She swallowed, struggling to marshal her thoughts. An intoxicating sensation still lingered on her skin where his touch had been. But she couldn’t let his nearness distract her into wasting this rare moment of openness. Her voice was little above a whisper, too.
“But your coldness hurts me, Theo.” He flinched at the simple words, but she pressed on. “Iwantto be wanted. I want to be appreciated for who I am, of course I do. But I also want to feel like I’m capable of inspiring emotion, of inspiringpassion.”
A ripple went over his features, one she could tell he tried to contain. He didn’t succeed.
“Elowen.” Theo shifted toward her, seizing her shoulders in a movement she didn’t see coming, and rotating her so that she suddenly found her back against a pillar. He leaned close, lowering his face as he murmured into her ear. “You are.”
Her pulse was racing, but she felt more daring than ever. This was nothing like the sensation of Bertrand looming over her. That had been cold fear—this was fire in her veins. She’d never wanted a man close like this before. The stiffness he showed on the surface hadn’t driven her away. It had just made her yearn to get inside. She wanted to bring him out, wanted to know she and she alone had the love of this complex but endlessly honorable man, more than she’d ever wanted anything in her life.
“Then prove it,” she murmured.
Theo’s eyes burned with something that made it suddenly hard to breathe, and Elowen’s heart tried to escape her chest as he laid an arm against the pillar above her head. His face inched toward hers, his inner defenses visibly weakening. But just as she was sure of victory, the sound of running footsteps reached her ears. Theo sprang backwards, his movements less than fluid.
Elowen turned, her breath coming too quickly, sure that she wouldn’t be able to hide her flustered state from whatever servant was racing past on an errand.
But it wasn’t a servant. Sophia came pounding around the corner, her hair disheveled and her eyes wide. She skidded to a stop when she saw Elowen, but the tumult on her face clearly had nothing to do with the situation in which she’d found her friend.
“Elowen, I’ve been looking everywhere for you! You have to help me, we have to do something.”
“Sophia!” Alarmed by her friend’s babbling, Elowen moved forward, grasping Sophia’s arm. “What’s wrong? What’s happened?”
“I know I told you I was worried he might do something,” Sophia said, her voice choked with emotion. “But I don’t believe he would dothis. He wouldn’t cause all those disasters. He couldn’t!”
“Who? Sophia, what—?” Elowen’s words cut off as she realized. She’d been so absorbed in the betrothal she’d forgotten about the announcement that came before it.
“Simeon,” said Sophia, with a sob. “He’s locked up in the dungeon, and they’re saying he confessed to causing the fire, and the dam, and all the rest of it. But I don’t believe it, Elowen! They say the king might rule for execution. We have to do something!”
Fear seeped over Elowen as she tried to make sense of it all. Her eyes moved to Theo, who’d been silent throughout Sophia’s outburst. He looked grave, but not surprised. Had he known? His gaze was heavy as he looked between the two women, as if struggling to follow the rapid pace of the conversation.
Elowen opened her mouth to ask if he was all right, but Sophia cut her off.
“This is all my fault, Elowen,” she said. “I have to fix it, I just don’t know how.”
“How could it possibly be your fault?” Elowen demanded. She frowned. “Sophia, it’s time to tell me exactly what’s going on with you. You said when the tournament started that you’d learned your mistakes hurt people other than yourself. What mistake did you mean?”
“Bertrand knows.” Sophia’s voice was a whisper, her eyes distraught. “He knows…” She glanced self-consciously at the still-silent Theo, then pushed on. “He knows my heart. He’s beenholding it over me, threatening to expose me to our parents. It’s how he convinced me to tell him things about you that I never should have, like the foolish ideas of the perfect, romantic man we used to joke about. I’m so sorry, Elowen.”
“Never mind that,” said Elowen quickly, embarrassed to have that incident brought back to everyone’s mind. She cast a look at Theo to see slow comprehension cutting through the fog that he still seemed to be struggling with. Was he really so affected by half a goblet of wine?
“I think it’s made Bertrand harder on Simeon as well,” Sophia said. “I know I said Simeon has been on the edge for a long time, but I can’t believe he’d do this.”
“Sometimes,” Theo interjected gently, “if we really don’t want to believe something, it’s hard to see it clearly.”
“It’s not like that, Your Highness,” Sophia insisted, more bold than Elowen had seen her in a long time.
“I agree with Sophia,” she said quickly. “None of this adds up with what we know of Simeon. Can it really be true that he confessed?”
“It’s true,” Theo said. “Your father told me as much right before the feast.” His eyes were sympathetic as they rested on Elowen’s face. “You remember that we’ve spoken of this before. I believe there truly is evidence to suggest he was behind it.”
“Then the evidence is wrong,” Elowen said firmly. “I don’t blame you for believing it,” she added quickly. “Because you don’t know him. But we do, and—”
She cut herself off as Theo swayed slightly.
“Theo,” she said, gripping his elbow in alarm.
“I’m fine,” he assured her. “I slept very poorly last night, and after this morning’s event, my weariness has caught up with me. I developed a headache during dinner, it’s why I retired early.”
“You should sleep,” Elowen told him. “I’m supposed to retire as well, and my maid will be wondering what’s taking me solong.” She put her arm through Sophia’s and squeezed. “Walk with me, Sophia, we can speak more.”
