Chapter 51
I must have been more tired than I thought because I drifted off for a solid few hours after our exchange, long enough that wan shafts of daylight were poking through the window when a light knock awakened me.
It was Taras’s familiar pattern, so I didn’t bother with a shirt as I padded through the study to the main door, pulling it open on silent hinges.
“What is it?” My voice was raspy with sleep.
He held out a letter. Any trace of grogginess vanished when I beheld the navy wax seal belonging to Clan Elk.
“Have you read it already?”
He shook his head. With a sigh, I took the letter, opening it swiftly and scanning the contents by the light of the expansive window.
Dear Lord Evander,
While Clan Elk appreciates your efforts to divest yourself of the captive Lochlannian royalty, and therefore, any culpability attached to owning her, we are no longer interested in acquiring a known liability.
Regards,
Sir Iiro Korhonan
Duke of Clan Elk
I thrust the letter back into Taras’s hands, my mind reeling. His eyes flitted over the words, his brow furrowing.
“This doesn’t make sense.” His tone was low.
“No, it doesn’t,” I agreed.
Between what I already suspected and what I read in Korhonan’s letter, there was no doubting that Iiro had somehow maneuvered getting Rowan from the tunnels into his dungeons. After all the trouble of getting her here, calling an entire Summit, negotiating the terms of her release, now he did this?
He was an aalio of phenomenal proportions, but he loved Theodore, who believed himself in love with Rowan.
Why leave her here now?
Was it as simple as he implied? That the risk to Elk was too great, all things considered? Or was he plotting something else, something that would use her presence here to his advantage?
“See what you can find out,” I told Taras.
He nodded, disappearing on quiet footfalls. I pulled the velvet rope in my study to call for a bath, then sat down at the desk in my bedroom. It was slightly smaller than the furniture in my study, but working here made it easier to keep an eye on the princess.
The bundle of covers over her body moved up and down in an easy rhythm, and I breathed a sigh of relief, turning my attention to drafting my letters. A few were trusted associates who…kept an eye on things in the clans for me. I also wrote to several of the dukes themselves, including Arès; outwardly solicitous correspondence that also tried to gauge their feelings on whatever might be going on in Elk.
The maids shuffled in and out with buckets of water until the older one, Haviya, let me know that my bath was ready.
I scrubbed at my skin, applying more pressure than was likely necessary to clean away the memory of her blood. Whenever I blinked, I could see the crimson still staining my skin, still clinging to me just as sure as she had for the past three days.
My father and Mairi had been silent since the flogging, the former likely recovering from his most recent slip back into madness, and the latter…well, I could only hope she was smart enough to be terrified of the repercussions that were coming her way.
Because they were.
I couldn’t kill her outright. There was no sure way to get her or my father out of the picture without taking on enough potential blame to destabilize my clan. That didn’t mean there weren’t other ways to exact revenge. Even if it took me years to make it happen, she would absolutely pay for undermining me, for nearly killing my lemmikki.
As soon as I was clean shaven and clean in general, I hurried to get dressed. Though I knew it was unreasonable, given the number of guards on her, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something would happen to her as soon as I let her out of my sight.
After throwing on black trousers and a shirt of the same color, I crept back into the bedroom quietly to avoid disturbing her.
It was a wasted effort since she was awake and trembling. Her jade eyes were wide, and her delicate hands were fisted in the blankets like that might stop them from shaking.
The small spike of panic I had felt in her absence was amplified on her wan features, an overreaction if she had known I was just behind the door. Did she think that I had left?
“Shall I have Taisiya draw you a bath as well?” I asked, as close as I could come to reassuring her that I had only been a room away. “You can’t immerse yourself entirely, but I’m sure she could work something out.”
Embarrassment flooded her cheeks, but there was relief in her exhale.
“That would probably be for the best,” she said, fidgeting with a strand of her hair.
I nodded and moved to the door. Kirill and Henrick were in the hallway today. I ordered for the latter to fetch Taisiya rather than ringing the bell, since I suspected she would be uncomfortable with anyone else.
While we waited for them to bring up the steaming buckets of water to fill her bath, I quietly moved around the room, attempting to go about my life like there wasn’t someone else in the room. As impossible as it was.
Taisiya finally appeared at the door, helping Rowan out of the bed and ushering her into the lavatory.
My shoulders relaxed incrementally as I leaned against the wall, letting out my first real breath today. When I told Taras I could get by without leaving these rooms, I hadn’t meant it quite so literally. But I couldn’t bring myself to subject her to that kind of panic any more than I had to when I was already the reason she was here. When, inadvertently or not, I was the reason this had happened—that she was in this state.
To say nothing of my own…discomfort when I couldn’t keep an eye on her.
Once Rowan was safely in the bathroom, I went about getting the room clean. The sheets and blankets were heavy with the scent of fever and sweat, so I called for the maids to change them and the pillows.
When they finished, I sat at my desk to deal with the latest stack of missives I had been remiss in responding to, mostly from local lords or magistrates. Twice now, I had tried to get my father to sign off on a law distributing some of the lords’ rations to the outlying villages, but had not yet been successful.
I did get exceptions made for women who were with children, and the children themselves. It was progress, though not enough to keep the food stores full.
I was midway through a long paragraph about that very thing when Taisiya emerged from the lavatory.
“The princess is requesting a shirt, my lord,” she said with a deferential nod.
“I’m certain there are plenty in her rooms.”
She cleared her throat, disapproval emanating from her narrowed gaze. “She is requesting one of your shirts, my lord.”
I blinked. It shouldn’t have registered at all, in light of her choosing to stay in my room, in my bed, and all but demanding that I stay there, too, but somehow it was still perplexing that she would prefer to wear my clothes.
Then again, she was oddly practical, in her way, ever ready to destroy her own clothing for the sake of a battle.
“I see,” I said after a beat. “Third drawer.”
Taisiya nodded, taking a black shirt before disappearing behind the solid door.
By the time the door opened again, I was down to my last bit of correspondence. I glanced over to find the princess standing in the doorway in a copy of the same shirt I wore now.
Of course, it looked a bit different on her.
The sleeves were rolled up to show her slim hands, the laces done up much more tightly than they had been when she had required warmth. The material was thick enough to almost be modest, if it hadn’t barely graced the bottom of her knees.
She stared at me, her fingers twitching nervously with the long laces of the tunic, like she was debating on whether or not to be embarrassed by her choice in wardrobe.
She had worn nothing but my shirt for days. As it turned out, though, the sight of her walking around in it, damp curls resting against the front pockets, was markedly different than when she had been in the bed, largely concealed by the blankets.
My throat was suddenly drier than it had been a moment ago, and I swallowed subtly.
“I see you’ve helped yourself to my wardrobe,” I said to break the mounting silence.
The corner of her full lips twitched.
“It seemed like the least you could do, even if you were magnanimous enough not to take everything from me ,” she replied, doing a horrible interpretation of my voice and accent.
It was an effort not to laugh, both at her and the absurdity of the entire situation.
“One of many things in my life I’ll come to regret, I’m sure,” I said drily before returning to the letter in front of me.
It wasn’t as easy to focus on my work now that she was back in the room. Between the quiet conversation with her maid, and the constant movement in my periphery where Taisiya attended to the princess’ hair, combing, and drying and brushing it, pulling it apart, piece by piece as she helped each curl settle into place, it was impossible to remember what the beginning of the letter had even said.
That boded well for the days to come.