Chapter 4 #2
The woman stopped, her smile fading and her tongue sharp. “I have the night. It is my turn, is it not?”
Dravic’s tongue was sharper, more like a blade that sliced. “You dare question me?”
Eunice realized her mistake and quickly apologized. “Forgive me, my king. I meant no disrespect. I look forward to our nights together and I foolishly let my tongue slip, disappointed by the unexpected news.”
“Let your tongue slip again, Eunice, and you just may lose it.”
“I am sorry, truly sorry, my king. I was foolish, so very foolish. It will never happen again,” Eunice said, bowing her head.
“Leave. Now,” Dravic ordered, his anger still sharp.
She turned upset and frightened she had ruined her chance at being the king’s favorite when she caught sight of Adira, standing in her shift and barefoot near the shadowed corner.
Eunice’s eyes narrowed and she cast a quick glance back at Dravic—half-dressed, firelight across his bare chest—then returned to Adira again. Without another word, she took quick steps to the chamber door. It shut with a firm click behind her.
Something unsettled Adira about the way the woman looked at her, and she shivered. It was a feeling she got when she felt threatened. She would try to convey her worry to Feena tomorrow, perhaps she could help her understand it.
“You are cold,” Dravic said with a raised voice. “Get in bed now.”
Adira did not hesitate. She hurried into her narrow bed by the hearth, drawing the blanket over her though she could not stop shivering. Something was wrong. She could feel it.
Dravic walked over to her. “You still shiver.” He went to pull back the covers.
Adira gripped the blanket firmly, her eyes turning wide.
His eyes narrowed and he tapped her fingers. “Let go.”
She did not need to hear him to know what he meant and the look in his eyes was one he got when he was meant to be obeyed.
She let go of the blanket.
He lifted it briefly then let it fall again. “That flimsy garment will not do for cold winter nights.”
Adira gripped the blanket as soon as it hit her chest.
Dravic went to his bed, grabbed a wool blanket off it and brought it to spread over Adira and tuck it around her.
“I will not have you freeze,” he said after the last tuck, then sat beside her on the bed. “I will have warmer garments made for you.”
Adira’s shivers began to fade as well as her fear since anger faded from the king’s eyes and she could feel it diminish, though slowly, from his body as well.
He stared off, and she had come to understand he was lost in thought for the moment.
He would speak soon enough, and she would listen though she could not hear him.
She had come to understand he shared his concerns with her.
She got the feeling his musing might concern the man he spoke with not long ago.
She had sensed discomfort from them both, along with hostility, and then it passed.
It was as though they reached an agreement that suited them both.
Dravic shook his head. “I do not know who to trust, Adira, and with war that could start within Scotara itself, that is a frightening thought. My grandfather warned me against magic, but I wonder if magic is the very thing I need to save Scotara.
“I need to learn more about magic and why my grandfather believed it to be so evil. He taught me well about being king, about ruling Scotara, but nothing about Driochmor, only that it was to be forever locked away from the rest of Scotara. That did not serve me well and I need to change that.”
She felt his worry and listened intently.
“You stopped shivering,” he said, running his hand over her, making sure of it.
His hand came to rest over her breast, and he was surprised to feel how full it was. He had never noticed that about her before now. His glance drifted up to meet her eyes, and he yanked his hand off her breast as soon as he saw the fright in them.
“Sleep,” he said and stood and walked away.
Adira was not sure what happened. His hand certainly did not belong on her breast and yet it did not frighten her. She felt his concern and his touch had been tender. What frightened her was that she did not mind it. His touch felt as though he truly cared for her.
Dravic walked to the basin and scooped up a handful of water and splashed it over his face, then braced his hands on the basin’s rim.
He never meant to touch her intimately only to make sure she was warm.
And he did not mean to frighten her. And he did not ever expect to feel his lions stir when he accidentally did.
That would not do. It would not do at all.
She could not hear or speak. She was far too vulnerable.
He could never take advantage of her, and he would execute anyone who even tried.
He enjoyed having her to talk to. She was the only person he could truly trust, and he did not want to lose that, lose her.
He would not tarnish her, make her one of the many women who satisfied his needs. She was not like that, and he would not have her that way.
If not that way? What way?
That he even gave it thought startled him.
“Enough,” he muttered and got in bed.
He would have Eunice brought to his bedchamber tomorrow night. He had gone without a woman longer than usual and that was why his loins had stirred. It had nothing to do with Adira. It was simply an unsatisfied need.
He fell into a troubled sleep, the enjoyable feel of Adira’s full breast not leaving his hand.