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  “I danced as you requested of me.” She said it as coldly as possible, straining to get away from him. “But it was not for you.”

  That made him stop. She could feel him tense and the hold on her wrists tightened. He raised his head and the dark shadows across his face were contorted. Before she could tell him to stop, she gave a painful cry.

  Aleron loosened his grip just a slightly but drug her across the room and threw her on to the bed. She scrambled for the knife that she had placed under her pillow just before falling asleep. He took hold of her legs as her hand wrapped around the cold steel of the handle. She pulled it out as he pulled her to the end of the bed and flipped her over.

  She put the knife to her own throat. “You will not have me.”

  He was out of reach to grab the knife from her before she could cut her own throat and he stopped completely. Azel stared up at him in defiance, tempting him to push her, although she had no intention of killing herself. If he continued to press her against her will, she would be forced to use her power.

  His gaze narrowed. “You wouldn’t.”

  “With what you know of me before this moment, are you certain?” Azel pressed the tip tighter against her own throat.

  “Do you despise me so completely?” He asked with a small amount of agony in his voice.

  The pressure of the knife lessened and she said softly, “I have never been touched and I would rather perish then be forced. It is not a matter of despising anyone; I am not promised to you.”

  He regarded her for a moment. “So it is a matter of willingness. I must have you come to me willingly.”

  “Yes,” she answered honestly, “I would not object if I chose you of my own volition.”

  He stood up completely and took a few steps back. “I am the most powerful force on this world, and I will make you cooperative.”

  “You cannot force me to be willing,” she said, shaking her head. “You must convince me.”

  He seemed slightly baffled. “Convince you?”

  “When a man courts a woman, especially when she is promised to another, he must convince her to betray her family in order to be with him,” she answered. She felt compassionate towards his inability to understand that he must work to have her. “That he cares for her.”

  His jaw tightened. “I am a Liege; I care for no woman.”

  “Then you have already lost,” she answered. She was reluctant to lower her arm for fear that the threat of her own death was the only thing keeping him at bay.

  “What of you, if you are willing would that mean you care for me?” He asked carefully.

  “Yes,” she answered immediately. “If you have my love, I would be willing.”

  “Then,” he took a slight step forward, “I must make you love me.”

  Azel’s jaw tightened as her eyebrows pressed together and she swallowed the lump in her throat with great effort. “Yes.”

  He nodded at this, as he moved back from her and she was able to lower her arm. “Swear on your mother’s eternal soul that you will consent to being my consort if you love me.”

  “It is unfair of you to ask such a thing of me,” Azel said, grief welling up inside of her. “I will agree to your terms but if I do not love you by the time you travel close to Momby next month, swear you will release me.”

  He considered this before putting his hand out. “It is a deal.”

  She carefully placed her hand in his. “It is.”

  He bent over her hand and kissed it. “Go to sleep my little bird, for you must wake early tomorrow. Tomorrow, I will persuade you to love me.”

  Aleron released her hand and promptly walked from the room. She watched him go, a little dazed from the encounter. She had not expected him to be so eager for a challenge, and part of her wondered what the next month might possibly have in store for her. She put the knife on the side table before she curled back up on the bed but it was some time before sleep returned to her.

  Chapter 10

  “Jeren’s Wisdom”

  A sharp knock on the door woke her from a pleasant dream the next morning. She pulled herself carefully from bed. Her right breast was sore and a blush rose up in her cheeks at the memory. She pulled on a robe and quelled her embarrassment before she called that whomever at her door could enter.

  A manservant entered carrying food, all of which looked divine. He was followed by two large carts filled with fabrics, and a handful of seamstresses. She simply stood back as the food was laid out for two and the women started pulling out the cloth and holding it up to her. The women surrounded her, holding up cloths for her to feel and choose.

  “Come let us change you for the Liege,” One of the women said. They were chatting around her as they took her to the privacy screen and began changing her.

  The dress was like one she had never worn, it was simple but more than something her family could have afforded. She liked the way it covered her and the way the skirt fell, it was very comfortable in the heat of the day. They brushed her hair, painted her face and tried to cover her with jewels.

  “Bring the fabric!” the oldest woman commanded and the younger girls flitted off to bring back arms full of fabric.

  “The Liege insists that you choose whatever you like and as many as your heart desires,” the oldest one said. She wore her hair very strange and Azel wondered how she had learned to do it in such a fashion; it sat high on her head in an intricate bun with strange pendant sticking out of it. Yet she couldn’t tell what was holding it in place; there didn’t seem to be a pin or clip anywhere. “Which would please you? Jandi will make it for you.”

  “This,” she said leaning forward and pointing at a simple blue cloth before picking up a black sheer cloth. “With this for a skirt.”

  “Too simple!” The woman said disapprovingly.

  “I like simple,” Azel insisted. “I like the style I wear now; you can make me a dozen just like this.”

  “A dozen! Why so few?” Jandi asked, rather upset. “And so simple. The Liege will be displeased with me.”

  “Twelve of these,” she insisted but then saw the sadness in Jandi’s eyes. “And one special one, modest, mind you, but whatever you think best.”

  “Whatever I think best?” the woman asked, surprised, as the Liege appeared in the door

  “Yes,” she said, as she swept past them. “Good Morning, my Liege.”

  He seemed pleased with that. “I would have arrived with breakfast but I was detained.”

  “I thank you for the clothes,” she said, sitting down across from him. “And allowing me to choose them for myself.”

  He brought a small berry to his lips, and ate it whole before he responded, “the green of the House of Corvinus looks beautiful against your skin.”

  She stopped in the middle of her bite. His undertone of desire was so unexpected that she had to catch herself. She put the food to her mouth and ignored the ache of her breast. She took a sip of water as well, to calm her nerves before she responded.

  “I thank you for the compliment,” Azel responded calmly.

  A still silence fell between them and he started to watch her closely. She felt strange under his gaze and wished that he would stop. However, he stopped dead when she reached with her injured hand for a plate of cheese and he grabbed her wrist so that he might inspect the bandage.

  “What happened here?” His eyes were as commanding as his voice.

  “I was careless,” Azel answered. His fingers were burning on her skin as the boiling water had. “I am not accustomed to kitchen work.”

  “I did not see this last night,” Aleron insisted, clearly very unhappy.

  “I took the bandage off last night, but I had to put it back on after you left,” Azel stated. She turned her eyes down.

  He dropped her wrist and turned to motion a man servant over. “Take Azel to Physician Jeren. She has been injured.”

  Azel raised her eyes quickly in surprise; she had thought he would mock her carelessness or get angry at her. She stood slowly and began to follow the manservant after she gave a respectful bow of gratitude. She didn’t turn back but her belief in his cruelness had changed and so had her view of him.

  The manservant led her down the hall and through a courtyard until they came to a private area that was specifically for the clinic. When she entered there were neatly labeled jars behind glass cabinets and a wall of books on healing. It smelt of herbs, just as the royal physician had at her home. “The Liege has sent his honored Concubine to be treated,” the manservant announced.

  “My name is Azel and I am no one’s concubine,” she countered unhappily. “You can wait outside,” she told the servant.

  He looked to Physician Jeren and waited until the man said, “Go.”

  Jeren motioned for her to sit as he began to undo the bandage that Juni had put on her hand. She didn’t hesitate but sat down as he finished putting a few jars away. She glanced at the large portrait of a large body of water.

  “You are very spirited and you place your words against the Liege,” Jeren said. “Why is that?”

  “He is a terrible man and he is the enemy of my people,” she answered automatically. “He is childish and forceful.”

  “The Liege is not a cruel man by nature,” Jeren said softly. “When my wife was killed he allowed me to leave, even though I am the only physician he trusts, so that I could bury my wife in her home sand.”

  “He has a temper,” Azel responded, watching as he slowly pulled the last of the bandage from her hand. “You cannot deny that.”

  “That is true,” Jeren retorted. “Though you seem insistent on enraging him when he has done little to you. He is not a man that would force a woman when she denies him so completely; I have known him since he was a small chi
ld. You defy him and he allows it without punishment.”

  He inspected her hand and muttered something to himself before he picked up a jar with a green substance in it. She watched him stir the strange substance; she recognized it as something to put on burns and rashes. Though she had spent little time in the kitchen, her ability to manipulate flesh had caused her to be an asset to the clinic. She had spent all of her free time helping those who had been injured.

  “He is no longer a boy, he is a man who desires what he cannot have,” Azel pointed out as Jeren applied the green salve on her hand. “I am something he cannot have. He may not have succeeded in forcing me but he has threatened to.”

  “I know Aleron as you do not,” Jeren set the jar aside. “He is stubborn and driven, but he keeps you close because even with your sharp barbs he finds you interesting.”

  “He has many concubines,” Azel countered, “They can keep him interested.”

  “I see you are as stubborn as he,” Jeren chuckled as he pulled down a strange bendable material that he cut a square from, “I remember an old saying, that you can catch flies with honey better than vinegar.”

  “I don’t want to catch flies, let alone a Liege,” she retorted.

  He laughed at her, “The Liege is unaccustomed to rejection, and perhaps you should temper your harsh rejection of his advances.”

  He placed the square over the burn before he began to wrap it and Azel asked, “What is that strange material you put over the burn ointment?”

  He glanced up at her and paused in his wrapping, “It is a thin flexible material that allows little air onto the wound itself. Tomorrow I will remove it and you will have to spend several hours with it exposed. This will cause the healing process to rapidly increase.”

  “That is very helpful,” Azel commented as he tied the last of the bandage.

  “You will be unable to continue your work in the kitchen,” Jeren commented, inspecting his work, “I will tell the Liege of this myself.”

  “I do not think that will be necessary as we have to an agreement,” Azel said, letting her hand fall to her lap, “You care for him.”

  “He is all alone in this world,” Jeren answered with a heavy sigh, “Perhaps it would be better to be a companion to him. He has many enemies and though it may not seem so, he is lonely.”

  She stood slowly a thoughtful look upon her face, “Do you truly believe if I offer him companionship he will deliver me to Momby as he promised?”

  “He values those he trusts,” Jeren responded, walking her to the door, “I imagine he would be more receptive to your request if you were to treat him fairly.”

  “I will take your suggestion under advisement,” she stood in the open door. “I appreciate your assistance.”

  “I will see you tomorrow to re-bandage your hand,” he said. She managed a thin smile as she left.

  The door closed as the guard led her down the hall and she considered what Jeren had told her. Her mother would not have been pleased that she had spoken so roughly when a guest in another house, even if she wasn’t there by choice. Jeren had not noticed but he had slipped and called the Liege by his first name.

  Chapter 11

  “Hak-Ta”

  Azel had considered long and hard what it was she could do to temper Aleron’s passion but build a potential friendship. She remembered that every child of noble blood learned to play Hak-Ta. It was a board game consisting of two levels of different colored pieces. The object was to move the pieces in such a fashion as only your color, typically black and white or blue and red, remained.

  She set her hair in a simple setting and put a modesty veil over her head so that he may understand her intent was not carnal. She went to the door that connected her room to his and raised her fist to knock. Azel hesitated as she wondered if she was inviting trouble instead of mending a path for her to leave. She took a deep breath, straightening her clothes one last time as she resolved herself, before knocking. There was a moment’s silence and after a few moments she rapped her knuckles on the door again. She heard someone stir within and realized it must be far too early. Deciding that she could try again later, Azel turned away and began to move back towards the sanctity of the inner room.

  She stopped when she heard the door open and turned back to find Aleron leaning against the doorjamb. He was without his normal clothes and his eyes drooped as though he had just risen. He wore a loose shirt that hardly covered any of his chest and a set of pants that were typically worn under robes. He looked rugged and could pass for normal were it not for the fine state of his clothes, and for the first time Azel admitted he was handsome.

  “Is something the matter?” he asked, clearly not amused.

  “I did not mean to wake you,” Azel said, averting her eyes from his body.

  “If you need something I keep a guard posted outside your door,” he said. He was already starting to close the door on her.

  “I wanted to thank you,” she blurted out before she could change her mind. “My hand is much better today.”

  He paused at that, clearly stunned as he stopped closing the door. Yet his surprise quickly faded as he eyed her suspiciously. She kept her hands folded at her front and for some reason she suddenly felt very shy using the door that connected their two rooms. She opened her mouth to continue but closed it again when he took a deliberate step into her room.

  “Jeren is a very competent Physician,” Aleron said. “He is,” Azel said, and a short awkward silence fell between them before she added, “I had thought you normally take lunch shortly and wished to invite you to a game of Hak-Ta.”

  She could instantly tell that he thought she was plotting something, and in a way she was. Jeren was right; the Liege would likely release her if she behaved as a guest aught. She could easily treat him like he was her companion for the short duration of her confinement and at the end of their agreement she would be free to return to Momby.

  “I accept,” he finally said. “Come.”

  Azel hesitated as he stepped back to allow her to walk past him into his private chambers. She had her gift and she would use it to defend herself if need be but the idea of being in his private chambers had not occurred to her. Azel moved carefully, as though any quick movements might cause him to touch her.

  He closed the door behind her as she took in the room, the deep colors of red, blue, and purple, all accented with black. Diamonds were woven into the curtains, and a canopy around the bed dominated most of the room. They almost seemed to wink at her from the little light coming through the window. She had not paid it any mind the day before when they had first arrived.

  “Come,” he said simply, and went up to a set of stairs that lead to a second level.

  She ascended the stairs slowly, holding the layers of her light skirts as she went. It was much like any royal gathering room. It had a strategy board with maps rolled across it and tables set up for a variety of games. The room was empty, and it seemed almost too quiet as he waited for her to walk past him, gesturing to a table with a game of Hak-Ta already set on the table.

  He waited for her to sit before taking a seat across from her. “We will not be bothered here.”

  “Do you wish to be red or blue?” Azel asked. She pushed the veil from her face so that she might see the pieces better.

  “Blue,” he quickly answered, but then looked up at her. “That is, if your preference isn’t blue.”

  “We played with black and white, where I was always white,” she answered. An almost invisible smile pressed her lips slightly back at the memory of playing with her father. “I can hardly choose between red and blue.”

  “You can begin.” He shifted in his seat to lounge back in the plush chair.

  Azel made a simple switch between two of her pieces, and patiently waited while the Liege took his turn. He had obviously not played in some time; he was awkward and hasty in his capturing of her pieces and the movement of his. She had set up a trap that would cause him to lose in the end as long as he continued along at his current strategy.

  “Can I inquire about your intent?” he asked, moving to capture another of her lesser pieces.

  “I intend to win.” Azel answered and moved a piece of her own.