Page 90 of The Oracle of Dusk

“This is my attempt to ensure your safety. A lone traveller is an easy target. Especially one who doesn’t know their way.”

“I can find my way just fine,” she lied.

She only had to follow the Queen’s Road to the Colonnades. From there, he’d shown her the way to Altanus, where High Priestess Myrina would be. But she’d never travelled those roads without assistance. Certainly not with only a few baubles and a prayer that they would be enough to pay for food along the way, to make no mention of lodging.

“Oh? With what map? I’ve not seen one among your possessions.”

She bit her tongue, preferring instead to glare. That secret was something she had no intention of divulging.

“No doubt you’ll decide that a map will cost me my freedom. I’m not interested.”

That’s who he was. If she accepted his aid now, she would soon find her debts impossible to repay.

“Let me help you.”

“You don’t want to help me, you want to control me!”

He laughed, pushing his hair from his face, his smile as beautiful as it was dangerous.

“Oh, Aurora, I have a feeling that under the right conditions, you would very much enjoy being controlled by me.”

Her breath caught. Blood rushed to her face in earnest then. Her heart crashed against her ribs. No one knew those dark desires. How dare he speak them aloud? How dare he assume he was someone she would trust with that? This arrogant pig. He closed the distance between them again.

“When was the last time you truly surrendered yourself to someone who could handle you?”

Aurora swallowed thickly. Triad preserve her, this man was dangerous for her.

“Surrender requires trust. And you’ve proved you’re unworthy of mine.” She raised her chin and glared, even though all she wanted to do was run. Were her fists trembling, or was that merely her heart pumping so hard she could feel the thrum under her skin?

“You are utterly maddening,” he scoffed.

“As are you,” she spat back.

“You stand there with the confidence of a monarch and treat my offers of aid as tainted. Where do you fit all that pride?” He asked, smiling genuinely, as if being thwarted were his favourite pastime.

Aurora sighed, pushing down her jitters. She’d tarried long enough. If she allowed him to speak any longer with his silver tongue, she was in danger of either losing this game of wills or scratching his eyes out. Or worse—surrendering.

“Your Majesty, I neither need nor want your assistance.”

“And if I apologised?”

“Then you would be doing the bare minimum of courtesy.” She narrowed her eyes.

He sank down to one knee before her, surprising a gasp from her. What was a king doing,kneelingbefore her? Monarchs only knelt for two reasons—prayer and defeat. He took her hand and kissed it.

“And if I apologised on my knees?”

As bold as she’d been towards him, as familiar as she’d acted in his presence due to her long association with Viridian royalty, this felt like a step too far. Not even Phaedra dared kneel to Aurora, even in jest. If anyone saw him like this, it would tarnish his honour…and put a target on her back. After all, whoever could get a monarch to kneel was not someone to be ignored.

“Your Majesty…” she began, flailing in her panic. She didn’t hear anyone on the garden paths, but that could change in an instant.

“Theron,” he corrected her, as calm as could be. As if his reputation weren’t a single pair of eyes and loose lips away from being tainted.

“Theron, you’re taking this too far.”

“You asked for my apology. I apologise for losing my temper with you. Will you forgive me?”

Her insides twisted in knots. This was a mistake. A dangerous mistake.

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