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“Explain why your scent is different.” He crossed his arms with a grumble. “Then you mayindulgein whatever frivolous matters that princesses find entertaining.”
Aria was close to swiping his legs out from under him and proposing a hand-to-hand combat duel right there. Maybe then he’d have a clearer picture of her interests.
“I’m wearing some of my older clothes from home,” she said confidently with her nose in the air. “I get homesick, but what wouldyoucare? You’ve trapped me here like a bird in a cage.”
“Again, you’re free to do what you like.”
“Oh?” She raised her eyebrows challengingly and walked past him. “Then I suppose I might make good on your assumptions for my own humor’s sake. What is the name of the knight I almost killed?”
Travus growled as he followed after her. “What would you need him for? A duel?”
She paused and looked over her shoulder at him dispassionately. “Your majesty, if you’re free to have your concubines, I should be free to take lovers as well. I’ve bested him on the field, now I simply wish to allow him to be even with me.”
She didn’t know that he hadn’t taken a single woman since she arrived.
Seeing his jaw drop to the floor with eyes flaring in rage, she made a run for it with a squeak as soon as he took a step forward. What in the realms had possessed her to say sucha thing was beyond her, but she couldn’t deny the sadistic enjoyment that came from it.
He chased after her, and she’d pick up pace each time his fingers brushed the back of her robes. Her sarcastic cackle rang through the castle each time she dodged him.
She turned into a hallway and, strangely, found herself at a dead end. A deep chuckle bounced along the walls as it drew closer.
Oh no, she thought.
“You forget, Princess,” he stated with darkened glee, “that I control this castle. There’s nowhere you can run.”
His hand clamped onto her shoulder as he swiveled her around, pushing her into the wall. When she looked up at him, he was no longer enraged, but amused. His smirk was playful rather than sinister. He leaned down to her level and cocked his head to the side as his eyes bore into hers, and she could feel her heart stumbling in her chest.
“Was it not enough that I was with you that night?” he said teasingly as his voice fell a few octaves. “Or is it simply that you require more?”
“Nonsense.”
“Regardless of what you say,” he continued quietly as his thumb traced the side of her neck, “your scent of need is evident to a nose as sharp as mine, Mierna.” His fingerstrailed down her cleavage, the feathery touches leaving her breathless. “And your body doesn’t lie.”
She felt the strings at her neckline loosen as cool air brushed against her slowly exposing skin. “If you would only choose to surrender.”
“I won’t,” she snapped and ducked under his arm, scurrying out of the hall and finding the bathing hall to disappear into. With her heart in her throat and body fueled by annoyance, she undressed quickly and submerged herself into the water, sitting down on the steps and crossing her arms.
As much as she wanted to give in, she didn’t want Travus to even accidentally assume any cooperation on her end. She knew if she acted like she gave in even once, the trials would become more difficult from then onwards.
The refreshing oils in the water finally began to take effect, soothing her buzzing skin and her temperament. She felt her muscles begin to relax, and the anxieties of Callie’s visit wash away. Turning around, she crossed her arms over the edge of the pool and lowered her cheek against them, taking in a deep breath as she focused on relaxation.
But, alas, she couldn’t truly be alone. The castle was Travus’s after all. The doors opened, and he entered the bathing hall. She ignored him as he undressed and tried to ignore the ripples on her back as he stepped into the water. He waded over to her to sit, but he didn’t touch her.
“Do you, perhaps, dislike it when I touch you?” he asked with genuine curiosity. “You don’t stop me despite your strength.”
“I suppose that alone answers your question, doesn’t it?” she grumbled. “For you, intimacy is contractual, but it doesn’t sit right with me.”
“What about the first time?” He was still oblivious to the actual facts. He would only ever think they had sex.
“That was me asserting myself as your equal in the agreement,” she clarified. “That whatever you do of that nature is nothing new to me and couldn’t be used to break me.”
More ripples collided gently against her back with the sound of water droplets on the surface as his hand rested on the edge of the pool beside her.
“Princess, it’s a hurtful assumption that I would’ve taken you by force. I wouldn’t corner you into something you didn’t have the capacity to escape.”
She only grumbled. It was difficult to discern who Travus really was, but she was beginning to wonder if she was simply resisting his words due to the preconceived notions of him in her head.
The feeling of his warm hand on her waist drew her out of her thoughts.
