all my family,” Theo said shortly, apparently not enjoying the conversation. He relaxed slightly as he continued, however. “Miriam and I have always been friends as well as brother and sister. I do care about her, a great deal. She wished she could come with me, to meet you properly andexperience the tournament. She’ll pester me for every detail when I return to Sindon. Many of her questions I doubt I’ll be able to answer.”
He cast a sidelong look over Elowen’s form, and she straightened the folds of her dress self-consciously.
“Is something amiss?”
“Not at all,” Theo said. “I’m just trying to commit one gown to memory so I can try to satisfy her. Thick, golden brocade with a matching scarf.”
Elowen laughed. “That’s a poor description of my favorite riding gown,” she informed him. “And I suspect Princess Miriam will be more interested in what I wear to a gala than an everyday garment like this.”
He smiled faintly. “I’m sure you’re right. I won’t pretend to understand these things.”
Elowen eyed him thoughtfully. “Your sister had a political marriage tentatively arranged before ours was ever discussed, didn’t she? She had an eleventh-hour escape from hers. Do you wish for the same?”
“Of course not.” Theo sounded startled, and the look on his face as his eyes flew to Elowen’s almost looked like penitence.
Elowen lowered her gaze quickly, unable to meet his eyes. The softness she’d seen there made her feel suddenly unmoored, unsure of her footing. She waited, half ashamed of her secret hope that he would say something flattering, or even vaguely positive about her and their proposed marriage.
It was a hope destined to be disappointed. Perhaps she’d imagined the change in Theo’s manner, because as the silence stretched on, she felt his suspicion grow. When he finally broke the silence, his tone was stiff.
“I hate to repeat the same question, but Elowen…do I need to be concerned about the commitment of your kingdom to our alliance?”
“I have no answer for you but the same one,” she said coolly. “We’re fully committed, as ever. Why must you even ask?”
“Because you wouldn’t meet my eye after asking if I wished to be released from our engagement,” he said disbelievingly. “What else was I to conclude but thatyouwished for release?”
Elowen had no answer for him. She could hardly tell him the mortifying truth, which was that her purpose had been to elicit compliments from him. She’d never felt more childish. She at least appreciated Theo’s forbearance in not listing his other reason for doubt, namely the fact that he still hadn’t received a straight answer about a wedding date.
“That’s not the case,” she said at last, her voice small.
Not eager to discuss it further, she urged her horse into a walk, and Theo kept pace with his own mount. They meandered through the floating gardens in a silence that couldn’t be called companionable.
