Chapter 6
Six
Sabina
The carriage is luxurious, but the formal dress and company make it almost unbearable. I want to ask questions. I want to know where we’re going, when we’re stopping, and how long I must endure until I can see that Anya and my ladies are safe.
Instead, I busy myself by staring out the window and watching the landscape change from the bustle of the city to the rolling hills of the countryside. I haven’t left the city since I arrived. I’d almost forgotten what it looked like beyond the walls.
“Wife, I’m curious. Have you had any unusual reactions or strange things happening since recovering from the temple?”
I tense at the word wife, and when I turn my attention to Caiden, he’s wearing a smug expression.
He knew exactly what he was doing. I must remember not to give him the satisfaction.
Then his question sinks in, and I realize he wants to know about the magic.
My pulse increases. “What kind of reactions?”
“You’d know.” He shifts his position, making his jacket move enough to reveal the hilts of the blades he has tucked into a holster on his ribs. I hadn’t noticed earlier.
“What was it like for you?” I’m curious, but also suspect that it’s less suspicious if I ask.
“It took a couple of months before I noticed. At first, I thought it was my imagination that rooms darkened when I entered them. But when I accidentally set a book I was reading on fire, I realized my magic was manifesting.”
“That sounds terrifying,” I say.
“The only disappointment was that at first, I thought fire was my only gift. But the gods saw to it to give me several.” He stares at me as if daring me to ask for more information. I know this game. He’ll use it to play with me, to act superior and have something to hold over my head.
As much as I’d like to know what other magic he has, I let it hang between us, my questions unasked. “Your father must have been disappointed when you only showed an aptitude for fire.”
“He was.”
“Do you remember anything that happened in the temple?”
He shakes his head.
“I don’t, either,” I admit.
“I wonder if I can coax the light out of you. I’ve heard stories about heightened emotions leading to magic revealing itself.”
I wrinkle my nose. “No.”
He toys with a button on his jacket. “There’s really not a rush. I’m a patient man. And like I said, I’ll wait until you’re begging me. And this time, we’ll both remember it when we’re finished.”
“Don’t count on it,” I say.
He smiles, then looks out the window as if he’s carrying a secret. My fingernails bite into my palms as I squeeze my hands into fists. The carriage already feels claustrophobic.
We’re silent long enough that I start to nod off, waking myself a few times whenever my chin dips to my chest. Giving in, I lean back against the seat and let myself rest.
The sudden lack of movement jolts me awake. I stand so quickly when I notice I’m alone that I knock my head on the roof. Cursing, I peer out the window and see nothing but trees.
I look out the other window—the one on the door—and see people walking around, Caiden standing near the carriage speaking with Brevan.
My stomach churns and I hesitate, reluctant to see him. When the enforcer walks away, I step out of the carriage.
I can still see the back of Brevan as he pauses to talk to some of the other soldiers who rode along with us. A lump rises in my throat, and I can’t take my gaze off him.
Caiden moves next to me. “We’ll have camp made soon and then you can sleep in a proper bed. With me, of course.”
“Why are there so many of them?” There’re more than the few soldiers who rode alongside and around our carriage when we left in the morning.
There’re dozens of them milling around the trees now.
Some are building tents, others sharpening blades or tending to fires.
This isn’t a simple travel party; it’s more like a war party. “What is going on?”
“I told you, we have some stops to make along our way.” Caiden raises his arm, then shouts, “Sullivan, I need you to escort the empress to her tent. Then grab a few men to stand guard.” He wraps his arm around me, pulling me tight against him.
My body recoils as he nuzzles his face into my neck.
“I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to my darling wife. ”
When he releases me, his expression is instantly hard and impassive again. Back to that cold impersonal appearance both him and Brevan seem to have mastered. They deserve each other. Maybe the two of them can bunk together.
As if my thoughts summoned him, Brevan approaches. He inclines his head respectfully, “Empress, Your Majesty. I have the reconnaissance team ready for your command.”
“I’ll address them now.” Caiden walks away, leaving me with Brevan.
The two of us stand silently for several very long heartbeats. Then he looks over at me. “How was your journey?”
“Fine.”
“Good.”
“The wedding was beautiful,” he says without looking at me.
I scoff. “Seriously?”
“What do you want me to say, Sabina?”
“Nothing. You should go. I think your emperor will be missing his favorite lap dog.”
“If I’m a lap dog, what does that make you?”
“I guess I’m his bitch.”
“Your Majesty.” A guard appears with three guards behind him. He bows, then the others follow his lead. “I’m to take you to your quarters.”
“Lead the way.” I follow without looking back at Brevan. If he wants to pretend like everything between us never happened, I can do that. Even if it breaks my heart in the process.
The tent is set up with a single large mattress covered in blankets and furs.
Next to it is the trunk with all of my clothes.
There’re no ladies to help me dress or undress, so I’m left trying to unlace the elaborate dress myself.
Starting tomorrow, I will flat out refuse to wear anything I can’t get off alone.
With a frustrated sound, I stomp my foot and plop down into a pile of fabric. Tears of rage stream down my cheeks. How could he say that to me? After everything? I want to pretend like it doesn’t bother me, but it does.
I loved him.
I still love him.
But if he fell for me, he fell for a lie. I can’t blame him for that.
I’m whimpering pathetically as I try to reach around again to free myself from the confines of the gown.
“Let me help you,” Caiden says.
I suck in a surprised breath, then hiccup. Quickly, I cover my mouth.
His fingers are gentle along my back as he toys with the laces. “You knotted it.”
“I hate these things.” I sound like a petulant child.
He chuckles. “My mother did too. She wore trousers often. Used to infuriate my father.”
“Really?” I turn to look at him and catch what might be a genuine smile. Not the kind he uses to manipulate or gloat. “Were you close to her?”
“No, not really. She was only marginally better than my father.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What about your mother?”
My blood runs cold and I quickly rise, then slide the dress off my shoulders. “Your father’s armies killed her. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m tired.”
“Of course.” He takes off his own jacket, then lays it over the chair in the corner.
I finish stripping off my dress, leaving me in my underclothes. Caiden has seen me in less, and as his wife—and the fact that he’s the emperor—there’s not a lot I could do if he wanted to use those shadows against me.
“Here.” He takes the gown from me and lays it carefully over his jacket. “You should get some sleep. I’m going to see to a few things before I retire.”
I hate the fact that he’ll be sliding into bed alongside me but I nod, then turn away from him. I turn down the blankets then gasp. There’s a bundle of herbs on the mattress tied with lace. I recognize the leaves. “Caiden.”
He’s back inside the tent so quickly, I think he must have been waiting outside the door.
“Is this some kind of joke?” I gesture to the bundle of poisonous plants.
“It’s probably to make it smell better. Gods know the lack of bathing gets old quickly on the road.”
“You don’t know what that is?”
“Um, rosemary?”
“It’s elm’s breath.”
He reaches toward it, and I grab his arm, tugging him away. “It’s poisonous.”
“What?”
“Very poisonous. And it needs sunlight and warmth to grow. How did it get here?” The needlelike leaves are still vibrant green.
“Come with me.” I fight him as he practically drags me toward the door.
“I don’t have any clothes on!”
His face turns red. “Oh, yes. Dress then meet me outside.”
He grabs his sword from where he set it next to the entrance then leaves the tent in a hurry.
I grumble as I pull the dress back over my shoulders.
I’d love to find something else to wear, but now I can’t trust the clothes in my trunk without thoroughly going through them.
I might be wearing this dress a long, long while.
I am not going down that way. I refuse to die before I’ve gotten my revenge. The question was, who was trying to poison me? Or was it Caiden they were after? And how did it get here? How was the plant alive and vibrant and green? As if it were freshly cut. It’s too cold for anything to grow.
And why was it bundled like a gift, tied in lace?