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“Yeah, well, my father has a saying too,” Teo retorts. “There are fools being born every minute. Make sure you’re not one of them.” He then throws Atlas a glance, his eyes saddening at how happy our friend is.
Seeing that Atlas is otherwise preoccupied playing with his new toy, Teo uses his distraction to his advantage and bridges the distance between himself and Levi and leans into his ear.
“Atlas is a sick, frail little kid. You may not like the way I look out for him, but between the two of us, I’m the one he should be listening to. Atlas wouldn’t survive a week on a boat, much less see the world in it, and yet you just filled his head with a bunch of nonsense that it’s something he’ll actually be able to achieve. That toy you made him might as well have been a noose, because it’s going to get him killed. Tell me, Levi, who is his real friend here?” Teo then looks over his shoulder once more at Atlas, his sad smile tainting his beautiful face. “Have fun, kid. And may the gods protect you, since it’s obvious no one here will.”
And with that parting remark, he walks away.
Chapter 35
Teodoro
It’s working.
My plan is fucking working.
Ever since I made the decision to bring Katrina to Nas Laed, she’s been a different person. No longer a recluse to her room, gone is the woman who preferred her solitude to my company. No more riders head out east with love letters to Levi either. Katrina has been so fascinated with my place of birth, that she wakes up early just so she can experience everything my city has to offer.
And me?
Well, I’ve made sure to be the perfect guide and satisfy her every craving.
“Oh, the gods! I can’t!” she giggles, eyeing the panther on my lap.
“Yes, you can. He’s as docile as they come,” I insist, patting the silky fur of the big cat when what I really want to do is run my hands all over the creamy skin of the kitten sitting at my side.
Katrina bites at her bottom lip as she nervously extends her hand to the predator lying lazily on my lap and hesitantly places it on his back.
“Gently, gently,” I warn as she begins patting it.
“I can’t believe I’m actually doing this,” she stammers, her gaze shining with excitement as she keeps running her fingers through the panther’s fur.
“Believe it, kitten.” I grin widely when her face doesn’t screw up like it always does when I call her by the nickname. In fact, all of her beams with happiness, making my chest tighten with how long I’ve longed for the day that I could see such joy on her beautiful face.
It reminds me of my youth spent up north when I used every excuse to make her laugh and smile.
Back then, I lived to make her happy.
And as far as I can tell, I still do.
The sparkle in her gray eyes as her gaze bounces from the domesticated cat on my lap to me, is too much for my aching heart to take all at once. So instead of looking at her, I stare ahead at where little Zara, her nurse, and Katrina’s handmaiden, Inessa, splash around in the waterfall, having the best time.
“You sure you don’t want to join them?” I ask when even a stern-looking Inessa is smiling like she’s a little kid again.
Katrina shakes her head and continues gently patting her new favorite pet.
“No. I’d have to put on swimming attire and there are too many people here. It wouldn’t be appropriate.”
“Appropriate?” I arch a curious brow, staring at the crowd of people in the water, most of them naked as the day they were born. “I don’t know if you can tell, but Nas Laed doesn’t really care for such decorum. We are free people here. We live by our own rules.”
“I can see that.” She smiles shyly. “Now I understand why you are how you are. You’ve never felt burdened with the weight of your crown. You have no restrictions here. No rules.”
“Liberating, isn’t it?” I wink flirtatiously at her.
“Yes, but terribly frightening too.”
“Frightening? How can living free to do what you want, when you want it, be scary to you?”
“Because when there are no rules, then there also are no limits either. What if someone’s idea of freedom comes at the expense of another’s?”
