“Slut!” one of Arla’s lackeys snarls as I pass. She’s in the middle of a group of the assembly. I doubt she’d insult me without them acting as a buffer.
“Good morning,” I call back.
I sit down.
“Why the frown?” Blizzard asks. I glance up at him.
“I just got called a slut for the fifth time since we got here. I’m trying to figure out if it’s just because I’ve come from the Outer Rings, or if it was my outfit when I first arrived?”
“Neither, I imagine,” Shard mumbles around the leg of some animal.
I turn to face him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He raises both of his eyebrows and gives me a dry look. “It means it’s not for those reasons. It’s because you’re sleeping with King Jovan.”
“What!” I leap from my seat. The conversation around us halts. I sit back down and wait for conversation to resume.
“Why do people think that?” I whisper to my friends.
They search my face. “I knew it!” Ice says.
“You aren’t?” Shards asks.
“But you’re sleeping in the room next to him. The way he’s been acting at trainings, too. Everyone thinks you are,” Blizzard adds. The room next to mine is Jovan’s room!
I blink back a few tears. Is that what everyone thinks? “Why didn’t you guys tell me?” I whisper. They wilt noticeably before my eyes.
“None of our business,” Ice says weakly.
I stand up from the table, mortified. Has Jovan heard this talk? I know my face is red as I walk out of the food hall and I long to cover it. I escape to my room. I’m not going to training this afternoon. I’ll burrow under the furs instead. Did Jovan know what everyone was saying? I cover my face and groan.
The door crashes open. Why me?
“Go away. I’m not training today.” My voice is muffled by the pile of furs I’m hiding under.
He pulls the furs from my grasp. “Why not? Are you sick? I saw you rush out of the hall earlier. Should I get Sadra?” Jovan asks.
Why is he talking so much? “No, I’m not sick. I just don’t want to see anyone,” I say. I don’t want to see you, I add silently. I meet his eyes and glance away, tugging on the furs.
He leans over the bed and grabs my chin, forcing it up. I close my eyes.
“You will tell me what’s wrong,” he demands. I shake my head from his grasp and roll away.
“No. Leave me alone,” I whisper.
“Olina…has anyone hurt you? I’ve rarely seen you so defeated. Is this a…female thing?” I’ve survived the dome only to die of embarrassment. I shake my head and hear him release an exasperated breath behind me.
“Well, in that case,” he says. His weight shifts on the bed.
I jerk back my head as a pear is dangled in front of me.
“A pear.” I grin, sitting up. He laughs at my reaction.
He leans against the wall behind the bed. “Yes. I’ve finished amusing myself by making you throw them for me to shoot.”
I stare at him. My mouth drops open.
“You’ve been doing that for fun? That’s so…mean.” I say.
His grin couldn’t get any wider. “I was still angry you ran away. You have no idea how fun it’s been to watch your face. And in the food hall, too. Causing this agony made up for the agony I felt.” I gape at him. He made me throw them for an entire week. I punch his arm halfheartedly, but I’m too distracted by the pear in his hand.
I look up at him. My breath hitches at the laughter in his eyes. I remember everyone thinks we’re sleeping together and turn my head to the side.
“The pear was meant to cheer you up,” he says after a moment.
“It has.” I hesitate, deciding whether I should tell him. Maybe it’s best if I do, then he can back off at trainings. “It’s just…people are talking about me.” I pick at a fur.
I don’t know what I expect. A kind word. Awkwardness. One of the ‘toughen up’ talks which Aquin loves to give me.
I don’t expect him to roar with laughter.
I frown at him and get off the bed.
“You destroyed my dome, defeated my Watch,” he says as he collects himself. “Your best friends are a band of criminals from the Outer Rings. You show up half naked in that costume. You’re worried people are talking about you? You’ve worn a bloody veil for most of your life.” His hilarity dries as a thought strikes him. “What are they saying? It must be horrible.”
“Don’t worry,” I mutter. I’m not going to tell him after that reaction.
He gets off the bed and takes a single step towards me. I nearly roll my eyes before I see he holds my pear in his hand. My eyes fly up to meet his.
“Not my pear.” I groan. He looks at the bit of fruit. Rolling the stalk between his thumb and forefinger so the pear spins.
“Tell me. And I’ll let the pear go.” His expression is blank, but there is humor there, in the depths of his eyes. It’s breathtaking. I blink away the sight and weigh the consequences. I really want that pear. And if I tell him, maybe he’ll move me to another room.
“They’re calling me a slut.” My face warms. “It seems everyone thinks we are…that we have been…sleeping together.” I finish lamely and look at the massive boots in front of me. I wish I could melt into the stone beneath me. I dart a quick glance at the pear.
“Is that all? Who do you think started the rumors? I needed some way to keep an eye on you without raising suspicion.”
His words are so shocking they don’t quite sink in.
“You…what?” I demand.
“I’ve encouraged the talk. It wasn’t hard. You’re a beautiful woman.”
His compliment is lost as red tinges my eyesight. All of his attention since I’ve been here has been part of an act to keep me from running again.
He grins at me and lifts the pear to his mouth.
“Do not. Bite that,” I say in a dark voice.
It’s the wrong thing to say. I see the gleam in his eyes a second before he brings the pear to his mouth and pushes through the soft flesh. As soon as I see its sweet juice dripping over the stubble on his chin, I lose it. With a strangled cry, I charge him.
Whatever he was expecting, it wasn’t that.
I force the breath from him. I hope he chokes on the damn fruit! I capitalize on his instability and he’s on his back before he can chew three times.
I dart away before he responds. “You deserved that,” I say. “You started the rumors! I can’t believe it. It’s not nice to be called a slut, you know. Especially when I haven’t earned the title. I think you should apologize. And you ate my fucking pear!”
I trail off as Jovan rolls to his feet and gives me a look so filled with deadly promise, I peek a look at the door. He suddenly seems a lot bigger. The width of his shoulders is double mine. Perhaps I should’ve run straightaway.
“You want an apology?” he asks. “How exactly are you going to get that?”
I snort at him.
“Putting you on your ass was enough.” I cock my hip out and grin at him. He prowls toward me.
“I have daydreamed about sparring with you since watching you in the dome. I bet you’ve wondered the same?” he says. We share a smile.
“So. If you pin me, you get the pear, your apology, and I’ll back off,” he finishes.
“And if you win?” I ask.
His lips purse and he grins. “You forgive me and I eat the rest of your pear in front of you.”
I sigh. “You can eat the pear anyway. I want a new one. That one’s been infected.” I gesture at the dripping fruit.
He glares at me, offended. I bite my cheek to hold back my laughter.
He puts down the pear and I launch myself at him. He didn’t stipulate it had to be a fair match and I’ll need every advantage I can get.
He reacts too quickly to drop him again. The wrestling begins.
We break away after another flurry of exchanged blows.
Jovan stands in front of the door. I launch the pitcher at his head and move in while he dodges. The pitcher smashes. He steps around me and we swap places. I face him, both of us on the balls of our feet. With no warning, the door swings into me, causing me to stumble forward.
“Is everything alright in—”
I turn toward the Watchman and it’s over in a second. I’m on my back, pinned, Jovan’s forearm across my chest. I kick my legs. He waves away the Watchman with his other hand. The man retreats with a startled look on his face.
“That’s not fair! I couldn’t hit you when your Watch was here!” I gasp, writhing under his hold.
He just laughs, bringing his face to mine. “If you can attack while my back is turned, I can attack while yours is. I win,” he says looking into my eyes. His gaze drifts down to my lips. “And I’ve changed my mind. I don’t even like pears.”
He ducks his head to close the little space remaining between us. My breath hitches as his mouth presses to mine. His kiss is firm, but his lips are devastatingly soft. It’s the direct opposite of Sin’s kiss. And then the tingles start. The ones I’ve only felt a couple of times before. His light stubble scratches at my skin and an alarming thought breaks through the haze. I’m kissing Jovan. The King of Glacium. I turn my head and take a shallow breath. His calloused finger strokes down the side of my face.
He stands and pulls me to my feet. I keep my eyes averted. A rare chuckle sounds from him and I peek up to find him watching with an amused expression.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” I glare.
“As a matter of fact, I do.” He turns to the door and kicks the shattered remains of the pitcher out of the way. It clangs as it hits the overturned basin.
“Good fight!” he calls over his shoulder.
I pull fingers at him as he leaves with an unsurprising crash of the door.
Furs are all over the floor after I attempted to wrap the King in one and he tried to use a few to net me. The screen has holes punched though it and there are puddles of water on the ground. In his odd way, the King has taken my mind off what happened earlier. It’s been replaced by something which should be worse, but isn’t. Why had he kissed me?
Hunger takes me to the food hall later and it’s easy to brush off questions about my whereabouts that afternoon. I don’t even look at the pears as I usually do. Somehow I know Jovan will be watching and I’m determined not to give him the satisfaction.
“We’re going to go down to the baths with some of the Watch. Wanna come?” Ice asks as I sit down again.
“Baths?” I ask.
“Yep, big baths apparently. A time is set aside for the Watch each week. And you can go when you’re off duty. We haven’t been invited before.”
I turn my head in Adnan’s direction, remembering he was busy setting up these baths while the assembly was in the Third Sector. They are obviously a success. I shake my head at Ice. There’s no way I am taking a bath with the Watch. Training with men is one thing, getting naked and bathing with them is another.
“Somehow, I don’t think that would help the ‘slut’ comments,” I say, giving him a look.
Crystal giggles. “Don’t worry about that. Every person in this room is probably one or has been one. It’s an easy insult to make.”
That doesn’t make me feel any better. I lower my voice and lean forward. “Have you heard from Alzona?” I ask. We had an agreement not to mention the owners. The penalty for possessing a barracks was just as bad as being an actual competitor.
Her face drops and I immediately regret asking. She shakes her head, her spine stiff. I puzzle over her angry reaction.
“Hey, if you guys are asked to join the watch what will you say?” Blizzard asks. The men from Tricks’ barrack lean in as well.
For some reason, everyone looks at me and Shard. I shrug. I won’t be leaving here. I doubt Jovan will let me. They turn to Shard.
“I don’t know how you all came to be where you are. But…our barrack owner saved our hides. She got me out of a bad situation and stopped me from falling into a horrible life. All of this,” he gestures around the hall, “is a dream. If I accept, any family I might one day have would be cared for.” He taps a finger on the table, his intelligent eyes far away under his frowning brows. “But I don’t think I can ignore my debt and desert her in this way.” Blizzard and Ice murmur their agreement, as do most of Tricks’ men.
Wrath is more hesitant. I give him a questioning look and he shrugs with a small smile.
I haven’t given this a thought until now. I assumed anyone who was offered the position would stay. I had even looked forward to having some of them around. The assembly is my friends. Some of them, great friends. But there is a bond forged when you fight next to someone, which is stronger than any other bond.
Shard has raised a valid point. I think of the goldies stashed in my mattress at Alzona’s. I will give these to her as repayment for her help in my first night in the Outer Rings. Now I realize, heart sinking, I may only have a few more days before they go. In another life I would have gone with them. If we hadn’t been captured, I might never have come back to the castle. Now I’m here, and there’s a possibility of war.
I’m still unsure of what part I will play in one day ruling Osolis, but I’ve made my decision.
I must stay.