Unexpected
Stories similar to this that you might like too.
Unexpectedly, the day after my arrival at the castle, I was summoned to the throne room. The moment I entered, Duke Leopold’s face appeared in the doorway from behind me. A few seconds later, he closed the door and announced that we were now alone.
“My lady,” he said with a bow. “I would like to say thank you for all of your efforts on behalf of our kingdom. We are grateful.”
He then moved closer and held out his hand. I took it but did not shake it. Instead, I stared into those eyes of his until the color drained from them.
“Why?” I asked. “You have sent assassins after me because I refused to help destroy Einzig. Why should I be thanked? Your people have suffered greatly since Einzig’s fall. And yet you refuse to take responsibility for your actions or offer any sort of apology—and even worse, you send men after my family to punish us!”
“Do you think that I am capable of such a thing?” His voice rose in anger. “Not only do you insult me by suggesting that I might harm my own kin, but what makes you so certain that I ordered those assassins? Perhaps they had their orders from someone else.”
“Oh, indeed,” I agreed, grinning in spite of myself. “That does seem more likely. No doubt Lord Miles told the assassin where to find me. Or perhaps he sent him himself.”
Duke Leopold looked as though he were about to argue. But instead, he just hung his head.
“Lord Miles has been working hard to further your interests,” I continued. “And so it seems quite reasonable that you would want to keep him close.”
After that, I left the throne room before he could respond. I knew that I wasn’t going to get anywhere with this man—not unless I could get him to admit to killing his father. For some reason, he seemed unwilling to acknowledge his guilt, no matter how many times I pointed it out.
It made sense; if there was anyone who could pull off such a thing, it would be someone with access to the king’s ear. Even if he didn’t kill his own father, he was clearly involved in some way.
But I still couldn’t figure out exactly why the Duke of Elverum wanted to see me dead. Maybe I needed to find someone he cared about and threaten them. That might give me some insight into his mind.
This time, I decided to go straight to the source. After all, I hadn’t seen the captain of the guard in several days. If I were him, I’d be wondering what was going on. So, I went directly to the guard barracks and found him there.
“Captain.” I nodded to him, trying to look nonchalant. “Mind if I talk to you for a little while?”
“Of course not, my lady,” he replied, bowing slightly. “What can I do for you?”
“First, tell me what you know about the man named Lothar.”
The captain’s eyes widened. He looked over at his guards, who immediately came to attention and stood beside him.
“I’m sorry, my lady,” he said apologetically. “Lothar is a very important man here at court. I don’t really know anything about him.”
“How much of a favor do you owe him?”
“If I’ve done something to earn his displeasure, it was not because of anything you did,” the captain answered. “In fact, I know nothing of his true feelings toward you. It wouldn’t do me any good to learn them. I hope, for your sake, that he feels kindly toward you and doesn’t seek to harm you—but again, if that ever comes to pass, I don’t know why, and therefore cannot do anything about it.”
With that, the captain finished what he thought he needed to say, bowed again, then withdrew through the open doors of the barracks. When they closed behind him, I turned back to face the courtyard, frowning deeply. What the hell was I supposed to do now?
Not only did I have no way of learning whether Lothar liked or disliked me, but it seemed unlikely that the captain would have told me all of the details in the first place. How was I supposed to find out everything that mattered about him that wasn’t in this room, unless…
I considered my options. As much as I hated the idea, I realized that the most straightforward way of finding out would be to pay him another visit and ask the same questions. But this time, I would wear an outfit that would leave as little to the imagination as possible. In other words, I’d have to undress completely.
Well, shit. Just looking out across the lawns reminded me of last time. And the more I recalled the scene outside my bedroom door, the more uneasy I became. This was risky business. I wasn’t entirely comfortable being naked with strange men around.
There were probably laws against that kind of behavior somewhere, weren’t there? Or maybe we’d get arrested together if someone caught us—which certainly wouldn’t improve the current state of things between us.
In short, there were reasons to hesitate, even apart from my lingering awkwardness about the whole situation. So what if Lothar ended up hating me simply because I was forcing him to behave in a way that felt unnatural to him? Would I end up living like a hermit from now on because I took his clothes off and tried to convince him of how amazing I was?
Probably not. But was I willing to take that risk when I had more important concerns in mind right now? Yes. I guess so.
It occurred to me that the opposite could happen too: I might make our friendship deeper without anyone knowing about it. That wasn’t exactly the outcome I wanted either, but at least if people knew about the attraction between Lothar and me, they would be less likely to believe him capable of murdering his father. Assuming he never admitted the truth, which seemed extremely doubtful.
And if nothing else happened, my confidence in myself as a flirtatious woman could use some improvement.
So I climbed back onto the dais and reached up for the hem of my dress, allowing it to fall smoothly until the top of my thigh-high boots showed underneath. Then I placed both hands against one knee to push my body forward, stepping off the edge of the stone and kicking out, giving me enough momentum to vault onto the ledge of the next level.
I landed perfectly on my feet, pressing my palms flat against the cold tiles as though it were solid earth. Without thinking about it, my long red hair began drifting behind me; I controlled its motion just as I’d learned years earlier with the help of the princess.
My legs straightened and rose as I walked upright, spreading out to meet each floor of the tower beneath my bare bottom, supporting me along the entire way. My breasts swayed slightly from side to side as I moved, but that movement was invisible since I was moving too quickly, so it barely registered.
Even the movements of my fingers, gliding through the air, made little impression. Every inch of my body existed within this world alone, unseen by any of those below. To everyone down there, I must have simply disappeared, melting into the space between two stones. Only my eyes were visible, glittering brilliantly at the surface where no one could see.
I stopped walking about halfway up the stairwell. After several long moments spent adjusting to the change in gravity and weight, I bent one leg forward—so slowly that nobody looking from below could detect it—and pressed myself against the wall. My eyes stayed fixed upon the steps of the lowest platform.
A few minutes later, my lips parted and I allowed myself to breathe. It didn’t matter who noticed my nudity at that point, or whether they saw me at all. All that truly mattered was that I knew exactly what to say to the man who stood before me—that and that I absolutely did not want him to disappear from sight forever.
But the moment I touched my foot against his chest, and locked gazes with the brown-haired man standing before me, I wished that the ground hadn’t fallen away quite yet. He looked stunningly attractive and oh so very vulnerable under my gaze, and it struck me once again that despite my efforts, I hadn’t managed to curb my feelings for Lothar.
Not after everything we’d been through recently. Now he was alone and surrounded by his enemies, and I was here. Alone. Watching him. Waiting for something. Or someone.
“Are you done?” he asked quietly, breaking me out of my thoughts. “Because I’m ready if—”
He froze suddenly, only for a split second. Then he lurched backward toward me with such speed that the sound of my heart seemed to shatter the stillness. He reached me much quicker than I expected him to, grabbing me tightly before I could stop him or escape his grasp. We tumbled backward and over the edge, disappearing in a shower of white noise.
A large pair of hands wrapped around mine, pushing them upwards; I realized then that whoever had grabbed me wasn’t Lothar. And although I struggled briefly against whatever force was holding me to the other male, it didn’t hold me long; the strange sensation vanished immediately.
Once it was gone, my surroundings returned almost instantaneously, reminding me of our brief descent. For a second I wondered if I’d been wrong about being suspended midair, and if we really had plummeted off the side of the staircase…but then my knees smacked harshly onto the rock floor and I knew the answer without needing to think.
Lothar pulled me back and sat us on the step above where we’d landed, releasing my hand soon afterward. His face remained hidden, the shadowy silhouette of his profile illuminated solely by an ambient light streaming across a vast stone ceiling. The noise surrounding the staircase had died out completely, leaving only our harsh breathing echoing in the cave below.
Several other warriors who weren’t participating in the fight hovered somewhere overhead, watching. Most seemed curious at first glance, but their interest became evident when they noticed a few members of the pack mingled among the onlookers.
They were the same group of young men who had accompanied the prince outside of town hours ago, now hanging over the edges of the walkway to watch me closely. If nothing else, I had clearly interrupted something of a meeting. Which probably explained why all those pairs of emerald-green eyes fixed upon me so intently as I stepped off my step.
I couldn’t remember ever feeling more exposed. Of course, most people would never have seen my figure in the nude before—not even during training. But after nearly a week spent fully clothed while preparing for battle against the royal guard and traveling with Alastair’s caravan, it felt extremely unnatural to be exposed like this.
As much as I might want to, I could hardly pretend none of this affected me. Knowing these men were likely staring directly at my bare skin made my nerves fire almost painfully inside my chest. But at least Lothar sat nearby—our secret safe between our two bodies.
So I kept quiet. All I could do was sit there patiently for him to recover his breath, his composure, and anything else that needed mending. But when I finally risked opening my mouth to ask if he was alright, he interrupted with a deep laugh that sent every head in the chamber spinning in our direction.
The sudden shift in mood created such an odd atmosphere that a number of them dropped down to examine me closer. What was he talking about? Why wouldn’t any of them follow his lead? I wanted desperately to reach out to him. To touch him, reassure him.
Nothing said “make love to me” better than a complete lack of modesty. Unfortunately, neither of us knew how things stood within the prince’s court at present, nor which member of Alastair’s party lingered here.
The End