I curtsied instead of replying. The words I wanted to speak would only get me into more trouble. The king had lied to me. Manipulated me. Now I would be under “guard.” We both knew it wasn’t for protection—he wanted to keep an eye on me.
I hurried from the tent, the man from the lamp at my side and Nathanial trailing after us. We walked past the newly created army, standing as they had been when we left them what must have been hours ago.
I stopped, turning toward the man who created them. “Do they need tents? Food?”
He tilted his head, studying me closely, like he was trying to work me out. His voice was full of sensuous gravel when he finally spoke. “They are memories of those who once were. They do not think. They do not feel. They just are.”
The tingling shiver elicited by his words wasn’t the good kind.
Well, shit.I had unintentionally raised an army of once-dead soldiers. Soldiers who’d sacrificed themselves to defeat a great evil—if the king’s story was to be believed. The knowledge I disturbed those people made me sick. It wasn’t right.
I had no words for that revelation, so I continued onward, avoiding the sight of the still beings I’d unknowingly raised from the dead.
The beautiful man stuck close to my side, closer than any stranger should. Except he didn’t feel like a stranger, he was more. Important.
Essential.
Just the thought of him not being close made my chest constrict again, but it released with my next breath when his scent filled my lungs.
I mulled over every interaction we’d had since the moment he emerged from the lamp. The draw to him was ingrained in my skin, with no sense or reason behind it. A deep-seated need. One I didn’t understand but couldn’t question right now. My mind was already full of my responsibilities to my sister and the king. It wouldn’t do me any good to fixate on this newfound connection.
We garnered many stares as we moved through camp. Some of interest, others of fear and suspicion. I was too tired to take offense today. My legs sluggish, and my hands … still clasped the lamp. I hadn’t let it go again, even after the man was released from it.
Once in the privacy of the tent, I moved to the jug of water beside the bed. The lamp was cool in my hands, the surface sticky with my blood. It was still, the low hum silent.
I glanced toward the entrance, cleaning my blood from the smooth metal. The man from the lamp had halted, gazing around the space with an expression bordering on curiosity.
Fuck, I needed to know his name, I couldn’t keep calling him “the man from the lamp” in my head.
“What’s your name?” I asked, placing the dripping lamp on the small table, hesitating a moment before letting it go entirely. The excruciating pain I experienced when Beatus wrenched it from me was fresh in my mind, but it didn’t come when my fingers slipped from the metal. The intense attachment I had from the moment I entered the tomb, the draw, wasn’t to the lamp anymore. It tugged from another direction, the opposite side of the tent where the man stood. Silent and watchful.
The man didn’t reply, tilting his head again and studying me. I tried another question, one I hoped he would answer. “Why am I so drawn to the lamp? To you?”
“You are the one who released me. We are linked by magic of the Gods. It demands our connection, so you are drawn to me and while I’m inside the lamp, to it. We cannot be parted until your wishes have been granted.” His voice was calm when he spoke, his explanation raising more questions than he answered. Still, his words sent my heart racing.
“You can’t leave?” My quiet voice held a hint of vulnerability—I couldn’t begin to ascertain as to why. I glanced down, tracing the intricate engravings on the lamp’s surface with my eyes to avoid his. He didn’t reply and still hadn’t given me his name. That bothered me most.
I tried again. “Why did it hurt when someone tried to take the lamp from me before, but I can let it go now?”
This question, he answered, moving farther into the tent as he did. “The magic demanded my initial release. Now that I have been, you no longer need to touch the lamp, though you must keep it with you always.”
Wista arrived before I could ask the other questions filling my mind. She halted at the sight of my companion, the pail ofsteaming water in her arms sloshing. When she glanced my way, I did my best to offer her a reassuring smile.
If it were any other man, I wouldn’t want to be alone with them. Especially here. But there was something about this man—an inexplicable feeling of comfort and safety wrapped around me in his presence. Something I hadn’t experienced since my parents had died.
“I’ve come to prepare your bath, Adelia. Food is on its way,” my new friend said, moving behind the privacy screen.
“Thank you, Wista. I can help bring the water in.”
Her denial at my offer was unsurprising, so I waited in silence, looking anywhere but at the man who was equal parts intriguing and attractive. Wista announced my bath was ready, saving me from the awkwardness. She sent a disapproving glare to the man who still stood within the tent. My face heated. If we couldn’t be parted, did that mean he would have to stay inside the tent while I bathed? Gods, I would be mortified if he wouldn’t be able to go far enough away when I had to relieve myself.
There was an awkward beat of silence before the man inclined his head and exited the tent without a word, giving me the privacy I required. He stood just beyond the entrance, arms folded across his chest as he surveyed the camp like he was daring someone to approach.
“Come along, Adelia,” Wista said after releasing an exasperated sigh. She led me around the privacy screen, and I went through the motions of undressing and getting into the tub.
“Eleanor?” I asked, settling into the steaming water, the warmth soothing my aching legs. I didn’t need to say more, she knew what I was asking. Was she safe and unharmed?
Wista placed a towel and, thankfully, one of my own, more modest nightdresses beside the tub before she responded. “She’s fine, I was with her all morning. Lord Harkin has taken her for a trip to the village. I tried to go with them but …” She winced.
