Page 42 of The Reluctant Queen
Flat on her back with moonlight shining on her slippered toes, the lady stared at the unlit chandelier above her for a long while. Eyes unfocused, incoherent thoughts racing, and pulse thundering, she had no choice but to ride out the waves of uncertainty and confusion coursing through her.Deep breaths.
Eventually, she got her strange body under control. Exhaling a slow whisper of air, Hevva forced herself to stop, and think.
What the fates is wrong with me?
That’s as far as she got before the door banged open and scared the life out of her.
“There you are,” his voice rumbled over to her like a carriage whose coachman had vanished. It smashed into her chest and did funny things to her body.
The place between her thighs pulsed. “Here I am.” She tilted her head back to look up at him. Ehmet’s upside down body filled the doorway. How he’d found her, she wasn’t certain. But the countess couldn’t say she was angry, more perplexed than anything else. Saka on the other hand was ecstatic. He wore the same dark trousers and shoes from dinner, and the same white shirt, but his jacket and cravat had vanished. The man was enchanting.
“Come with me.”
She sat up and turned to face him. “You mean you weren’t coming to spend time in this beautifully unfurnished space?”
He chuckled. “This is the queen’s office.”
“Your mother’s office?”
“No. It was never hers.”
“Oh.”
“Come with me,” the king repeated and offered her his hand.
Though she was perfectly capable of standing on her own, Hevva pressed both of her hands into his big palm. She let Ehmet curl his fingers closed and pull her up. She should’ve known he would yank her with too much force, so she barreled into his chest. Maybe she did know, and that’s why she let him help her in the first place.
Ehmet held Hevva and didn’t release her for a few moments, with her two hands and one of his squeezed between their chests and his free arm firm against her back. She left her nose where it had landed, right in the crook of his neck, breathing in his delicious oaky scent mixed with the lightest hint of salt from the sea air. He released her.
“I have a surprise for you.”
“Oh?”
“Come on.”
She allowed him to escort her, properly of course, with her hand tucked daintily into his elbow. They promenaded back through the library, and up the wing toward the crowded part of the palace. Hevva tensed her fingers and paused. “No. I’m not in the mood for socializing.”
“We’re not going there, we’re going up...” He dragged her forward a few steps. “. . . here.” Then the king grabbed an ancient-looking handle on an ancient-looking door, so ensconced in shadow that Hevva hadn’t noticed it on her way down the hall earlier.
“What’s up there? Guest rooms?”
“On the next two levels, yes. We’re going past that.”
He beckoned her ahead up the dark tower staircase, and she went. Hevva stumbled, bumping her toe on solid stone. She cursed.
He laughed. “Sorry, sorry, just hold on one second.” A thunk made herlook back over her shoulder. Ehmet had barred the door from the inside.
Before she could ask him about it, he made a glowing orb, like the one he’d set down in the wine cellar.
While her face heated from the embarrassment she’d brought upon herself the night before, Hevva searched for a distraction in the orb. It floated up the stairs ahead of her, so round, so glowy. She couldn’t help herself, reaching out and poking the solid object, jostling it in the air. “How do youdothat?”
“I’m not entirely sure.” He chuckled, breath hot on the back of her neck. “I had a fantastic tutor. Hothan calls it chaos. Instead of manipulating the elements, I’m using chaos to create illusions. Physical manifestations of whatever I imagine—temporarily, of course. I don’t know how I create light, honestly. My tutor couldn’t make anything luminescent.”
She considered stopping her ascent abruptly, just so Ehmet would run into her back, and she could feel that deep rumble of his voice against her skin. “It’s the moon!” she realized with a start as they passed the door to the first landing.
Hevva could hear the grin on Ehmet’s face when replied, “It is, and you said it looked like the bum of a lightning bug.”
“To be fair, I was very deep in my cups.”
