He hadn’t gone more than a few steps when the sound of pursuit caught his ear. He whirled about to meet the threat head-on, the purple shimmer of his shield snapping around him.
What he came face to face with was Nora.
She stared at him, wide-eyed and a touch fearful. Then her gaze grew slightly unfocused as she reached out to lay a hand on the barely-visible barrier between them, jerking back with a gasp once she met resistance. She peered at her fingers as if not quite believing what they had felt. Had any of the royal family met a spellster before?
Darshan let the shield dissipate. If the woman had any intention of being a threat to his life, she likely would’ve made an attempt on it yesterday, when they were alone in the library for the entirety of the morning. “Has Her Majesty calmed herself so quickly?”
Nora shook her head. “Me mum doesnae do calm very well.” She glanced over her shoulder, then without moving her head, peered at him out the corner of her eye. “I ken things are done differently in Udynea, but—”
“No.” He cut the woman off with a swipe of his hand in the air. No matter whether or not she would be more reasonable in her tone, he wasn’t about to listen to the same lecture. “I am getting thoroughly sick of having to repeat this, but it was a kiss.” Such an innocent act wouldn’t have been given a second glance back home.
But he wasn’t in Minamist. He wasn’t even in Udynea. I really should’ve thought it through. Well, he hadn’t and now he had to deal with the consequences. “I will speak with you and your mother when she is ready to talk trade.”
Darshan stormed down the corridor, pounding his rage out through his heels. If they were going to treat him as some debauched heathen set on corrupting the entirety of the royal Tirglasian bloodline, then he was more than willing to accommodate them in acting like one.
~~~
Hamish tied the final loop around the fletching in his arrow. He held it up to the light, checking the binding, before setting it into the basket with the rest. The feathers would need trimming later, but that task wasn’t as time-consuming or relaxing as the initial binding. In any case, whilst he was allowed to have much of the tools for fletching in his room, a knife wasn’t one of them.
His stomach gurgled a rough demand of food as he picked up another arrow shaft. Ignoring the reminder that breakfast had been quite some time ago wasn’t easy, but he managed to concentrate on his task.
The faint creak of his door opening unannounced drew his attention.
Hamish glared at the handle, waiting for the person on the other side to speak. Had the guards finally come with lunch? About bloody time. He squared his shoulders, readying himself to give whoever was on the other side one hell of a verbal bollocking. If anyone thought they could sneak into his room and leave without him noticing, he was going to leave them with no doubt there.
A mop of dark brown hair preceded the soft glint of glasses and the brightness of gem-studded silk.
Darshan? Hamish leapt to his feet, knocking over the basket of arrows and scattering its contents in his wake.
The man winced as he quietly closed the door. “I am dreadfully sorry. It was not my intention to startle you, but I thought it prudent not to shout out my whereabouts.”
Hamish dropped to his knees, shaking his head as he hastily collected the arrows. Whilst he appreciated the caution, that wasn’t his immediate concern. When the last arrow was back in the basket, he cast a furtive glance around him. The spellster was here. In his room. Alone. “How…?” he rasped in answer, shock stealing his breath for the brief moment it took to clear his throat. “How did you get by the guards?”
Darshan frowned and indicated the door with his thumb. “There are meant to be guards out there?”
Hamish bolted for the door. Sure enough, jerking it open revealed nothing but empty corridors. How long had they been gone? They generally made an announcement of their departure from guarding his door at dawn, but he’d been under the impression that his confinement would be until the ambassador had left. Especially seeing they had brought him breakfast.
He’d bloody missed lunch for nothing.
“Are you often kept locked away?”
He turned back to Darshan, shutting the door behind him. The man seemed genuinely concerned. “You shouldnae be here.” If Darshan was discovered in Hamish’s room, then that would be the end of any negotiating.
Like a scolded child, Darshan rubbed at his arm. “I gathered that, but I wanted to apologise. Properly. I am not entirely certain what I was thinking.”
Hamish leant back on the door, folding his arms. “Really?” Amazing that, even with a whole continent separating them, a Udynean prince could come up with the same paltry defence as a common Tirglasian sailor. “Pretty sure I ken where your mind was at.”
Darshan chuckled mirthlessly. “Fair enough.” He paced before Hamish, his hands fluttering as he spoke. “I suppose you also expect me to blame it all on my intoxication, but when is that an acceptable excuse?” He shook his head. “In all honesty, I still had the wherewithal to know kissing you was a bad decision. I did know how unacceptable such actions are viewed here before it was made absolutely clear by certain parties. I chose to do it anyway.”
Hamish remained silent. The stance had already proven effective in eking out more information from the man when he was drunk. Perhaps he would be likewise willing now he was sober.
Sure enough, Darshan continued, “I could
