Page 122 of War Queen
“No,” she said more firmly, pushing him back farther. “This isn’t who you are, or who I am. This isn’t what we were.”
He stopped, seeming to study her. Was he still confused?
“My heart belongs to another,” she said. “You can’t be here. Not like this.”
He only stared at her.
“Alexander,” she whispered.
Even in the darkness, his face grew more shadowed, and he pulled himself from her and stood. How was he even here? Her mind swirled around her. The wine didn’t help.
She wiped her face, drawing in a breath, but when she pushed herself up and rose from the bed, she was alone in the night.
He was gone.
Her breath started to shake. Had that really just happened? She couldn’t have imagined it all. Perhaps it was the wine. But…No. She brought her fingertips to her lips where she still felt him, tasted him. She knew it had all been real.
The chamber door opened, and she jumped.
“Salara,” Mikael’s voice came. In his hand he held a covered plate of food. When he saw her, he set it down on the small side table.
She let out a breath as emotion flooded her.
“Are you all right?” he asked, glancing around the room.
But she couldn’t speak. She couldn’t tell him what had happened. She couldn’t explain it without sounding like she’d lost her mind. And what had just happened… how he would react…
The wind swept through the open window, pulling his attention, and he moved to close it. But when he turned back, he stopped. He stared at her in her nightgown in the moonlight, then he looked around the room again, as if recognizing something. He moved toward her slowly, his breaths coming heavier now.
“Salara,” he said, his voice low. “Was the Bear here?”
How did he know? Had he seen him too? Her heart raced in her chest. Slowly, she nodded.
His eyes combed the room again, and he moved quickly back to the window and threw it open, leaning to look out from their second-story room.
Finding nothing, he turned back to her. Then his eyes found the knife on the floor. He picked it up. “Did he hurt you?”
She shook her head.
“Did he—” He stopped, and his breaths came faster. His voice came lower. “Did he take you?”
She shook her head again. “No,” she said quickly, “but he…” She drew her fingers back up to her lips.
He clutched the knife in his hand, and his teeth flashed. “I’ve seen this moment before.”
Oh gods, the vision from the seer.He’d told her he’d seen Alexander come to her bed, that he’d seen her take him. This had to be the moment. She shook her head again. “Mikael, I promise you nothing happened. He kissed me, and I stopped him. I told him that’s not how we were. I promise you.”
His face hardened. “Did you call him to you?”
Her heart pulsed quicker. “Of course not.”
But his eyes betrayed his doubt.
She stepped forward and grasped his arm, squeezing it tightly. “No. I promise you. Mikael.”
His stance didn’t soften.
“Mikael,” she said again. “I didn’t call him. Please. You have to believe this.”
