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Too bad that those thoughts hadn’t been at all wonderful…
What if Aaron’s abrupt change of attitude was magically related? She’d only heard good things spoken of the king and the way he had treated his family and courtiers at dinner had been above reproach. Even the more spiteful members of the court had been treated with tolerance and his dealings with her had been generous and caring. He had a sympathetic ear and had seemed shamelessly devoted to her comfort and pleasure.
Right up until they’d finished making love in the grass, when he had pulled away and stared down at where she lay with a suspicious light in his eyes.
Perhaps he suspects that the passion between you is tainted?
“Why didn’t I tell him last night? Why did I keep my suspicions to myself?” Calliope softly asked the heavens, though she already knew the answer.
After the festive supper in his hall, he had walked her to the door of her chamber and kissed her so sweetly that she hadn’t wanted to speak a word that would influence him against her. She had convinced herself to wait until they freed Johann, justifying her silence with the belief that Aaron shouldn’t be distracted from the rescue by concern over his own possible enchantment.
“You were thinking of yourself and selfishness is never rewarded, Calliope,” she chastised herself, urging her mount into a trot despite the raw state of her skin.
Aaron had pulled ahead and it wouldn’t do to lose sight of him. She hadn’t been to the Beauvielle castle since she was a girl and could easily get lost on the rough road they followed. The narrow dirt path had already branched several times. But Aaron always seemed to know which branch to choose, as if he had memorized every inch of his country and could navigate its roadways blindfolded.
Blindfolded…
Hmm…there was a thought. The pull between was definitely strongest when they were gazing into each other’s eyes. Even during the ride, Aaron’s voice would gentle if he turned back to look at her before he spoke. Perhaps the best way to test the truth of their attraction was for Aaron to be unable to see her as they touched…
The beginnings of a plan forming in her mind, Calliope urged her mount into a full canter, suddenly as eager as Aaron to arrive at their campsite for the night.
The sooner they fed and watered the horses and had their own supper, the sooner she would be able to put her theory to the test.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Aaron
“Leave them. I’ll clean the dishes,” Aaron said in the same impatient tone he’d used with his travelling companion the entire afternoon. “Get ready for bed. Morning will come soon enough and I don’t want you delaying our departure.”
“Of course, Sire. I live to serve you,” Calliope snapped, finally losing her temper, though he’d given her more than enough reason to lash into him several hours past.
Aaron turned to watch her storm away toward the river, a smile tugging at his lips. No matter how foul it made him feel to treat her so horribly, some sick part of him enjoyed hearing his imperious tone mocked in her sweet, lilting voice.
The smile faded as quickly, however, replaced by a more familiar wave of misery.
He was making himself miserable treating Calliope this way, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. If he wasn’t actively trying to be difficult, he slipped under her spell all over again. Just the sight of her blonde hair shining in the sun made him want to whisper a hundred apologies into the delicate pink shell of her ear.
He cursed as he scraped their plates clean and buried
what little food remained from their supper a few meters from the camp.
This was hardly the ideal way to spend the night before a difficult battle. And it would be a battle, no doubt about it.
Calliope had told him what she knew of the castle and none of it sounded good. There was a moat of molten lava surrounding the keep that had the tendency to overflow as travelers attempted to cross the drawbridge. There was a forest of poisonous vines filling the bottom floors of the castle, and the entrance to Rosamund’s tower was guarded by a half dog, half dragon beast that craved human flesh.
If Aaron was to free his brother without magical intervention, he would need his wits about him…though he hoped to have more than the power of the sword on his side. He believed Calliope would be swayed to use her magic once she came face-to-face with the wicked thing she had created.
He found it hard to believe she hadn’t tried to remedy Rosamund’s situation before now. Aside from the spell modification she had made as a child, Calliope swore she hadn’t ventured within a few miles of the castle for fear of making the problem worse. Her lack of faith in her powers didn’t inspire confidence, but the castle physician had sworn there was nothing magically amiss in her aura.
Aaron couldn’t see such things himself, but he trusted Dr. Whethers. She had kept his father from death for a good twenty years after the old man should have passed into the next realm. The former King Aaron had even managed to sire a son, Johann, several years after the first attack on his heart, giving Outer Kartolia a second male heir to the throne fourteen years after the first. If Whethers said there was nothing clinically wrong with Calliope’s magic, he believed her.
But that left the question—what was the fairy’s problem? For there certainly was a problem if her gifts kept ending up as curses.
He was still angry with her for possibly enchanting him into caring for her, but he didn’t believe Calliope would deliberately hurt anyone.
Then why are you punishing her with your foul temper?
Aaron snatched the pan they’d used to warm their dinner and stalked off toward the river, choosing a different path than the one taken by his companion.
