by Jayne Faith
“Mother, shush!” Toric bellowed, cutting her off.
End up in the flame? Akantha had said something similar, something about the fires. And pool of wife candidates . . . ?
My heart seemed to wilt a little as I remembered what I’d very deliberately forced out of my mind: at a certain age, the Lord had to choose a Calistan wife to bear his heirs. If the Return to Earthenfell did not happen while Lord Toric was on the throne, he needed to produce a Calistan son to become Lord after him. The thought of Lord Toric marrying a Calistan woman and having children with her was even worse than imagining him in bed with women of the harem.
Lord Toric turned his mother so they were both facing away from the center of the room. “If you have something to say to me about Maya, have the decency to wait until we’re not standing two feet away from her and surrounded by the biggest gossips in the palace,” he said. I wasn’t sure if he’d meant for me to overhear or not.
People were staring, and my entire body was aflame with embarrassment. I stood rigidly, resisting the urge to slink over to a shadowy corner.
There was a commotion near the entrance, and I let out a relieved breath when guests began to shift their attention.
The soft instrumental background music stopped, and there was a flourish of horns. I caught a glimpse of Sir Jeric near the doorway. People began clapping and clearing the way for Akantha to go to Jeric. They joined hands and smiled and waved.
Lord Toric used the distraction to take my hand and pull me off to the side, as we were right in the path of where Akantha and Jeric were headed. But we didn’t move fast enough for me to escape Jeric’s notice.
When he caught sight of me, his lips parted and shoes scuffed to an abrupt halt. Akantha was casting nods and waves to people nearby, and she turned to him in irritation.
Jeric snapped his mouth closed and averted his eyes, but not before Akantha saw that he’d been staring at me. Her face paled, and she went very still for a heartbeat. Then she tugged at his hand and continued on as if nothing had happened.
We stood off to the side as the honored couple took the two center seats behind the long table. People began to move toward the many round dining tables as the Queen went to sit next to Jeric.
“You’ll sit next to me,” Lord Toric said and led me to the end of the table so we could go around to the back.
He took a seat next to his mother, and I sat on his other side. With great relief, I realized Cassi was claiming the empty seat next to me.
But when I looked up, I sucked in a breath at all the eyes turned my way. It was like being on stage. Each guest stood behind a chair, looking up at our table.
People were filling the seats next to Akantha, too. Her family perhaps. I wasn’t sure. The room had gone nearly silent.
Once our long table was completely occupied, Lord Toric raised his goblet. “Be seated and enjoy the celebration.” Conversation began to resume as the guests sat down.
I slumped a little, deeply relieved that everyone seemed mostly occupied with settling themselves and conversing with their tablemates.
“It’s a bit much, isn’t it?” Cassi said.
I gave her a thin smile. “Not the sort of life I’m accustomed to.” I thought about saying something polite about how I was happy to be there but didn’t want to sound insincere. I was glad to be with Lord Toric, but between his mother’s outrage at my presence, Akantha’s angry glares, and the stares of the other guests, it was challenging to keep my composure.
“Maya, this is my husband, Ralor.” Cassi leaned back a little so I could see the man on her other side.
“I’m honored to meet you, Sir Ralor,” I said and inclined my head.
“Likewise, Maya.” He quirked a smile at me, and the sparkle in his eyes said he was the type of man who laughed often. “You’ve certainly made your mark in the Tournament. And upon its Mistress.” He said the last part in a stage whisper, and Cassi swatted at his arm with the back of her hand. Ralor chuckled and gave her an impish look.
“I apologize. I do not know what to say to that,” I said with a good-natured smile. Ralor was obviously not a fan of Akantha, but I knew it would be in bad taste to openly acknowledge it.
His eyes flicked to Lord Toric and then back to me. “You seem to have made quite an impression on our Lord, as well.”
“That’s enough, darling. Maya has had enough scrutiny for one evening,” Cassi said, but there was more affection than reproach in her voice.
Lord Toric reached for my hand under the table, and some of my tension drained away at his warm touch.
He leaned slightly toward me. “I apologize for my mother’s outburst. The things she said were terribly rude.”
“She said what I’m sure everyone else is thinking.” I flashed him a tiny, rueful smile. I was trying to be brave, but it still stung.
I nearly asked him to explain her remark about me ending up “in the flame,” but Iris’s face came into my mind, and I was suddenly aware of the ever-present faint throb of the implant at the top of my spine. She’d tried to tell me something about the fate of the losers in the Tournament, but she’s skirted around the subject, obviously afraid of setting off her implant.
If I were going to ask the question, I’d do it away from a crowd. Activating my implant was the last thing I needed . . . Or, maybe writhing across the table in pain while the Monitors burst in to carry me away would actually be just the way to end the evening. I cast a glance at Akantha. It might almost be worth the punishment. I snorted a laugh and quickly covered it with a cough.
“You’re carrying yourself like a queen,” Lord Toric said. “No small feat after all you’ve been subjected to.”
I looked into his blue-green eyes for a moment and then slipped my hand from his grasp. “This moment is probably the closest I will ever get to being your Queen,” I said, looking out over the room. “Soon you’ll be choosing a wife and starting a family.”
I could sense how my words deflated him, but I didn’t have much sympathy. After all, it was the truth, and it did us no good to ignore it.
“Not if the Return happens first,” he said. “If we Return to Earthenfell, I will not need Calistan sons. Instead, I will have children who are half-Earthen.”
I shot him a sharp look. Against my will, my heart lifted at his implication. “Pinning your hopes on fulfilling a prophecy your people have been striving toward unsuccessfully for many hundreds of years . . . you truly are a dreamer, Lord Toric.”
I shook my head and gave a small, cool laugh. But sudden heat flared inside me at the thought of returning to Earthenfell with Lord Toric . . . the thought of children who were half-Calistan and half-Earthen.
His hand found mine, and he squeezed my fingers hard. “Yes, I am a dreamer, Maya,” he whispered fiercely. “The truth is, my dreams and my faith are the only things that sustain me.”
I took a shallow breath as his passionate words stoked the heat within me to a blaze, and the room seemed to reel for a moment. My eyes flicked to his wide mouth. His lips were parted, his breaths rapid, and I knew. I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. If only we were alone, I would press my body to his, and he would crush his lips to mine. I would lose myself in his belief, in his dreams, in him. Just for a moment.
He released my hand, and his fingers found my knee. They trailed slowly, so slowly, up my thigh.
The Queen’s face appeared around Lord Toric’s shoulder. “A toast before we begin?” she said, giving him an expectant look.
His fingers left my thigh, but I could still feel his fingers trailing up my leg and filling me with fire.
He cleared his throat. “Yes, of course.”
The Queen picked up her knife and tapped it against her wine glass. Others took up the signal, and the clinking chorus continued until the room silenced.
Lord Toric lifted his own glass. “I offer a toast to Akantha and Jeric. Congratulations on your engagement. May your love run deep, your passion burn bright, and your loya
lty remain unwavering. We wish you a lifetime of joy.”
My pulse still raced from his touch, and I could feel my heartbeat in my lips and at the side of my neck.
“You could not at least stand to deliver the toast?” the Queen said in a none-too-quiet whisper to Lord Toric.
“No, Mother, I could not.” He kept his voice low, but did not hide his irritation.
My gaze slid to the corners of my eyes and tipped downward to Lord Toric’s lap.
I knew why he did not stand to give the toast.
I held my tumbler up to my mouth to hide the mischievous grin forming on my lips. Instead of taking a sip, I used the vessel to block the view of anyone who might be trying to eavesdrop by reading my lips.
I tsked softly. “Lord Toric, you’re a strong and powerful man. And yet your legs have mysteriously failed you, preventing you from properly rising from your seat. Another insult to your future sister-in-law, I’m afraid.”
He deliberately knocked a fork from the table with the back of his hand, and it landed on the floor between us. When he reached down to retrieve it, his lips were level with my ear.
“It is no mystery; it is you who make my legs weak. But it was not my legs that prevented me from rising,” he whispered, his breath against my cheek and ear, sending shivers cascading up and down my body. I bit my lower lip, holding in a soft hum of delight.
We continued our game through dinner, finding little excuses to brush against each other or speak a few whispered words. I felt as though I’d plunged into a dream. Every sensation seemed intensified, and it was as if all the nerves in my body had attuned themselves to him.
All the guests and their critical and disapproving glances faded to the background—except for one. In my periphery, I saw Sir Jeric leaning forward every so often to peer down the table at me. Fortunately, Akantha was on his other side and couldn’t see where he was looking.
Just before dessert, one of my hairpins pinged to the table. Two more followed, and I felt one side of my hair droop.
Lord Toric collected the three pins and held them up. “It appears your hair is attempting to undo itself.”
“Oh, dear.” I patted the fallen side. “Where is the nearest powder room?”
He gestured off to the left. “Just beyond that door.” He placed the pins in my outstretched hand.
Rising, I excused myself and made my way off the platform.
Through the door Lord Toric had indicated, I found a short dead-end hallway with a door to the ladies’ room on one side and the men’s room on the other side.
I had the ladies’ room to myself, and I was so focused on trying to repair my hair it took me a moment to realize that a point of light was brightening behind me.
I shrieked as a portal rapidly formed in the center of the restroom. For a moment, I was frozen, pressed up against the counter and trying to look through squinted eyelids to see who or what would come through. I came to my senses and lunged for the bathroom door.
But before I could open it, a large hand slammed it shut and turned the bolt.
I spun around to find Sir Jeric behind me.
“Don’t worry, no one knows I’m here,” he said. He was standing too close, and the maniacal glow in his eyes made my pulse stutter with alarm.
“Why are you doing this to me?” I put one hand to the wall behind me. If I could stay where I was, I might be able to turn and unlock the door to make my escape.
“I know I seem like a man possessed,” he said. He squeezed his eyes closed, pressed the heels of his hands over them, and then opened his eyes and gave his head a hard shake. “But I can’t help myself, Maya. I’m having visions of myself as Lord with you by my side. I can’t get them out of my head. And I feel as if something within you is calling out to me. It’s getting worse. At times I come to and I can’t even remember where I was or what I was doing. I . . . I don’t know what to do.”
True pain twisted his face, and in spite of my fear, I felt a stab of sympathy. He did not want to hurt me. I somehow felt sure of it.
“Sir Jeric, have you told anyone else?” I asked.
He shook his head. “How could I? It would sound insane. Not to mention traitorous.”
“Perhaps some sort of medication or treatment. Maybe a doctor—”
“No,” he cut in. “A doctor would have to report me; I’d be committed. Or worse.”
“I’m sorry you’re suffering, but I don’t know what I can do about it,” I said, raising my palms.
He closed his eyes again and drew a ragged breath, and I edged closer to the door.
“I think if you—if you chose me,” he said haltingly. “If you were mine and not his. Then my insanity would subside.”
“Sir Jeric, I am no one’s. I’m still just an Obligate in the Tournament. I might not even win.”
His eyelids popped open. “You will win,” he said fiercely. “Even if you are not mine, I know you will win. You have to. It has been foretold.”
The strange thrill I’d felt the first time I’d seen Lord Toric and the first time he’d kissed me, flooded my veins. “Foretold by who?”
Someone rapped sharply on the door, and we both jumped. Jeric turned and stepped through the portal, and it winked out.
“Maya, are you okay? Lord Toric sent me to check on you.” I recognized Calvin’s voice.
I unbolted the door and opened it a few inches. “Ah yes, I’m sorry, I’m trying to fix my hair, and it’s giving me fits. I’ll be out in just a minute.”
He nodded once. “I’ll wait for you.”
With shaking hands, I managed to get my hair pinned up. I felt sorry for Jeric, for I could see that his torment was genuine. But I had to tell Lord Toric what had happened. If Jeric could pop in and out of a room at any time using a portal, I’d never feel a moment’s peace.
When I got back to the table, I recounted the episode in a whisper. Lord Toric’s face darkened, and his eyes flashed.
I put my hand on his forearm. “Please don’t get angry. Something terrible has gripped him, and I truly don’t think he means me harm. And I think it’s—well, I think it could be something important. I don’t know your prophecies, but it seems that his visions or urges or whatever they are . . .” I trailed off, unsure of how to explain my feelings, and then an idea came to me. “Could you at least tell the Priestess about it and see what she says?”
His jaw muscles worked for a moment, but he finally inclined his head. “Yes I will; that is a wise course of action. Know that you should not need to fear him appearing in your quarters. My chambers are protected by anti-portal devices. Just to be sure, though, I’m going to order a check and recalibration for the entire space. And until then, you’ll be staying with me.”
My brows shot up. “With you?”
One side of his mouth quirked in an almost-smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll be a perfect gentleman. I’ll have to with guards in the room at all times.”
I shook my head. “That’s hardly necessary, my Lord.”
“It’s that or Jeric gets arrested immediately.”
I narrowed my eyes, but my withering look melted into a sly smile. I heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Fine, you win.”
Some guests stayed to dance, but Lord Toric and I left after dessert. He said that my clothes and few possessions had already been moved to his personal chambers.
Tullock and another guard stood inside Lord Toric’s bedchamber when we entered. Aside from a nod from Tullock, they seemed to be ignoring us or at least doing a fair job at acting uninterested. My eyes slid toward Lord Toric’s huge bed. Did he really expect me to sleep there with him? While there were two guards in the room with us?
“Let me show you where your things are,” Lord Toric said. He led me toward what I remembered to be his dressing room, which opened into his large bathroom, at the far end of the bedchamber.
Once inside the dressing room and out of sight of the guards, he turned to me and slipped his arms around my waist. In one smooth movemen
t, he lifted my feet from the ground and then set me down on a little stool that was positioned in front a three-way mirror.
He nuzzled my ear, sending shivers cascading over my skin. “Sitting next to you all evening drove me nearly mad,” he murmured into my hair.
His breath against my neck and his sudden nearness sent sparks exploding through me. I slipped my arms up around his neck. His mouth hungrily covered mine, re-stoking the heat in my core. When he tangled his fingers in my hair, I dropped one hand from his neck. Slowly, I trailed it down over his collarbone and then slipped it under the V opening at the top of his shirt.
His skin was deliciously hot against my fingers, and his muscles flexed as his hand on my lower back pulled me tighter against him.
He broke away from the kiss and swallowed hard as he tipped his forehead against mine.
“If you had any idea how deeply and fiercely I want you right this moment, you would flee from this room,” he whispered.
“Nothing could tear me away,” I said.
He let out a slow breath. “I missed you. Is it wrong that I’m glad Jeric gave me a reason to keep you close?”
I laughed softly and then shook my head. “But I expect you to keep your word.”
He pulled a mock-forlorn face. “I know, I know.”
I knew I didn’t really need to worry about Lord Toric being a gentleman. And I had no intention of deepening our physical relationship until the Tournament was over.
But I’d been thinking—despite the depth of my feelings and attraction to him, I wasn’t sure how I felt about a physical relationship even if I did become part of his harem. I would be just one of many women he brought to his bed, and I honestly doubted my emotions could handle such a life.
I did not want to be one of many. I wanted to be the only one. But that was impossible. Even if I won the Tournament and he renounced the other harem women, soon he would marry a Calistan wife, and he was obligated to take her into his bed.
