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Staring up at him, she said, “It neither went unnoticed nor unappreciated.”
The backs of his fingers grazed her cheek and he said, “You do make me look at things from a different perspective. A bigger picture. It’s interesting,” he added in a reflective voice, “but I seemed to have forgotten that I’m not just a leader of my alliance but that I rule the entire continent—and am therefore a leader for everyone who inhabits it.”
“We’re not all of like minds,” she admitted, “but the demons in your alliance haven’t violated your command. And the humans, including the slayers and the witches, have obeyed your laws. Harmony may never be an appropriate word for us to use, but coexistence can be much more genuine and less worrisome if we can at least partially bridge the gap. There haven’t been any uprisings led by the mortals, but we’re still carefully monitored. Yet rogue demons can attack us at any time.”
“Yes, that is something that troubles me.”
The fact he didn’t argue with her intrigued her. “Did you learn anything new while you were out with Morgan?”
His head dipped and he kissed her softly. Then he said, “Let’s have dinner.”
She didn’t press, suspecting he’d tell her any news he had when he felt the time was right. She realized she trusted him enough to not poke and prod. Not that her mind didn’t churn with curious thoughts…
Pushing them aside, she asked, “What can I do to help?”
“Sit, and let me finish what I’m doing.”
She laughed. “So demanding.” Regardless, she took a seat at the table and inhaled the lovely aroma of pine mixed with the hint of cinnamon.
Ever efficient, Darien set out bowls of food, from baked potatoes to sage-flavored stuffing to steamed asparagus and a vegetable medley. But his main dish surprised her most.
“Filet mignon,” he explained when he placed a plump, round piece of meat on her plate. “With Hollandaise sauce.” He drizzled the pale-yellow concoction over her steak.
She eyed the beef and said, “I have no idea what this is.”
“Just wait.”
He disappeared out the front door, only to come back a few seconds later with a bottle in his hand. “Champagne from France.”
She frowned. “Seriously, this is how you eat at the castle?”
“Well,” he said in a tone that wasn’t arrogant…or contrite, “I am the king.”
“True.”
“Besides,” he said as he popped the cork on the bottle, “you have cattle and a butcher. He could provide this same cut.”
“Oooh, your first jibe.”
He laughed good-naturedly. “I’m not trying to be snide. Merely stating a fact.”
Jade considered this, then said, “It’s sort of like all those books in Lisette’s library that no one but she and I read. Once the villagers figured out how to survive post-war with things they’d recovered and salvaged, re-created from scratch or traded for, they seemed satisfied with the status quo. Instead of looking for ways to make improvements.”
“Maybe that’s because my army destroyed all the previous modern advancements.”
“And we think you might do it again, if we try to progress? That’s an interesting theory.”
Darien let out a long breath. “Maybe we shouldn’t discuss politics tonight.”
“Agreed. Except…” She thought of the book she’d handed to Lisette in the library. “Have you ever read North and South?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“It’s about the Civil War, which happened during your formative years.”
He shot her a playful sneer at the backhanded age remark. “Go on.”
“Well, the main character is the son of the owner of a Southern plantation who goes off to West Point and meets the male heir to an iron factory in the North. They have significantly different life experiences, obviously, and don’t share similar viewpoints on most topics, all because of where and how they were raised.” She sipped her champagne and was momentarily distracted by the effervescence. “Oh that’s good.”
