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But now, as I paced back and forth behind the large mahogany desk, I was glad for the space. I had invited Maeteo to speak with me this afternoon, since I had yet to have a conversation with him alone after he had been released from the dungeons. I had sent a staff member tofetch him nearly twenty minutes ago, and with every minute more that passed, I chewed off another nail.
A heavy knock on the study door made me jump, my hands flying out to the back of the large chair behind the desk to steady myself.
“Come in,” I called, my voice shaking slightly as I tried to settle my heartbeat back into a normal rhythm.
The door opened quicker than I expected, and Maeteo stepped into the room, his eyes trailing over the space slowly before he landed his gaze on me. He stared for a second before a slow grin spread across his face, stretching the still fading bruising on his cheek.
I let go of the back of the chair, letting my hands fall by my sides as I stared right back at him. His hair was wet, but still pushed back in the same way it always was. The bruising on his cheeks was still there, although now it was beginning to yellow around the edges, only the middles still holding onto the deep purple colour. The blood that had been cracking around his nose was gone, and the swelling had gone down.
He closed the door behind himself, letting go of the handle and pushing his hands into his pockets as we stared at each other.
“You look better,” I finally managed to say, my fingers curling and uncurling a few times over as I tried to get my thoughts straight.
Maeteo laughed, shaking his head slightly.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” He smirked, and the lack of a nickname made my chest ache slightly.
Silence enveloped us both again, and I watched him closely as he started to move around the room.
My study, unlike Cyrus’s, was full. The windows were the same, and our desks were the same, but the walls of my study were full of books. Fairytales, adventures, worlds full of winged men and vicious monsters. The books, surprisingly, were all brought up from the library not long after I had told Cyrus about my love for them.
The shelves were dotted with decorations, small figures of dragons and flowers. Crystals and glassware that I dared not to touch in case I dropped them.
A plush rug filled the space between the door and my desk, and two grand armchairs were placed across from the mahogany masterpiece I was currently hiding behind. The windows behind me were in fact patio doors, lying open to let in as much of a breeze as the weather allowed. I had remembered, thankfully, to get Leo to place the same cooling enchantment in this room as I had in my bedroom.
Maeteo turned on the spot, his eyes finding me instantly again. I wanted to hide away under his intense stare, but I did not. I simply held my head slightly higher.
“I told you not to come.” I started, my voice wavering. Maeteo rolled his eyes, turning his back on me again as though the books behind him were the most interesting things he had ever seen. “Do not turn away from me, General.”
His shoulders stiffened, and I was sure I heard his jaw lock as his teeth ground together. Slowly, he turned back to me, his eyes lit with a fire I had never seen before.
“I already told you,” He said slowly, his tone dripping with barely contained venom, “You were a fool to think I would not follow you.”
“You disobeyed an order from your Queen.” I wondered if he could see through the ridiculous façade I had to put on in order to talk to him like this. He scoffed, rolling his eyes.
“A ridiculous, order.” He laughed humorlessly, moving from where he was standing by the bookshelves into the middle of the room. I glared, rolling my lips together as I tried to find the words, I wanted to say to him. If he was going to be this difficult, this conversation was not going to go as calmly as I had hoped.
Maeteo’s form loomed over me — intimidating in every sense of the word — from across my desk.
I squared my shoulders, lifting my chin and locking my gaze to his.
“As much as I appreciate your input, General, I am still your Queen —“
“You are mylife,” he snarled, slamming his hands down onto the desk, making it quake under his strength. I jumped at his sudden outbreak. “I gave up everything at home to follow you here! To keep you safe!”
“I never asked that of you!”
His eyes flared, and he started to round my desk. For every step he took towards me, I took one away from him, until my back hit the solid wood of a bookcase.
“Do you know what they call you at home?” He asked, his voice dripping with venom as he caged me in with a hand at either side of my head, “They call you the Traitor Queen.”
My heart dropped into my feet at the viciousness of his words. His chest was heaving as he took ragged breaths, his cheeks reddening under his bruises.
“When that crown touched your head, my life was no longer mine. Do you not understand? Everything I am, I am for you. I am loyal to you. So did you really expect me to stay at home like some kind of obedient dog when my entire life had disappeared on a ship with our worst enemy?”
His hissed words stung as though he was pouring acid into an open wound.
“Do you not realise how long we waited for you to come back? Fourteen years, Kira. Fourteen. Years. Ourkingdom sat and waited for the lost princess, you, to finally come home. When I was promoted to General, I made it my mission to find you. I was a man possessed trying to find a way to get you. Then, Alexandre told me the truth a few weeks before your birthday, and I thought I had been handed the luckiest golden coin. I spent weeks planning the perfect way to come and collect you, to bring you home to parades and parties…”
