I took another sip for courage and said, “I’m thinking about your intentions with me.”
Rhazien coughed into his emerald napkin.
I narrowed my eyes and bit my lip. “I’m waiting for the moment you ask me to find an item for you as a means to do something…terrible.”
“You’re right to be apprehensive.” He composed himself and cleared his throat. “There is a task. One that can only be completed through someone with your abilities.”
My stomach plummeted without his denial of terrible motivations.
“What is the item?” I asked, pressing more than I likely should given our unfamiliar relationship. “And what happens after I find it for you?”
“Reyva.” The way the vowels of my name stretched on his silky voice stilled my raucous heart.
“I understand.” The regent stood and moved to kneel at my side. “I understand you’ve been maltreated. I understand why you think my only interest in you is for your gift. I want you to feel at home here, not just because of your gift, but because I want a future with you.”
My heart softened, not only at his words but at the sight of him. Rhazien Kyrell, immortal ruling regent, kneeling and pleading for me to listen to and understand him. “A future?”
“Yes.” He placed a kiss on my knuckles and returned to his seat. “My intentions with you go far beyond this task.”
I studied him from behind the wine-filled chalice. The dry cabernet, my favorite vice, was doing its best to ease my nerves. Our eyes met. Hues of green stared back, soft and searching.
“Your intentions to court me?” I clarified.
“Yes.” Delight flickered in his gaze, like mentioning it meant I’d already accepted.
“To what end?”
“To whatever end finds us.” Rhazien speared a piece of meat and chuckled. “What are your thoughts on the matter?”
I chased an odd shaped potato with my fork as I admitted, “I don’t know enough to say.”
Rhazien wiped the corners of his mouth. “If you’ll have me, I’d like you to become my future queen.”
My fork hovered above a cut of meat, frozen by his statement.
“Y-your—” I stammered. I couldn’t have heard that correctly.
“And until you accept,” he continued like I wasn’t staring at him, dumbfounded and slackjawed, “you’ll be known as my prospect.”
I set my silverware down and my stomach clenched.
“So, in the carriage. When you said courtship, you really meant it?”
He chewed a piece of meat and nodded. “Mhmm.”
“And that’s different from being bound?”
He nodded and swallowed. “Oh yes. That’s the acceptance piece.”
I pressed my fingers into my temples. “So, you’re courting me?”
“Right.”
“To offer your…shadow?” I asked without a single ounce of confidence.
“Correct.”
“And I would become bound to you?”
