Adrian directed me into his tent, letting me enter ahead of him. Inside, it was warm, the heat wafting from a brazier at its center. The sight of it caused me to hesitate at the entrance, and Adrian bumped into me. Instead of staggering away, his hand touched my waist.
“You are safe here,” he said, mistaking my fear of the fire for a fear of him.
I moved forward quickly. At my feet plush rugs covered most of the ground, and a round table and several wooden folding chairs were arranged to one side. There was also a desk, upon which a map of Cordova was spread, and I fought every urge to approach and read his plans for my world. A bed took up the other side of the tent and it was that I focused on, because it was occupied by a very naked woman. She was stretched out, completely exposed, creamy skin burnished by firelight. She jerked into a sitting position when she saw us enter, not bothering to drag the blankets up to cover herself. She only stared, wide-eyed, as if she had not expected Adrian to bring a visitor.
“Out,” Adrian snapped, and she fled. I watched her go, feeling irritated that he hadn’t been alone.
“Will your mistress join us on our wedding night?” I asked, glaring at him.
“Already dreaming of our time together?” he countered and then offered a smile. “She is not my mistress.”
“So you wouldn’t have slept with her?”
He stared. “I suppose it depends on how I’m feeling.”
I narrowed my eyes upon him. “You’re supposed to say no, at least to my face. Unless you wish to conduct our marriage openly. In which case, shall I start scouting for potential lovers?”
Adrian’s mouth hardened. “Are you demanding fidelity?”
“I will follow as you lead,” I said. It was a taunt.
“It is early to make demands. We have not even wed yet.”
“If my request is such a burden, then call off the engagement,” I challenged. I walked farther into the tent, keeping my distance from the fire at the center. The flames seemed too high and too angry.
“Oh, my sweet, things have become far too interesting for that,” he said and then tilted his head to the side. “Why are you here?”
I hesitated for a moment. Maybe this was a mistake. As the words came out of my mouth, they seemed ridiculous. “I need a promise from you.”
Adrian’s pale brows rose over his strange eyes.
“Go on.”
“It won’t surprise you to know that Commander Killian hates you, even more after today. I think he believes he could kill you and free me from our engagement. I need you to promise that if he tries to attack, you will not seek retribution against my people.”
Adrian stared at me for a long moment.
“What will you give me in exchange for this promise?”
“I warned you of Killian. Is that not enough?”
“You have told me nothing I did not already know. Your commander has been planning ways to kill me since I landed on your doorstep.”
I stared at him. “What do you want from me?”
“Everything,” he said. “But for now, I will settle for the answer to why you do not walk near the fire.”
I stared at him, surprised he had noticed, and then looked toward the flames. Acknowledging my fear of fire seemed so minimal compared to anything else he could have asked, so I answered truthfully.
“I am afraid of fire,” I said. “I have been since I was a child.”
“Were you burned as a child?” Adrian moved closer.
“No,” I said and then inhaled an involuntary, shaky breath. There was more to this than I wanted to admit, an unexplainable panic that came at night when I closed my eyes. It was a horror Adrian had no right to access, so I said nothing more.
Still, he was staring, and his gaze burned worse than any fire.
“Why do you ask?”
“You are to be my wife,” he said.
Now he was behind me, and though he did not touch me, I felt him through the tension between us. His body called to mine, a magnetic pull that grasped my hips and shoulders. It took everything in my power not to bow into him.
I was so focused on keeping my body in check that when he spoke against my ear, I gasped. “Tell me, does Commander Killian visit your bed often?”
Jealousy was a strange trait between strangers, and yet it had reared its head twice between us now. At least I was not alone in my irrationality.
I turned my head, eyes falling to his lips, which were only an inch from mine.
“What makes you think he visits my bed?”
“I know jealous lovers,” he said. “Does your commander think that if I am dead, he can have you?”