Page 63 of Ties of Dust

“You want to protect me, but I don’t need your protection.” The words burst from her, as if she could hold in her frustration no longer. “I’m supposed to be protecting you, Cassius! I’m your bodyguard!”

When had she dispensed with his title? He hadn’t noticed it happening—he didn’t think she’d even realized what she’d done. But he found he liked it. In fact, the sound of his name so casually on her lips was dangerously close to intoxicating.

Cassius stepped forward, his eyes holding hers in an iron grip as he formed every word with deliberate care.

“It’s not that I want to protect you, Flora. That would imply I want to see you in danger so as to have the satisfaction of being protector. Nothing could be further from the truth. But when I see you under attack, I find it impossible to simply stand by. Call yourself my bodyguard if you wish—it won’t change a thing.”

Her eyes flickered, and he saw her swallow nervously. Did he make her nervous? Did her heart start to race as he took yet another step closer?

His seemed determined to double its pace.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but I was in no danger,” she said at last. “Was I being unjustly criticized? Maybe. But—”

“I don’t like that either,” Cassius said darkly. “You’ve shown nothing but integrity and capability—you don’t deserve to be maligned.”

“What does it matter what strangers think of me?” Flora said simply. “I know who I am, I don’t have anythingto prove to them. You do have something to prove, and you won’t prove it by defending the servants.”

Cassius ran a hand through his hair in a gesture of hopelessness. A week ago, her words would have hit uncomfortably close to home, but now he couldn’t find it in him to care about any of it. She spoke of herself as a servant, but she’d never been that to him. How could he make her understand that he was perfectly aware that defending her was against his interests and that he simply didn’t care?

“Don’t ask me to stand by while you’re insulted and abused,” he said flatly. “I won’t do it. I can’t. Your capability deserves to be recognized.”

Flora’s face was hard to read—he almost thought he saw her lip quiver. He couldn’t be sure since he forced himself not to let his attention linger on that feature.

“What is it?” he pressed, when she didn’t speak. “What are you thinking?”

“Only that those are strange words coming from you.” Flora’s face was still a mask. “I thought you didn’t need my services as your guard specifically because you consider me incapable of fulfilling the role to your satisfaction.”

“What?” He stared at her. “That’s not true.”

“Isn’t it?” She folded her hands—he had the distinct impression it was to stop them shaking. “You claim to admire mycapabilityas you put it, but you wouldn’t even consider letting me continue my role as Princess Miriam’s personal guard after your wedding. You dismissed me as inadequate immediately.”

“Is that what you think?” Cassius found himself suddenly towering over her, although he didn’t remember stepping closer. His legs brushed against her full skirts, so different from the practical clothes she usually wore. Shewas so near that he could feel the heat of her body, and her eyes stared up at him in a way that was incredibly distracting. “Your capability has nothing to do with it.”

She swallowed, her voice fainter as her eyes remained fixed on his. “Then what?”

“You,” he said simply. “You’re the problem.”

“I’m the…problem?”

Nothing seemed to move but her lips as she repeated the words. She was immobilized, her form inches from his. He couldn’t tell if it was because she found his nearness as intoxicating as he found hers, or because she was frozen like a wary rabbit in the sights of a hunter.

“You’re wrong that I didn’t consider the idea,” he told her, his voice gruff and low. “When you asked me about being the personal guard to my…wife,” he stumbled slightly over the word, “I pictured it clearly. Me, married to Princess Miriam, and you, always near…” He trailed off, struggling for words that would make her understand without being too revealing. “I couldn’t agree to it, Flora. The image was…unbearable.”

She said nothing, her dark eyes as deep as wells.

Cassius found himself leaning even closer. Flora didn’t do anything to close the distance, but she didn’t pull away, either. After a charged moment, she lowered her eyes, staring at his embroidered jacket instead of his face.

Ignoring the voice of wisdom, Cassius reached out and slid one calloused finger along her jaw, tilting her head back up until his eyes captured hers once again.

“Tell me the truth, Flora.” His voice was a gruff murmur now. “Would that life be sustainable?”

“I…” She hesitated, her chest rising and falling a little too quickly. “I would never seek to cause you trouble, Your Highness.”

The tiniest growl escaped him at this renewed use of his title. “For me, youaretrouble, Flora.”

He dipped his head ever so slightly downward, drawn by a magnetism he knew was unwise but he couldn’t seem to resist.

Flora was stronger than him, apparently. Or perhaps the pull simply wasn’t as powerful for her. Because a moment later she’d stepped swiftly backward, leaving chill emptiness in her wake, and forcing him to slowly lower his hand.

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