Page 118 of Of Bargains & Betrayal

The urge to knock was almost inarguable by the time Enora’s door opened.

Goddess below, she looked beyond exhausted.

Not devastated, like I thought she’d be. Hell, there wasn’t even a hint of anger on her face. Just a bone-deep weariness that made my chest ache.

She offered me a wan smile. “Hey.”

Not an ounce of fight to be seen anywhere, and Mina, that was worrying even for a woman I barely knew.

“Hey, you,” I returned gently before I offered her my hand.

She regarded my bargain-marked palm with a hefty amount of unease. “Eilir said something about dinner, and I didn’t want to be rude, but…” She looked at me and winced. “I’m not hungry at all. So I don’t know if…”

Leave it to the sprite to fumble that one.

“It’s nothing fancy, I promise.” I took the loss and let my hand fall to my side. “Just somewhere I’d like to show you, where there will coincidentally be a bit of food if you find yourself peckish.”

The corner of her mouth tugged up, and she nodded. “All right.”

One step at a time.

“A bit of context is probably good.” I gestured down the hall. “I’m not sure if you realized, but we actually share this wing of the Keep.”

Her attention drifted all the way to where the doors to my quarters were tucked at the other end of the hall. “Right. That makes sense, I suppose.”

“Convenience and all that.” A joke was poised on the tip of my tongue, ready to drop if she showed an inkling of reaction, but the princess didn’t even look at me. So, I scrapped it and set my hand on her back instead, giving her a gentle push forward. “And through these doors in between is a common area. Go on.”

The space that adjoined our quarters was part library, part lounge—full of plush furniture, flanking hearths, and even a daybed tucked beneath one of the alcove windows. The perfect place to unwind after a meal, to host a few companions, or relax on a dreary afternoon. Decades of neglect had left the space a bit to be desired, but I’d seen it thoroughly cleaned to start; a more thorough restoration could come later.

Enora still hadn’t uttered a noise, but she was walking ahead of me, trailing her fingers over the scalloped back of a sofa.

“Those panels to the left of that fireplace open into your room, and the ones to the right of this one open to a hall that leads into mine.”

She glanced from one side of the room to the other in a slow sweep and nodded. “It’s nice in here. Cozy.”

“Very. And completely at your disposal should you ever feel the urge for a change of scenery.”

That was the worst thing to say, apparently, because Enora tossed me a tight smile over her shoulder. “Because I’m still not allowed to go anywhere else on my own, right? Criminal and all that.”

Fuck me.

“That’s not it at all. But let’s focus on getting through the Agōn Ferr before you’re gallivanting around Grimmoria, okay?” Not a reasonable recovery, but the truth of why I didn’t want her wandering while the Keep was teeming with Elixia and written threats wasn’t an option. “And I’ll make sure the panel to my quarters is always unlocked now too, in case you ever need me. I’m rarely anywhere other than there, the war room, or the archives.”

A slow nod. “I’m not sure if that was the worst proposition I’ve ever received, but I won’t risk walking in on anything unannounced.” There was that unsettling smile again. “I’ll go around and knock if I need anything.”

There had been a point in my life—a substantial part of it, actually—where I’d been formidable in my ability to negotiate and win over even the most inscrutable of minds with a single, carefully guided conversation. But clearly, something happened when Enora landed on my fucking doorstep, because I’d become capable of doing nothing but turning my words into paste.

“No, no. That was not a proposition, trust me.”

She scoffed and muttered, “Goddess forbid.”

I…was at a complete loss.

My soon-to-be wife implying she wanted me to proposition her should have come as a relief, if only she were in a mental state that even somewhat resembled sound. We could grapple with her physical wants when I wasn’t confident she was teetering on the edge of breaking irreparably. Ideally, once I’d wrapped my head around navigating my own challenges with intimacy too.

But I had to focus.

“I wanted to show you not only this room, but what lies just beyond those.” I came up beside her and gestured at the doors set into the far wall, placing my other hand on her back to guide her along again. “There’s a small terrace outside, but also access to an underground path I get quite a bit of use out of.”