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“Who isn’t?”
“The ones trying to marry you to their daughters.”
He laughed. “Their daughters are the most likely to try. Would you believe some aren’t interested in being bartered as part of a power alliance?”
He made it hard for me to dislike him. “Maybe they tried to kill you because you were kissing me.”
“Jealousy can be a powerful force.” He stared at me. “Is there someone who would be livid to know we’d kissed?”
“My best friend.” At his flared nostrils, I smirked. “And only if I didn’t tell her all about how I’d kissed the king. We don’t keep secrets from each other.”
“No husband waiting for you?”
“Would it matter?”
“No,” he snapped, turning from me.
“Where do we go from here? I need some dry clothes.” Wet skirts in a closed cave didn’t make for comfort, and I shivered despite the light. A light from no torch or candle. It hit me suddenly. “Why can I see?”
No windows in this place, and yet, I had no trouble making out the trough of water, the ledge he’d dumped me on. The king himself. Yet no lantern in sight.
“Old magic.”
I snorted. “Magic isn’t real.”
“Says someone practicing alchemy.”
“Alchemy is science.”
“No it’s not.”
“Says someone who doesn’t know. As someone who practices, I can assure you the measuring, grinding, and mixing of ingredients is quite mundane.”
“That part might be, but it requires magic to bring it together.”
“There is no magic,” I huffed.
He stared at me, a single brow raised. “You honestly believe that.”
“Because it’s true. I mean I say a prayer over it like I was taught, but that’s just ceremonial.” I said it even as I knew that wasn’t completely true.
“Who do you pray to?”
I almost told him, only to realize I’d give away my Ulkruubian roots. “If you knew I wasn’t who I claimed to be, why did you go along with the pretense?”
“You’re not the only one who can be curious. Who are you gathering information for?”
“Myself.”
“And why would you concern yourself with monsters?”
“Because I am concerned they might be part of a bigger plot.”
“That’s what your uncle, who is not your uncle, also said to me.”
“And?”
The King nodded. “That concern is correct.” He began walking the narrow ledge.
