Page 159 of North Queen
Soren shrugged. “What will she do? Leave?”
“She’s not a prisoner.”
Soren’s face grew serious. “But you know we can’t let her go.”
Mikael knew this. So long as he held the North Queen, he kept her from Aleon. If he kept her from Aleon, he denied his fate. But he didn’t want to hold her. He wanted her to want to stay.
“Go to the villa,” he told a servant. “Tell her I… I wish for her to come. It’s not required, but I wish for her to want to come. If she should find herself wanting to, wanting to eat. With me.”
Soren snorted and raised a brow.
Mikael glared at him and cursed under his breath. He sounded like a rambling fool, but he worried for her.
“She’s not in the villa, Salar,” the servant said. “She still remains in the sanctuary.”
Mikael flung his chalice across the hall, frustration coursing through him.
“Would you like me to deliver the message to her there?” the servant asked.
“No,” he rasped, tempering his fire. “She’s not to be disturbed there.”
A banging on the door of the sanctuary made her jump, and Norah pushed her breath through her teeth. She already knew who it was: the one person for whom Mikael’s rules didn’t apply. She debated not opening it, but it wasn’t as though he would go away.
“North Queen,” he growled through the door.
Norah pursed her lips as she put her book down, and she rose to answer. She opened the door to find the commander’s shadowed eyes looking back at her. Behind him prowled his dogs, as menacing as their master.
“What do you want?” she asked, not bothering to hide the iciness in her own voice.
“I came to suggest you might dine with Salar tonight. Each day only brings greater discord.” It wasn’t a friendly request.
Her eyes narrowed. “I didn’t know you were so eager to see me again.”
“I’m not,” he snarled. “But his waiting for you is even more disturbing than your presence. At least pretend to settle your grievance.”
“If he wants amends, then he shouldn’t send his dogs!” She moved to close the door, but he jarred it with his foot and flung it back open, and she stumbled back into the room.
“I come on my own accord.”
She bared her teeth. “You’re not allowed here.”
“There is nothing I’m not allowed!” he raged. “You’ll do well to remember that.”
And yet he didn’t step inside.
“This ismysanctuary,” she snapped.
“And you have it by Salar’s grace! How much longer do you think that will last? It’s by that grace you live here in comfort, and by that grace your Bear’s still alive.”
“Leave!” she seethed, her anger casting aside any fear.
Fury dripped from his skin, but she drew closer in challenge. He couldn’t scare her. Alexander had left; there was nothing he could do.
Finally, he relented, storming back down the hall the way he’d come. Norah shut the door behind him and sank onto her bed, breathing deeply to calm her shaking.
She couldn’t let him get to her. Despite everything that had happened between them, she didn’t believe Mikael would hurt her. She didn’t believe he’d let his commander hurt her. And with Alexander gone, she had time to work on a solution. But what was the solution? What could she do if nothing changed?
Outside her door, a tray rattled with a slight clattering of dishes—another meal being delivered. Her stomach reminded her she hadn’t eaten.
