18. Irina
Chapter eighteen
Irina
I sipped amber liquid from a crystal tumbler as King Melric smiled and watched my every move.
When he summoned me for an official audience to advise him on matters of health and the state, we met in the Privy Council chamber, surrounded by guards and the bustle of Councilors and messengers. More often, though, he hosted me in the private dining room over a meal that felt more intimate than official.
That night, following a most delicious dinner, the King suggested we retire to his study.
“You love to study, do you not?” he asked.
I smiled and took his proffered hand and stood. “I do, Your Majesty.”
“Did you know, my library contains the oldest tomes in the Kingdom, perhaps in the world? There is an entire section of journals by Kings and Privy Councilors dating back to the time before we were one kingdom.”
He didn’t release my hand as we strode toward the door. A servant waiting to clear the last of our glasses glanced down, and her eyes widened before flitting away.
“I dream of a day when no crisis or audience commands my attention, so I might read alone and explore the mysteries bound in leather in my own home.” He squeezed my hand as we made our way down the hall.
“What would you read?” I asked, flustered by his clasp and his leading me into his most cherished part of the Palace.
“I think the question should be, what would you read?” He glanced sideways, a grin playing at his lips.
The hairs on my arms perked at his smile.
“What do you mean, sire?”
He stopped before a large wooden door. Ornate braces held torches on either side. The King removed a chain about his neck I knew he wore beneath his tunic. I had seen it several times when examining his health. A single key slid down the chain as he held it out to me.
“That is the key to your library?” I asked.
He nodded.
“I wondered what room you held so close to your heart,” I said, taking the key.
“Please, do the honor then,” he said, motioning to the brass plate with the keyhole. “Did I mention that some of the journals were written by Crown Healers? If I recall, one is six hundred years old.”
I fumbled the key before sliding into the lock. “Six hundred?”
Click .
Melric leaned down and whispered so close to my ear I could almost feel his lips. “That is not the key to my library. It is the key to my heart.”
The door swung open, and I stood frozen beneath its arched frame. What lay before me was no study. It could barely be described as a library. The cavernous chamber behind the simple door was lit by only a few candles and stretched beyond my sight.
“Would you please your King with a ball of Light?”
I looked back, puzzled. He had never asked me to use magic for anything beyond Healing. Still, he was King.
I focused on my Light and called a ball of bright bluish flame. As it grew, darkness fled, revealing a palace unto itself.
“Dear Spirits,” I whispered.
The room was narrow, the width of five or six carts traveling side by side, but it went on forever. I sent my ball of Light ahead of us, hoping to glimpse the far wall but never did.
“How is this possible?” I breathed. “This room must extend beyond the Palace walls. Does it go into a mountain or underground?”
I ran my hand over leather tomes on shelves that lined every wall. The ceiling rose more than twenty feet, and rolling ladders stood sentry at regular intervals along each side. In the center, leather chairs and a few elegantly carved desks were the room’s only furniture.
“Am I to teach you of magic this night?” the King mused. His hand found the small of my back, and he guided me further inside. “I will pour us drinks. Take a look around.”
I was already lost in wonder by the time I heard ice hitting glass.
“I never knew so many books existed,” I said.
“The library in Sil boasts more books than any in the world, though I doubt that claim. Few outside the royal family have ever seen this one. As you discovered, our study received a bit of magical enhancement.” Melric chuckled. “At last count, there were more than six hundred thousand volumes here, but that was a decade ago and did not include official state records. I believe we may approach one million any day.”
“A million,” I repeated, unable to find my own words.
“Do you like it?” He stood beside me and held out a glass of brandy.
“This may be the most wonderful room in all the world. I could spend my life trapped in here and never feel imprisoned.”
He laughed, a booming sound almost as rich as his voice when giving royal proclamations from his throne. “We can skip the imprisonment. You are welcome to enjoy it whenever you like.”
I turned to face him, blinking away disbelief. “Your Majesty?”
He sucked in a breath, reminding me of how new apprentices braced themselves the first time they stood before our Master.
“Why don’t we sit and chat? There are things . . . well . . . I would like your thoughts.” He downed half his glass and stepped back to refill it. I had known the King for almost a year and had never seen him act so discomfited. If I didn’t know better, I would say he looked nervous.
We settled into oversized chairs, and I watched as Melric swirled the ice in his glass like a soothsayer reading the future in leaves. “Someone on my staff commented that you have visited the Palace every day for eight months. Were you aware of that?”
My eyes widened. Of course, I knew my visits were daily. He summoned me daily, and I was the King’s to command. What I hadn’t realized was how closely the staff paid attention to guests’ comings and goings. That was unnerving.
Melric eyed me, a grin forming. “I have worn this crown for twelve years. If I let the nattering nits get to me with their gossip, I’d never get any work done. You should not let their talk bother you. Besides, I have come to . . . trust your counsel.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” I leaned back, trying to relax despite the creeping feeling that the ceiling might fall on my head at any moment. “Your trust means a great deal to me.”
“Good. That is good. Trust is very good,” he said, beginning to babble. He ran a hand over his beard. It was still mostly black, though snow would eventually cover his face as it did every corner of the Kingdom.
I studied him with my Healer’s gaze.
There’s something off about him tonight.
Then the King did the last thing I expected.
He rose, set his glass on a side table, and kneeled beside me.
What is he doing? My heart leaped into my throat.
Color flooded the King’s cheeks, and his gaze rose to meet mine. I wanted to reach out with my magic, to sense what he felt, to understand why he acted so strangely, but I dared not. He was my King.
“Irina, you were important to Asin. You know that, right?”
I nodded. “She was my friend, Your Majesty. I cared for her.”
He looked down, then back up. “You are loved by the people. I think . . .”
Again, he looked down, and gulped.
He’s so nervous. Sweet Spirits, his hand is shaking.
“I think you could be loved by your King, too.”
I fumbled my glass, splashing liquor across my pale green dress.
“Your Majesty—”
“Please, Irina, call me Melric, at least when we are alone.”
No one called him by his name, not even his closest friends.
I tried looking away, but the gaze of a king held power. It compelled with the force of a magic all its own. And when a king said he could love you, his gaze became the whole world.
He took my glass and set it on the table, then cradled my hands in his.
“Your Majesty, you will get brandy on your tunic.”
“First of all, my name is Melric.” He smiled, and some of his nerves seemed to settle.
“And second?”
“I have a palace full of servants to care for my tunic. A little brandy will not bother them one whit.” His smile brightened. “Irina, you became part of our family the day you first set foot in this Palace. Since then, you healed me in more ways than I can count. I have come to rely—no, that’s not right—I have come to enjoy—dammit—Irina, I need you.” He struggled a moment. “When you’re here, my heart is lighter. When you leave, the halls of this Palace grow dim.”
“Your Maj—Melric—” I was spluttering worse than the King.
“Please, let me get this out. I’ve been practicing for days.”
My eyebrows rose.
“Irina, I loved Asin with all my heart. You know this. Surely, you saw it.”
“Of course.”
“I could never replace her, and I will always love her. But . . . the Kingdom needs a Queen, and the Crown needs an heir. I need a partner. More than that, I need someone I can trust—and love—someone who will never leave my side.”
He reached into his pocket and removed a silk-wrapped bundle. His fingers trembled as he unfolded the cloth and revealed a thumb-sized emerald surrounded by diamonds atop a golden band.
I gasped.
I had seen that ring on the hand of Queen Asin many times.
“Irina Santender, will you be my Queen?”