Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
Sabina
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice movement. Brevan steps into the room. “I’m sorry to interrupt the fun, your highness, but the emperor has requested your presence for dinner.”
“Now?” I ask.
“Yes. I can escort you there. Nate, please take the ladies to their rooms for the evening. The emperor has made it known that he intends for his wife to stay with him tonight.”
What could he possibly want now? To flaunt whoever he’s taking to his bed? To try to seduce me? To threaten me? He’s made it clear he wants me around. For now. But I’ve made it clear that I am not joining him in bed.
My ladies bid me goodnight, then leave the room, Nate behind them. “Have a nice, evening, your highness.” He bows before he follows them down the hall.
Brevan stands tall and still, watching them go, then he turns to me. “Was he singing an old rebellion song?”
“Yes.” I walk alongside him, careful to keep enough distance that we don’t touch.
He glances over at me, then gestures toward the staircase we need to climb. “Be careful around him. He’s not a typical legionnaire. He’s new. Didn’t grow up with this.”
“That makes me like him more,” I say.
“That’s what I’m afraid of. Maybe he’s not the best as your guard. I can call Stanley back. He’s in Caiden’s pocket, but he’s good at his job.” I clench my teeth when I remember I’m supposed to send Stanley away to fetch those books.
“No, I like Nate.”
“Of course you do.”
We turn climb another set of stairs, then turn down a hall. I realize we’re one floor above my room. “Is there something you’re not telling me?” I ask.
“We’re here,” Brevan announces.
Well, I guess no more answers for me. Again.
I’m pretty sure his room is directly above mine. I wonder if he can hear everything I say while I’m in there. I swallow hard, hoping he wasn’t in his quarters while I was last night and earlier today.
There’s a pair of guards I don’t recognize outside the double doors that must be Caiden’s rooms. They incline their heads in acknowledgement, then continue to stare straight ahead with an almost dazed expression.
“Are you joining them?” I ask Brevan.
“No, I’m needed elsewhere.” He knocks on the door, then steps back.
Caiden opens it himself and I’m so not ready to spend more time with him alone. “My darling wife, please come in.”
I step inside and he closes the door behind me without even acknowledging Brevan. There’s still animosity there but he continues to have the enforcer guarding me when he’s not around. Caiden probably gets off on making us spend time together knowing we can’t act on any desires.
The room is very similar to mine. With a sprawling canopied bed on one side, and a sitting room surrounding a large cracking fireplace on the other.
Along the back wall there’s several full bookshelves, then a window that overlooks the woods behind the estate.
A few closed doors lead to additional space.
Probably a dining area and bathing chambers. Maybe a study.
“You look absolutely stunning.” He takes my hand, then lifts it to his lips for a gentle kiss.
It makes my skin crawl. “Thank you for the dresses. They were quite a surprise. All that color. And the room, beautiful.”
“I thought you might enjoy that. I intend to eliminate my father’s old rules around color. However, I thought it might be nice to let you stand out on your own for a while.”
To have me watched more closely. I knew it. I knew he had ulterior motives for the dresses. “How thoughtful.”
He gestures for me to follow him toward a table large enough for six near a window at the back of the room. “I hear you’ve befriended a new guard. That must be making Brevan absolutely crazy.”
“Or maybe it’s you who’s bothered by it? Brevan has hardly said two words to me since your father died and now with your announcement of my supposed pregnancy, he’s even less inclined. By the way, well done, with that. I’m sure the gossip is all over the estate by now.”
He pulls out a chair for me and I sit.
“I didn’t have a choice. You were fucking someone else. I need the rumor mill to know it’s my child if you happen to be carrying his bastard.” He settles into the chair across from me.
“There are other options. We both know it’s too early to know if I truly am pregnant.”
“Do we? I wasn’t lying when I said the maids told me it had been too long since your last courses.”
I shudder. It’s a good reminder that I don’t know who all reports to him.
My hand tightens around a bundle of fabric on my lap.
I was so quick to accept that all my ladies were on my side.
That they really wanted to help me. What if they were working for him?
What was wrong with me? I went from so careful to just letting everyone in.
“Since when do you know a thing about women’s courses?” I ask.
“I don’t need to. I have people who know for me.” He smiles then pours wine into his cup, then fills mine halfway before setting down the bottle. “My mother always said watered wine when with child.” He picks up a water pitcher, then tops off my glass. “Just in case.”
I’m still not convinced I’m pregnant, but I can’t rule it out, either. I’m tempted to steal his glass and down his just to prove a point, but everyone knows watered wine is safer. I reach for my glass and glare at him while I take a sip.
“If you are with child…” he starts.
I set down the wine. “I’m not.”
“If you are, it would get the heir part out of the way. I thought you’d be happy about that. Once I have an heir, you’d have a few years before you were required to produce another.”
“Is this really why you insisted I have dinner alone with you tonight?” I don’t hide my skepticism.
There’s a knock on the door.
“Come in,” Caiden calls.
It opens and several servants enter, carrying platters of food. They’re silent as they set them out down the center of the table, then leave quickly.
Caiden silently serves both of us while I wait for him to explain what he wants. I know him well enough by this point to know there’s a reason for everything he does.
He cuts into a piece of meat and takes a bite, then watches me while he chews slowly. “Aren’t you going to eat?”
I pick up a roll and tear off a little piece then pop it into my mouth. “Is this about Iskvaland? Is there some scheme you need me to help with?”
“No. It’s about you. Well, that night in the temple to be more specific.”
I still, a piece of bread poised to go into my mouth. Catching myself, I set the bread down on my plate. “What about it?”
“Well, I don’t really want to wait any longer to find out what magic you were gifted. I also want to see your complete mark. I know it extends beyond what I can see on your wrist.”
“Why?”
“For one, I’m your husband. It would be odd if I didn’t know. And two, I’m hoping it’ll give me a clue as to what your magic might be.” He takes another bite, then continues talking while chewing. “You don’t have anything to report yet, do you? Anything unusual?”
“No.” I say it too quickly, I’m sure, and know I need to distract him. “You’d rather discuss this than the multiple attempts on my life? How does it look when the emperor isn’t doing anything to discover who is after his empress?”
“Nice try, little raven. Now I know you’re hiding something. The question is, what?” He sets his fork down. “And I have a whole team investigating the would-be assassin. Some of my very best. Did you know Brevan volunteered to lead them? So noble, that one.”
“None of this is helping me to like you,” I point out.
He sets his fork down. “I know. But I’m confident you’ll see things my way in time. We’re the same, you and me. Both of us driven by a thirst for power and need for revenge.”
I ignore most of what he said because one part stood out. “What do you mean by revenge? Are you saying you want to get back at Ludis for killing your father? He’s here. In this estate. Go on, kill him back.”
He laughs, a full-bodied, truly amused sound.
It sets my teeth on edge. My hand cramps and I realize I’m gripping my fork so tight my fingers have gone white. I set it down and move my hands to my lap.
“I can’t be killing him. I need his army.”
“You don’t. You just want to take over Iskvaland. You don’t need him for that.” Why am I encouraging him to overthrow a kingdom?
He smirks. “I have no interest in that frozen, backward wasteland. But I can admit, their army is well trained and ruthless.”
“So it’s the Shatterlands, after all. That’s the whole plan. You and Ludis ruling the world.”
“Trust me, it’s bigger than that. If you knew what they were hiding there, you’d be on my side.”
I lean toward him. “Then tell me.”
He chuckles. “So you can run off to your rebel friends and ruin everything? No, I don’t think so.”
“I don’t have any rebel friends anymore. Your father’s legion killed them all. Including my family. And you’ve got the only person I have left locked away in a tower.”
He smirks. “Did Brevan tell you that?”
“He told me where his sister was. I figured you had them together.” I lean back against my chair.
“Did he also tell you that if any harm does come to your friend, it’s not from me or my men. His sister is the most dangerous one in that tower.” He picks his fork back up and stabs a piece of potato.
“I have no reason to believe anything you say.” I take another sip of my wine.
“Believe what you want, my little raven, but she’s not just locked away to keep Brevan in line. To be honest, it’s probably more the other way around. Brevan under our control keeps us safe from her.” He chews slowly, keeping his eyes on me. I know he’s watching for a reaction.
“It sounds like she fights back against her captors and you don’t like that,” I say.
“Perhaps. But for now, she and Anya stay where they are and you and Brevan help me gain my army.”
I slam my fist on the table, making the silverware and plates rattle. “You have to let me see her! You can’t keep changing the rules!”
He grins, as if my outburst was what he was hoping for. “Oh, but I can. I can do anything I want. I’m the emperor.”