“I don’t answer to the lord commander. I answer directly to Salar.”
Wait, Artem didn’t answer to the commander?
“Your maid will collect your things,” the captain said. “You’ll return to the castle now.”
“I’ll decide what I do,” Norah told him, an anger swelling inside her. If he thought he could control her like the lord commander had tried, he was mistaken.
“See her back to the castle,” he ordered the guard, ignoring her.
“I’ll go back when I’m ready,” she snapped, sending a ripple of tension through the air.
“Salara,” Kiran said softly from behind her. “I must obey.”
She pushed out a breath, shaking with anger. But what could she do? “Vitalia, get the silk. It looks like we’re finished shopping for today.” Then she spun on her heel and turned back toward the castle, stewing in rage as she walked. She wouldn’t live like this. She was salara, and she would go where she pleased.
Norah stormed through the castle and found Mikael in the library.
He stood from his chair with a concerned brow as she entered. “Are you all right?”
“You have to choose another captain,” she demanded. “Or better yet, I’ll use mine.”
He stiffened. “I’ve already dealt with my lord commander. Now you ask me to remove my captain of the Crest?”
“Am I prisoner here?”
His brow dipped. “Of course not.”
“Yet I’m still under constant watch and command.”
“For your protection.”
“No.” She shook her head. This wasn’t about protection with the captain and lord commander. It was about control. “I’ve accepted the stipulation of a proper guard. If I’m a prisoner, then tell me I’m a prisoner. But if I’m salara, I’ll go where I please; I’ll do as I please.” She held the fire of her gaze firmly with Mikael’s. “Am I your prisoner? Or am I salara?”
Mikael’s brow dipped in concern, and he drew closer. “You’re salara. I’ll speak to Artem.”
Norah narrowed her eyes.
“I’ll speak to him,” he said again. “With a proper guard, you’ll go where you want and do as you please.”
“Including going to the market?”
He paused but gave her a nod. “Including going to the market.”
But rage still burned on her skin.
Mikael stepped in front of her. He took her hand and pulled her closer, gently, like he feared the fragility between them.
As he should.
But as his warmth danced across her skin, she feared what was between them wasn’t fragile enough.
He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed the back of her fingers softly. Something stirred inside her. He was doing more than just trying for civility, more than simply fostering an alliance. Norah forgot about the market.
“Where are you going now?” he asked.
Where was she going?
“Can I walk you?”
She nodded.
Instead of offering it this time, he simply pulled her hand under the fold of his arm and covered it with his own. Then they stepped out into the hall.
Her mind seemed to return as they walked. “I’d like to discuss my men’s assignment when they return from Mercia,” she said.
“Your man, Titus?”
It surprised her that he remembered his name. “Yes, and others.”
“I’ll see your guardsmen are named to the Crest.”
“Thank you,” she breathed, feeling a swell of relief. “Oh, and Caspian is a captain.” She’d see him assigned appropriately for his rank.
He nodded. “We will discuss him when he’s healed.”
This was progress.
“I hear the Bear—your lord justice—is investigating more attacks on North towns.”
“Mercian towns and those under Mercia’s protection. The same as the town we saw.” She pursed her lips in frustration. “We still don’t know who’s responsible.”
Mikael frowned, and she wondered what he was thinking. “You’ll let me know what he finds?” he asked.
“I will.”
The muscle along his jaw tightened. “Will you send him back to the North after he returns?”
She nodded reluctantly. “I do intend to,” she said.
“Good.” His tone held an edge of irritation, but his face lightened as their eyes met again.
They walked the rest of the way quietly, but it wasn’t an uneasy quiet; it was the quiet of comfort returning. He set a slow pace, seeming to enjoy the moment, as she was. When they reached the hall, he paused. “To the door?”
“Of course.”
But that distance only gave her the blink of an eye longer with him. At the door, he turned to her. His eyes seemed brighter than they usually were—lighter, almost brown.
“I must admit, when I gave you this sanctuary, I didn’t expect it to be where you’d stay. I fear I regret it now.”
Her pulse quickened as a worry balled in her stomach. Would he take it away from her?
“It’s a place I can’t follow after you, a place I can’t visit without your invitation.” He paused. “I want you to know I think of you… inviting me in. Often.”
Her pulse raced with each of his words. She wanted to invite him in, but when she opened her mouth, the words wouldn’t come. Perhaps it felt too forward, too bold, and too soon. She didn’t know.
“Can I not stay with you, just a while longer?” he asked.
It wasn’t a wise idea, she told herself, but she wasn’t ready to part from him yet. “Just a while longer,” she found herself saying.
The corners of his lips turned up.
It certainly wasn’t a wise idea. She chastised herself as she opened the sanctuary door and led him in. Now she wouldn’t be able to get him out. Did she want him out?
Norah poured herself a chalice of wine and drank deeply. The wine would help.
Mikael looked around the sanctuary. He smiled as he stepped closer. “What do you do in here?” he asked.
She thought about going home, thought about Alexander, thought about him.
“Read,” she replied.
He stepped closer—close enough to touch her. His eyes moved back and forth between hers, looking deep inside her. She set the chalice down. The wine wasn’t helping.
Mikael reached up and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. She didn’t pull away. His brow creased. “Salara,” he said softly. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what you need from me.”
His vulnerability stunned her. She swallowed and looked at the settee. “Maybe we can just sit for a while?”
Mikael let out a breath and nodded. He stepped back and sat on the lounge, and she sat beside him. A quiet hung in the air, but she felt no need to fill it. He rested his arm between them, with his hand open and palm up. An invitation.
Norah placed her hand on top of his, and he closed his fingers around it. He was asking her for closeness. She settled against him and laid her head on his shoulder—her silent reply.
Chapter forty-nine
Norah woke under the rays of the morning sun, lying against Mikael with his arms around her. They were still on the settee. It was late afternoon when they’d come to the sanctuary. Had they really slept through the evening and night?