Page 66 of Highland Lords of War & Thunder: The Prequel

Her gaze remained on him a heartbeat too long before slipping away.

His smile slowly disappeared. He knew that look. Perhaps not from her, but from enough women to recognize awareness when he saw it. Only this was different. Eudora wasn't inviting his attention. She appeared almost disturbed by her own response to him. And suddenly he was acutely aware of how little distance remained between them.

“Eudora?”

Her eyes snapped to his.

This time he didn't immediately correct himself. Something passed between them that had nothing to do with queens, summons, or commands. He felt it and, judging by the way her breath caught, so did she.

Creagan had spent enough years with women to know attraction when it stood directly in front of him. But why would that trouble her? Unless⁠—

He dismissed the thought before it could form. Whatever command she intended to give him concerned Morra Mist and the threat to her throne. It had nothing to do with this. It couldn't.

His voice softened. “What is it you need from me?”

She moved away and stopped near the window.

Creagan didn't follow this time. The teasing no longer seemed appropriate. That realization alone would have surprised Legion and Torden.

Eudora stared out the window, though he doubted she saw anything beyond the glass. The confident queen who had faced the three of them without hesitation was struggling to say something to him.

Creagan felt the last of his amusement disappear. “Is the task so terrible?”

“Nay.”

“Dangerous?”

“Not in the way you mean.”

That caught him and he waited, but she said nothing more.

“You're worried about this command,” he said.

Her gaze shifted away.

That was answer enough.

“No need to be. I must do as you say.” He paused, watching her carefully. “Or is that what worries you?”

Her gaze returned to him, and Creagan felt something tighten in his chest. He had meant the question lightly, but the expression in her eyes told him he had come far closer to the truth than he realized.

“You don't want me to have a choice,” he said.

“I don't have a choice either.”

The words were quiet. Gone was the commanding queen. For that brief moment, he saw only the woman and that disturbed him more than any danger could have.

“Why?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“Eudora.” This time when he used her name, there was no teasing in it.

She looked at him.

He moved toward her slowly. “You summoned me because you believe this is necessary.”

“Extremely necessary,” she confirmed.