***
Dain and Alekzand’r were sitting at the table sipping drinks waiting for Melenthia to come down for breakfast. Alekzand’r was unusually quiet. Dain thought it would be fun to ruffle his feathers a bit.
“You do realize, Alek, that you’ve put me in quite a predicament.”
“How so, Your Majesty?”
“Melenthia.. she is.. well, she’s intoxicatingly beautiful.”
Alekzand’r just stared at him.
“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed, Alek.”
“Oh I’ve noticed, but I have also known her since she was a child, and she’s a handful.”
Dain just shrugged and waved it away. “Yes, yes, so you’ve said.”
“You’re wasting your time even thinking about it. She’ll have nothing to do with any man of noblility,” Alekzand’r added.
“Well, I’m not just any man.”
“Don’t go there, Dain. You’re playing with fire.”
“Oh, come on, you know me, Alek. I love the heat.”
“Please, Your Majesty, let it be.”
“Why are you so sensitive about this, Alek?”
“Because, as you are, Kevaan is my friend, and he’ll have my head if I allow anything to happen to get her upset. Also, I care about her, and I don’t want her to become one of your whims.”
“Don’t worry, Alek. I had an epiphany when Annikka left. I’ve vowed to change. I promise I’ll do nothing to upset her.”
“I hope not, because if she feels at all uncomfortable, she’ll leave. Then all of this will have been for nothing.”
“I won’t do anything to make her feel threatened. I’m just pointing out that it’ll be extremely difficult for me to focus. She definitely will be a distraction. I already find myself lost every time I look at her, especially in those eyes.”
“Try harder. After all, difficulty brings greater strength, Your Majesty.”
Dain smiled at his friend and sipped his drink.
***
Melenthia came into the dining room in a velvet dress which hung all the way to the ground and brushed the floor when she walked. It was a deep red, with belled sleeves, white lace around the edges of them and a low v-neck, which accentuated her womanly curves, and it buttoned up the back with delicate pearl buttons. The emerald color of her eyes were deeper against the red of her dress, and both Dain and Alekzand’r did a double take. When she approached, they rose to greet her. Dain walked over to her, took her hand in his, and kissed it.
“You’re breathtaking,” he breathed as he looked into her eyes. He noticed the flush in her cheeks, so he continued so as not to make her more uncomfortable. “Quite a difference from your attire yesterday.”
“Don’t make an issue of it, or I’ll go upstairs and change back.”
He laughed. “Okay, you win. Please, have a seat.”
She went around the table and took her place across from the king. After she was comfortable, a servant came forward and served her a plate of food and poured a glass of wine. She looked across the table at Dain, as he leaned back and smiled at her.
“We were just having a conversation about you.”
She looked at Alekzand’r then and glared. He shifted in his chair.
“Really? I’d really like to hear about it.” She did not remove her eyes from Alek’s.
“I was just saying…” the king began.
Alekzand’r cut him off. “Uh…the king and I were just discussing that you may start feeling a bit restless and may want to take a ride in a week or two. He can arrange for someone to escort you into town, if you’d like.”
She shifted her emerald eyes from Alekzand’r to Dain. “Would that be safe, Your Majesty?”
“In a few days we should know if the coast is clear for the time being. That said, I would send along an armed escort of course. I think it would be alright, as long as you behaved yourself and didn’t wander away from your protector.”
“I can protect myself. An armed man would be unnecessary.”
“I prefer not to be ill-prepared. I have no doubt that you could give anyone who may want to hurt you a good run, but I made a promise, and I won’t break it due to lack of vigilance. As long as you are my guest, I’ll make sure you’re safe.”
“If Fallon is looking for me, is it safe to leave the walls of the keep at all?”
“We have sentries watching. If he crosses over the border we’ll know about it. He would not have been able to get here so quickly, however, even if he knew where you went.”
“We arrived here in a little over a week.”
“True, but you and Alek took the short cut, remember?”