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Damyn
Listeningto Camet talk to Honor in that incredibly condescending way--as if she had failed her people, as if Camet were some hero for not opening the gates while Jaik and his forces were pressed against the walls and he might have died outside his own castle—all I wanted to do was throttle him. But Honor wanted to hear him out, and so I waited.
“You must make yourselves look presentable so that the nobles will listen to you,” he said grandiosely, as if he were on her side. “The servants will show you to the ballroom when you are ready. I am so glad you are willing to listen, Honor. I want so badly to be a help to you and to Prince Jaik.”
He spoke to her as if she weren’t a queen, as if she weren’t even a peer. As if she were just a stupid girl he could manipulate.
He really did not know Honor.
As soon as he had gone, servants showed us to a room upstairs in the castle.
In the guest wing.
I glanced curiously at the hall that led to the Royals’ wing, which I had been in so many times. I’d slept every night there when I lived in Lysander’s apartment. And I’d been there almost every day when I was teaching and training Caldren and Jaik in their boyhood. Was he sleeping in Lysander’s old bedroom? In Jaik's room?
As we passed down the guest hall, there was heavy traffic in and out of the rooms as if the wing were stuffed with guests. The nobles were dressed in all kinds of finery, which made me wonder if they’d really had so little time to flee before Kallus’s army.
“Here you are,” the servant said.
I gritted my teeth at Honor being shown to some random guest room in the castle that belonged to her. But I thanked the servant and closed the door behind us, turning to survey the room—which was lavish, with an enormous sunken tub the size of a small pool and a bed. But it wasn’t lavish enough for her.
“Well, as long as I've been kidnapped, I'm not going to turn down a bath,” Honor said lightly.
“This is no time for levity.” I said sternly.
“You think there's never a good time for levity,” she returned.
I frowned at her as she headed towards the enormous sunken bath in the corner of the room. “Are you implying I have no sense of humor?”
She flashed me a mischievous smile over her shoulder, and I melted inside as I always did.
“You heard Camet. We need to be respectable looking. Though that might be hopeless for you, you seem to terrify everyone. He might be right though. The nobles won't listen to someone who is telling them how to fight a war, if they look like they've just come from fighting that war.” There was a bitter twist to her lips.
She turned her back to me and began to undress. I immediately turned away, but it was hard for me to forget the shape of her body. The line of her back, the lean muscle of her shoulders from wielding that sword, the narrow of her waist above the gentle spread of her hips, the smoothness of her pale skin where the sun had not touched her, were all intoxicating. Although the Elder Royals had forced her to play a man, her strength was both incredible and entirely feminine.
She stepped into the water and let out a gleeful sigh of relaxation. “Come in, Damyn.”
“Is that an order from my queen?”
“Are you in the habit of taking orders from your queen now?” her voice was amused. “I thought you just scolded me.”
“I obey your orders.” Reluctantly, I began to disrobe of the light armor that I wore, then my boots. “AndI scold you. Whatever you need most at the time.”
Again, she flashed that smile at me over her shoulder. “What about when I need someone to wash my hair, the way you did after the battle?”
When I’d drawn off my tunic, I caught her watching me. Interest flashed in her eyes, and the unbridled lust with which she looked at me before she dragged her eyes away set my body on fire. Heat seemed to crackle in the air between us. I knew very well then that I shouldn't go any further.
And yet I did.
“For the sake of efficiency,” I said, before unbuckling my trousers. “Turn your back. As you pointed out… you are my queen. I shouldn’t be too familiar.”
She rolled her eyes and let me see it, as if she were daring me to react, but turned. I had already unlaced my boots, and now I stepped out of my trousers.
As I stepped down into the water, it was warm and relaxing, scented by the flowers that floated in the water. it was definitely a bath for a queen, and not for me. The sunken pool was so large that there was plenty of room for both of us, and I stayed on my side, leaving a few feet between us.
“Come over here, Damyn. I need you.” She turned, her breasts submerged in the water except for the faintest swell, and held out the sponge.
