The Void of Muirwood (Covenant of Muirwood Book 3)(34)
She smiled in embarrassment, hiding her face further. “I am sorry. I do remember that. I so wanted to talk before you left. Have you been awake all night?”
His hand rested on the back of her neck. “It is night still,” he answered. “Though I was going to wake you soon, for I must leave. You were sleeping peacefully, Maia. It was only at the end that you seemed disturbed. I enjoyed watching you sleep.”
She pulled away, brushing some hair behind her ear, and looked into his piercing blue eyes.
“You do not understand, do you?” he said wryly. “You are beautiful, Maia. I could watch you always and never grow tired of it.”
There was a burning feeling in her chest, one that throbbed with happiness, and it extinguished the fear and sorrow that had clung to her from her dream. She let herself bask in the feeling for a moment, but only a moment.
“I have never fully trusted handsome men,” she confided. “I will not always be young. My father’s behavior taught me that most men cannot be trusted.” It was a fear she had held in her chest ever since she had admitted to herself that she loved him.
His look grew serious. “A fair accusation. Considering how we met and my . . . disposition at the time, I have given you reason to think your fears are justified. At the time, I was not a man worthy of your good faith.” He had the good grace to look abashed and she loved him all the more for it. An uncomfortable silence hung between them, but then he looked up and gazed into her eyes. “But I am not that man anymore.”
She licked her lips. “You have changed, Collier. So have I.” She swallowed, summoning her courage. “I want this to work. Between us. I am still . . . fearful, but I trust you.”
“Do not prove me by my words,” he said seriously. “Prove me by my actions. You are a treasure to me, Maia.” He slid his fingers into her hair gently. “You are worth more than a ransom to me.”
Her heart felt like it would burst. “Come back to me,” she whispered, taking his other hand in hers and squeezing his fingers. “Please come back to me!”
A small quirk twisted on his mouth. “With such an incentive, I pity the King of Paeiz. He will regret the day he chose to invade Dahomey. I will do my best to defeat him and perhaps even win him to our cause. You will not stand against the Victus alone, Maia. Neither storms nor gales will keep me away.”
She reached out and hugged him around the neck, savoring the feeling of his hands, his arms.
The door rattled and opened and Suzenne entered, catching them midembrace. “Forgive me!” she gasped with shock, blushing. She hurried to leave, but Maia called her back.
“It is all right, Suzenne. Please stay.”
There was a splotch of crimson across Suzenne’s cheeks as she reluctantly returned to the room. Collier laughed at the look on her face and stood, pulling Maia up with him.
“I thought you had returned to Muirwood last night,” Suzenne stammered. “I was coming early to light the Leerings and get your gown ready for the Privy Council meeting. I am sorry—”
“Do not apologize,” Collier said offhandedly. “If there is one thing I have come to learn as king, it is that privacy is a rare gem, and as such, must often be stolen.” He switched his language to Dahomeyjan. “I depart with the tide for my kingdom. Look after my lady while I am gone.”
Suzenne did a formal curtsy and replied in the same language. “I will, my lord.” She turned her back on them and started fussing with Maia’s gown for that day, giving them a moment without being observed.
Collier walked over to the window and parted the curtain. “It is time. Simon will be anxious to have me on board. He is the type of man who will tell you the truth, even if you do not want to hear it. Such a man is worth fifty thousand marks.”
“I will heed him then,” Maia replied, following him to the curtain. “Safe journey, Husband.”
Collier smiled when she said it and pulled her into a final embrace. “I like the way you say that,” he answered, toying with the earring in her earlobe. He had given them to her before her journey to Muirwood, and she had worn them ever since. “Rule wisely, my love. May the ancient enmity between our kingdoms and our Families finally be healed.”
“Make it thus so,” Maia whispered in benediction as he left the room with a final backward glance.
Maia and Suzenne walked arm in arm down the corridor toward the private room that had been chosen for the Privy Council’s meetings. Out of the endless array of gowns at her disposal, Maia had chosen a simply designed cream-colored gown. It had a woven sash bedecked with beads around the front and a fur-lined robe that fastened with a royal brooch. It was one of the simplest gowns that had been sent to her, and she had chosen it in the hopes of setting an example for the court. Suzenne had helped to arrange her hair in a simple yet comely design. It was the kind of elegant look that Sabine favored.
The corridor was decorated with polished bronze torches. The ground was capped in smooth stone tiles inlaid with gold. The workmanship was exquisite and ostentatious and it made Maia shake her head with anger. The people starved in the streets, yet she and her courtiers trod on gold.
At the end of the long hallway, she could see Captain Carew waiting outside the new council room.
“I am sorry,” Suzenne whispered again in her ear, “about interrupting you this morning.”