The King strode past me.
“There's no reason for both of us to lose sleep.” I hurried ahead to the lab door and unlocked it. But I didn't open it. Instead, I turned to look at the King. “You can't help me with this.”
“I will keep you company.” He leaned around me to grab the door handle and paused with his face an inch from mine. “I will be very unhappy if you fuck that Ricarri.”
“What?” I drew back. “Which Ricarri?”
“You know which. Orro.” The King opened the door and went into the lab. “If you fuck him, we're done. If you fuck anyone but me, we will be done.”
“I didn't realize we had begun.” I walked in and shut the door.
“Don't play coy. You know I want you. So, you need to decide if you want me or you'd rather fuck every man in the palace.”
“Everyman in the palace?” I went to my worktable and removed the bomb remnants from my pockets, setting them on a metal dish. “That sounds exhausting.”
The King snorted. “You know what I mean. So, what do you want, Sevarin?”
I turned to look at him. “First, I need to know what you want.”
“I want to explore the possibility of us. I can't guarantee we will have a lasting relationship, but I think we'll be good together.”
“Have you forgotten that I'm not interested in emotional ties?”
“No, but I don't believe you.”
I didn't believe myself either, and that scared me. My earlier inclination to end things with the King faded away. If I felt like this about him after knowing him for just three days, how would I feel in a month? No, I couldn't ignore the way I felt. Emotions could be powerful, but they were unreliable. To survive them, I had to define them and the terms of this potential love. In short, I had to be true to myself and my heritage.
“Very well, I will agree to a relationship with you if you agree to a contract.” I crossed my arms and leaned back against the table. My back itched with the need to get started with the metal, but I knew I had to settle this first.
“A contract? What are you talking about?”
“When Volper court and decide to take a relationship further, we define how we will proceed. It's not a written contract, but a verbal agreement. Terms accepted by both parties.”
“You want terms for our relationship?” The King gaped at me.
“Yes.”
“Such as?”
“I will not be kept. You may ask me to stay, but you will not assume that I will. Nor will you make any public claim to me.”
“I cannot claim you as my lover?”
“You may say I'm your lover, but you won't behave possessively. No fighting over me or warning me away from men as you just did. I'm making a contract with you. That alone says that I will not betray you. Do not insult me by implying that I would. I choose to be with you, but that does not mean I belong to you.”
The King stared at me in silence for a few long moments. “That is acceptable. What else?”
“Wait, are we doing this? Because if we are, our terms must be witnessed by fire.”
“Fire, eh?” He motioned at my worktable. “I'm sure you have something you can light.”
“It should be a hearth fire.”
“Very well.” He went to the fireplace and the logs there caught.
I joined him, but although there were two chairs, we both remained standing a foot from the flames. “I'll trust you to abide by what we agree as you must trust me.”
“I give you my word and my trust. Now, what are the rest of your terms?”
