With a click, the door swings inward, and we tumble into the soft rainbow of light of my chamber, laughing as we trip over a pair of slippers and fall onto the rug, me on my back and Alaric kneeling on either side of my hips, gazing down at me with a look that can only be described as ravenous.
Again, I expect Rowenna to intervene. To drag herself back from the Great Fields Beyond and physically wrench me away from Alaric if necessary. But there’s nothing. No voice in my head nor hum of her presence.
Alaric bends over me, covering my mouth with his, and I close my eyes as his tongue sweeps across my lips and his stubble tickles my face. My fingers trace the grooves of muscle from his shoulders to his trousers, and I thank the Vanzadorian gods that he isn’t wearing a shirt. That I get to explore so much of him without the impediment of clothes.
“We’ve been married for weeks. Why haven’t we been doing this all along?” he says between kisses.
“Because you were determined to avoid me.”
“Only because you wouldn’t stop accusing me of murder.”
“I’m going to murder you now if you keep on talking.” I bury my fingers in his hair and pull his face back to mine.
“So bossy and demanding,” he mumbles playfully.
“I do what I must to get what I want.”
Alaric pulls back and looks at me searchingly. “And amIwhat you want?”
He says it so hopefully, with such fragility, and without Rowenna’s voice in my head, I realize I want a lot of things—like this boy, and the way I feel when I’m with him. I want the miners to continue looking at me the way they did today. I want to help maximize their output so I can ride back to Tashir with a wagonload of supplies and earn my peoples’ and my parents’ gratitude and admiration. I want them to see I accomplished this impossible task and made peace with Vanzador. Maybe not in the way I initially planned or how anyone could have expected, but in my own way.
“Yes,” I close my eyes and whisper against Alaric’s lips, “I want you.”
Thirty-Three
“How thrilling!” Elodie claps with delight, beaming like a proud parent when I relay every detail of my kiss with Alaric the following day, as we take lunch in my chambers. “I knew you had a seductress inside you,” she continues. “You just needed the right tutor to set her free.”
She giggles and taps my nose with her fan, and even though Delphine doesn’t make a sound from the corner where she stands, I feel her scoffing.
My maid was considerably less thrilled to learn of the developments between Alaric and me.
I spewed the details as soon as she returned from tending to Cloudia, and she looked like she was going to faint.
“You realize it’s a calculated distraction, right?” she scolded. “ He’s trying to keep you from finding the gemstones.”
“He doesn’t even know I’m searching for the gemstones,” I reminded her.
“And are you—still searching?” Delphine folded her arms. “Because it sounds to me like you’re letting him manipulate you with his charms—like every other woman on this mountain.”
Her assertion made me flinch. “Our connection is different.”
“I’m sure.”
“Can’t you just be happy for me?”
“No. Because I don’t want to see you hurt. Or forget what’s most important. Don’t let a man distract you from your goals,” she said, waving the empty bottle of Cloudia’s medication still clutched in her hands.
Suddenly all made sense.
“This doesn’t change anything for you and Cloudia,” I said, reaching for her hand, but she pulled away.
“How can it not? If you’rein lovewith Alaric, you won’t be returning to Tashir, and you certainly won’t be taking my sister and me with you.”
I wrapped Delphine in a tight hug. “You don’t need to worry about that. If things work out how I think they will, you won’t need to flee Vanzador. And I won’t need to steal Soren and Alaric’s power. We can all help each other. Alaric wants me to continue using my magic to help in the mines. I wish you could have seen the goblin’s gold—howexcited Alaric and the workers were. I’m going to receive a percentage of the output from the mines, which I’ll use to purchase supplies for Tashir, so we’re not so burdened by the bagrava tributes. And Alaric promised to look into why Soren needs so much bagrava in the first place. I think…I think our nations can actually work together. That we’ll be stronger together. And I promise, wherever I go, you and Cloudia will be with me.”
Delphine still looked like she was going to cry, but she nodded and agreed to support me. I obviously couldn’t giggle and gush about the kiss with her, though—not how I am now, with Elodie. And it’s so refreshing to feel happy, hopeful, andfreefor a change.
“When do you plan to see him again?” Elodie asks. “Will he accompany you to the queen’s salon? I can’t wait to see the faces of all the girls who pined for him when the two of you walk in arm in arm. What will you wear? Can I dress you?” I have the most divine midnight blue gown that will accentuate your golden skin.”
