Page 36

If she is incredulous, we were as much so.

“You know their teachings as well as I. They claim God’s will can only be interpreted through signs they alone can read. They consider this the ultimate sign of his will: sparing a man who should have perished.”

She watches me for any glimmer of deceit. But there is none.

“I ask just for an audience.”

“And if he refuses to leave with you?”

“Then we go without him. We’ve no edict to force him, nor would our interests be served in doing so. No man can be made to accept the crown.”

“How can you know what kind of king he would be?”

The question is an easy one to answer. “Galfrid has kept watch over him for many years. Would you deny he’d make a good king to Meria?”

Wetting her lips, though an innocent gesture, makes me forget for a moment about my mission, my attention snared by the possibility that Aedre may allow me to kiss her before I leave Murwood.

Just once.

It is a weakness I never knew existed in me. Every one of my previous dalliances has been with widows or women not tied to the precarious strings of nobility. Never have I compromised a woman before, or even considered doing so. Perhaps this weakness was simply waiting for Aedre to release it.

“Nay, I cannot deny it. Very well.”

My jaw drops. I’d not expected her to agree so easily.

“But there is no longer any need for us to meet. You need nothing else from me, except this one boon. Which I grant as a grateful gesture for your offer to speak to the Elderman.”

I’m grateful for her agreement, less so for her decision to no longer meet with me.

We stare at each other for a moment, so close it would be an easy thing to pull her to me, but I don’t. The moment passes, and Aedre flees from the cave as quickly as she did from the rock by the shore.

I decide her habit of fleeing is not my favorite thing about her.

You do not need me.

True or not, it matters little. Aedre has spoken, and I’ve little else to do but heed her words. Though I have gained something extremely valuable this day, an audience with the future king of Meria.