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After only a few feet, the tunnel took a sharp turn to the right, then another sharp turn to the left after a few more feet. After she exited the last turn, the sound of running water greeted her.

She had to walk a few more yards and take one more turn before she stepped into a chamber with a gentle waterfall washing over the far wall. The waterfall cascaded onto a flat rock before another small waterfall poured into a pool of water. Damp warmth washed over Melantha’s face, and when she crossed the room and stuck her hand in the waterfall, the water was warm.

The room was lit by a soft glow of lights set near the ceiling, giving the whole place a warm, soft feeling even though the place was a cave deep in the mountain.

Melantha washed and changed into the tunic and trousers.

When she re-entered the bedroom, Prince Rharreth was sprawled on the bed, and only two of the lights near the bed were still lit.

Melantha halted. There was only one bed. And he was already on it.

Prince Rharreth gestured from her to the bed. “I intend to get a good night’s sleep. You are welcome to share the bed or sleep on the floor. Whatever you prefer.”

Flexing her fingers, fighting the heat building in her chest, Melantha glanced from the bed piled with soft blankets and pillows, to the stone floor with only a bearskin rug to soften it. How dare he force her to choose between the bed or the floor. He claimed to be honorable, but what kind of honor was this? And after she had nicely healed him.

See if she healed him again if this was how he would treat her.

She glanced around the room. Perhaps she could curl up in one of the padded chairs by the fire?

The chair, the floor, or the bed. Which would be most awkward?

Probably the bed.

But he had challenged her. She was not about to back down now. If he wanted to make things awkward by sharing the bed, then that was exactly what she was going to do.

Her back stiff, she stalked around the bed and eased onto the far side, sticking as close to the edge as she could, all too aware of the bulk of him behind her.

He shifted, and the whole mattress dipped, threatening to roll her toward the center. Melantha gripped the edge of the mattress to stay in place.

This was her husband. Her home. Her life now.

And she was trying hard not to hate all of it.

RHARRETH SLUMPED overthe stone desk that dominated the long-unused study in Khagniorth Stronghold, just down the hall from the room he now shared with Princess Melantha. The shelves across from the desk still held dust and trailed cobwebs all the way to the floor, and he had yet to sort through the crumbling books stacked there.

A pile of paperwork sprawled across the desk as he tried to put Kostaria into order without the aid of whatever records his brother and father had kept.