Chapter 22: Take me with you

Rishe returned to her balcony with the rope of bedsheets left dangling in the courtyard, pulling herself up hand over hand. The inn was only ten minutes from the palace, but sneaking out had been an ordeal. She moved quietly across stonework to conceal her footsteps from the guards posted at her door.

It seems I wasn't missed. In the morning, I'll have to hide beneath the bed curtains until Elsie brings me hot water. I've got to get my hair color back to normal before anyone starts asking questions.

Rishe pushed open the glass door to her chambers. She gasped.

Arnold sat in the room's only chair, legs crossed. "You're out late."

"What are you doing here?"

Rishe hadn't seen him since the party a few nights ago. He didn't yet have his own chambers in their detached palace, and she'd heard he was still laboring under a mountain of work. As far as Rishe knew, he'd only been here once. Why did his second visit have to be the night she snuck out?

"You met with the merchant from the Aria Trading Company today, aren't you?" Arnold asked. He stared at her with his chin propped on his fist, as usual.

The lamp by the bedside flickered, flames guttering. The chamber was too dim to read his expression.

"I was waiting to know what you intended to buy, but I didn't hear from you all day. I asked your guards for a report, and they told me the merchant declined your contract."

Arnold stood and took a single step toward her. "A curious thing for him to refuse a future empress."

Sensing danger, Rishe reflexively took a step back, despite knowing there was nothing behind her but the wall. A few steps more and she'd be cornered.

"When you singled out the Aria Trading Company, I figured you already had a relationship with them. My fiancée doesn't seem the sort of woman to choose business partners recklessly, after all."

Arnold's high buttoned collar was undone, loose enough to reveal his collarbones. One might expect that to make him look vulnerable, but on the contrary. The moonlight glittered on his scarred neck and marble-like features.

He looked amused on the surface, but something savage stalked in his eyes.

Rishe thought again of a wolf.

"I was curious. I took a break to see you, but even from outside I could tell your chambers were vacant."

When Arnold killed her, they'd stood at about this distance. Was that the past? The future? Regardless, her heart sped up. Tension winched the space between her shoulders tight.

The aura of threat was different this time, though. Rishe couldn't have given it a name.

"I did tell you to live however you like. Getting angry would be illogical. I dismissed your guards and decided to patiently await your return."

"Your Highness— "

"How interesting."

Arnold pressed his hands to the wall, trapping Rishe between his arms. He grinned wolfishly. "I suppose even a woman like you fears a man late at night, alone in her chamber."

Rishe sucked in a breath, stunned by the comment. Then she realized she was angry at herself, not at him. She shouldn't have let him read the fear in her eyes. Besides, she'd made a tactical error.

"I'm sorry," she said from the heart.

The twisted grin slid off Arnold's face. He looked down at her in silence.

"I wasn't thinking. I didn't consider how having your fiancée creeping around town at night could damage your reputation."

Rishe's mistakes had always been her own to bear. But this was different. Even if she really had been a hostage, with this whole charade just for form's sake, she'd forgotten she was about to become someone's wife. She was willing to shoulder a scandal should she be found out, but that wasn't her choice to make.

Arnold said, "That's not why I'm upset."

Rishe had been avoiding his gaze, but this startled her into looking back at him.

"I doubt anyone in the city would recognize you. They've only seen you once, and from inside a coach at that. And you dyed your hair too. It would be one thing if I actually believed you meant to cuckold me, but I imagine you went out to negotiate with the Aria Trading Company."

"You're too kind, Your Highness."

Arnold frowned. "Anyway, that isn't what occupies my mind so."

"What, then, Your Highness?"

"Are you hurt?"

The question took her by surprise. Why would he ask that? "No, I'm fine."

"You didn't get mixed up in a crime, did you?"

Rishe startled. "No!"

Arnold released his breath. "Next time you want to creep out under cover of night, take me with you. Understand?"

"Wait, are you serious?"

Arnold removed his hands from the wall, releasing Rishe. "Don't you remember what I said? Once we're married, you can do whatever you want. And I'll help you do it."

Rishe shook her head. "I couldn't possibly hold you to my whims. Don't worry, I'll be more prudent from now on."

"I said you could do as you pleased, but I don't want you endangering yourself."

"Oh?" Rishe's voice came out a little hoarse. "You pamper me too much." She wasn't sure what to make of this because she had no idea why he was doing it.

"I know you well enough already to be confident that if I confine you to the palace grounds, you'll take it as a challenge." Arnold sat back down, his usual calm smile returning. "I realize that if I don't want you to blow away on the wind, I'll need to attach some strings."

Rishe felt the strength suddenly go out of her. She sat down on the edge of the bed. "Am I that predictable?"

"On the contrary, I can't predict you at all."

"You both love this, don't you? You and Mr. Tully." Rishe clenched a fist, annoyed beyond belief that she'd been seen through by not one but two men in the same day.

As usual, I can't guess at his motives. But for Arnold Hein to let me run roughshod over his name and reputation, there must be something.

Rishe needed to take better advantage of his lax oversight, yet she couldn't prevent stirrings of guilt. She wanted to prevent a war, but she didn't want to do it at the cost of being a bad wife.

But if Arnold responded to her willfulness by offering her more privileges and not less, well, that was his own affair.

"Mr. Tully, was that his name?" Arnold went on. "Tell me, what happened between you and the Aria Trading Company?"

Rishe felt the exhaustion burning through her limbs. "Your Highness, may I ask you something completely unrelated to this discussion?"

"Yes?"

"…Are you hungry?"

Arnold blinked at her, nonplussed.

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