Page 51 of Of Song and Scepter

Why was I letting the handmaid get under my scales? Why couldn’t I just leave her alone? I could have easily escorted Aris into the surrounding waters, bonded with her over the awkwardness of the tavern’s bathroom arrangement. Instead, I had deliberately chosen to leave her to discover that bit of reefdistrict culture for herself, knowing it would buy me time with her handmaid.

In my mind’s eye, Enna’s purple eyes flash once more, holding my gaze with unwavering intensity.

I round the corner, and at the end of the hallway, Captain Nara leans against the wall next to my chamber door, sharpening the tines of her trident. She eyes me with a smirk, as if she knows she’s the last person I want to see right now.

“Greetings,” she says. “Looks like I’m on guard duty tonight.”

I cross my arms, slowly resuming my walk.

“The captain doing the work of a lesser soldier? I’m honored.”

She rolls her eyes. “Count yourself lucky, I wanted a change of scenery tonight.” She gestures broadly to the white-washed walls and endless stretches of marble. With her red stripes, she’s the most colorful thing in the room, and that’s not saying much.

I stop across from her, leaning against the wall in a mirrored position. “You discharged him, didn’t you?”

She smiles. “Guilty.”

“What for?”

“He was sleeping on the job.”

The familiar throb of my headache pricks at the side of my temple. “Why do they always fall asleep, Nara?”

She tests the sharpness of each tine of her trident with a gloved finger, then inspects the soft white leather for punctures. “It’s entirely your fault your sex life is uninteresting, you know.”

“Yet here I am, arriving at high tide after spending the evening at the tavern with my betrothed.”

“And you delivered her to her rooms just now, I assume?” She glances down the hallway, empty of any pursuing females. “Pity. You could use a good fuck.”

I grunt and nod toward my door. “Just unlock it, Nara. Please.”

She smirks, fishing for the right key. “That princess is a fine royal specimen. Are you trying?”

“I took her to the bar tonight. She got drunk.”

“Very romantic.”

I run my hand over the back of my neck, massaging the knot that’s forming. I roll my shoulder to ease the tension. “She came onto me, at the beginning of all this, but I turned her down.”

Nara pauses with the key in hand. “I assume you’re telling me because you want to know what I think. So here it is.” She looks over her shoulder to glare at me. “This is your future wife, no?”

“Yes. Yes, she is.”

“Then you’re an idiot.”

“I’ll be marrying her in six days, butgods, Nara. She’s—” I wave my hand, trying to pull the words from thin air.

“Gorgeous? Rich? Super polite? Hardly ever says anything wrong? Has perfect hips for bearing all your royal bloodline guppies?”

“Thank you,” I say. “That’s not the word I was looking for.”

She drops the key on the floor and kicks it down the hallway. It slides to the far wall, where it settles with a dull clink.

“All right,” she says. “Talk to me. I’m not getting that key until you say what’s on your mind. And by the way you look right now, you’re not walking for it.”

She’s right. The exhaustion of this moon cycle is seeping into my body. I’m nearly swaying on my feet.

“Aris has that look in her eyes,” I say, leaning against the wall. “I figured that out the day I met her.”