Page 64 of Ties of Dust

“I regret that I’ve caused you trouble, Your Highness,” she said, her voice not natural. “I truly only ever meant to help.” Her hands were definitely shaking this time as she folded them behind her back with a rustle of fabric. “Do you need further assistance, or may I retire for the night?”

Cassius swallowed the absurd desire to grab hold of her shoulders and tell her that he needed her assistance every hour of every day.

He straightened his back. What was wrong with him? He’d spent all his youth and adult years avoiding the attempts of women in the court to ensnare him. How had he allowed himself to be so bewitched by a woman who clearly wasn’t trying to bewitch him? So many times she’d told him she didn’t need or want his help, and yet he was still determined to rush to her side. He was embarrassed by his own weakness.

“Of course you may retire,” he said, glad to hear that his voice was now steady and impassive. “I will not be returning to the gala tonight.”

With a half-hearted attempt at a bow, Flora fled from the room, almost tripping over her dress.

As soon as the door closed behind her, Cassius buried his face in one hand. What had come over him? How washe failing so dismally to keep to the high standard of behavior necessary for one of his position? He should never have allowed himself to share such an intimate moment with the Siqualian guard. He should never have danced with her.

But he couldn’t bring himself to regret any of it. Not when he remembered how her stiff form had relaxed as her eyes looked up into his, or the softness of her skin when he’d touched her jaw. And the dance…never in his life could he remember feeling so connected to another person.

He was in trouble, there was no doubt about it. A kind of trouble that lifting the tether wouldn’t solve. In fact, it would only make it worse, given that the tether could only be lifted once his betrothal to Princess Miriam was made official. Quite possibly it wouldn’t even lift until the marriage had occurred. He didn’t know how rigidly the enchantment would define the marriage alliance being sealed.

A servant appeared shortly after Flora left, expecting to assist the prince to prepare for bed. Cassius sent him away. He didn’t want anyone hovering around him. The faint sensation of the tether stretching through the wall and into the next suite was unsettling enough.

He stripped off his finery and climbed into bed in his long undershirt and leggings. He just wanted to reach the oblivion of sleep as soon as possible.

He’d barely settled under the covers, however, when he felt a light touch around his middle. He drew back, about to throw off the blankets to search for a rodent or other unwanted guest. But as he shifted, the pressure disappeared, and he paused.

He slid back along the bed, moving away from the door that led into his receiving room. Once again he felt it,feather light but distinct, as though hands had slid gently around his middle.

He recognized the sensation—he was at the end of the tether. He stilled, looking over his shoulder at the wall on the far side of his bedchamber. The bed sat against the outside wall, with a window on each side of it, meaning that it was perpendicular to the corridor. He knew that Flora’s suite was a mirror of his own, so their two receiving rooms—not connected by any interior door—both stood between the respective bedchambers. The beds must be only just within twenty feet of one another. Had she been sleeping right on the near edge of her bed all these nights so as not to push the boundary of the tether?

She wasn’t doing so tonight. In fact, as Cassius shifted carefully toward the outer edge of his own bed, the sensation of the tether intensified. It wasn’t just him moving. She also was maneuvering herself so that the tether could be felt.

It was so much like her arms were around him. It wasn’t like a rope, or an iron bar. It was like a woman’s arms, slim but strong, just as Flora’s were, knotted loosely around his midriff. Did it feel to her like his arms, thicker and more muscled than her own?

When he tugged, he could feel the whole tether move slightly in response to his greater physical strength. He could drag her if he chose, not that he had any desire to control her. Feeling foolish, he slid a hand along his stomach, almost expecting to feel something there.

But of course there was nothing.

It was all an illusion, created by Lord Armand’s infuriating, outrageous enchantment. Cassius was alone with his burdens, as he had always been, and there was no onebeside him. He had no reason to ever expect anyone by his side, other than a stranger, tied to him for political reasons.

It wouldn’t be Flora.

It couldn’t be.

But was this how it would have felt if they’d abandoned propriety and shared the bed that first night in the inn?

He closed his eyes, a yearning ache filling him and overwhelming him with its intensity. What wouldn’t he give to have her beside him in all legitimacy? To have the freedom to put his arms around her and hold her close?

Foolish thought! There was a great deal he wouldn’t give—couldn’tgive—for that outcome. The wellbeing of his kingdom, for a start, not to mention the stability of the whole Peninsula. And, a confronting voice whispered in his mind, the respect of his father. Cassius shuddered to think of the king’s reaction if he knew his son’s thoughts.

But his father didn’t know his thoughts. No one could. And the burdens of tomorrow couldn’t be solved tonight. There was no one and nothing to stop Cassius from surrendering himself to the sensation of Flora’s arms around him, however illusory it might be.

He stopped all movement, lying on his back and focusing his mind on the magical sensation of the tether. He could feel it when he really tried, an invisible line that ran out from him and into the emptiness of his receiving room. Flora must still be inching along, because the grip around him was growing tighter and stronger.

He pictured her face as it had looked when her eyes had been held captive by his. He saw again the way her lip had quivered ever so slightly when she accused him of thinking her incapable and unnecessary. He remembered the feel of her jawline under his hand, strong but soft, just like she was. All of those memories were so much more potentwhen he could physically feel her hold at the end of the tether.

But as the pressure remained steady, the question burned inside him. Was she pushing the boundary of the tether tonight because she, like him, craved the sense of nearness? Or was it the opposite…was she trying to escape it, wishing she could pull free of it, back to the independence that had been forcefully taken from her?

No answer to this crucial question emerged from the darkness of his room.

Chapter

Fifteen

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