“This is a nice place,” he said. “It’s nice company.”
We clinked glasses and drank. “It’s a bit lonely here by myself,” I admitted. “Sometimes I have bad nights.”
Zawne swished wine around in his mouth, swallowed, and said in a husky voice, “Sud Cottage is like a graveyard. So silent and creepy. I feel like a dead man walking through it. Maybe when we get married, we can move in together. We’ll have a much bigger place, of course.”
“Who said we’re getting married?” I asked, gasping and pretending to be offended. “I haven’t agreed yet.”
Zawne got closer to me, looked straight in my face. “Yes, you have. I can see it in your eyes. I can feel it in your body language. You’ve already agreed to be my wife.”
“Maybe,” I said, and immediately averted my eyes. Zawne was intimidating with his lips two inches from mine. Not in a bad way. Mostly because his breath was sweet. His manly scent was invigorating. If we stared into each other’s eyes for too long, I feared that I would …
No! I told myself. Not yet. You’re a respectable woman. You are the daughter of Gaard-Ma. Control yourself!
I took a gulp of wine and began to hum nervously. Zawne chuckled. I half heard him say, “I always suspected you were timid.”
But I interjected, blurting out in a panic, “Tell me about Lodden!”
He eased back in the sofa and scrunched his face. “There’s not much to tell that you don’t already know. Lodden’s horrendous. Earthquakes, the most recent volcano, tiny tremors daily. The people who live there are almost completely disconnected from the rest of the world. They refuse to pack up and go someplace else. Instead, their lives revolve around building and rebuilding. They live in squalor, in the mud, in small houses built of volcanic rock. What you may not know is that Lodden is the last place in Geniverd where the people still worship false gods. It’s why they stay. They once claimed to be in everlasting servitude to Gomorogha, the fire god who lives in the volcano.”
“Wow,” I said. “That’s news to me. Someone told me once about how the world used to be very different, about how …” I trailed off, wondering if Roki was on a date too, huddled in the rain with some cute girl he had found in another noble’s mansion.
“You all right?” Zawne asked.
“Yeah, sorry. Tell me more.”
“That’s pretty much it,” he said. “My friends died. I battled leopards and furious temperatures. I allowed my pain to encapsulate me, to numb me and guide me forward. It was how I survived the harshness of it all. In the end, my pain led me to you.”
His last words caught my breath in my throat. I choked on my wine. Could Zawne seriously be this romantic to me? I still wasn’t convinced. His words were so pretty, so flattering. I had to be sure he wasn’t playing me for a fool, trying to put the moves on me and then call the engagement off tomorrow morning. I was all too aware of the ladies’ man Zawne had once been. I needed to be certain he was committed to me before I opened my heart, that the loss of Lordin hadn’t made Zawne revert into a primal beast.
“You talk the talk,” I said once I had finished choking on my wine, “but can you walk the walk?”
Zawne smirked. “Why don’t we find out?” And he slithered close to me.
“No,” I said, knocking the cocky smirk off his face. “That’s not what I mean. What I’m trying to say is that you have been sweet and seductive with me all night, but will you follow through? I need to know your intentions are pure before this goes any further. I need you to give your word to the king and queen that we are to be wed. Only then will I open my heart to you.”
I felt childish saying this, but it needed to be said. I could never give myself up so easily.
I had expected Zawne to crumble at my ultimatum, give up and go home or find another girl to be with, who was easier than me. I was shocked when he put his glass of wine down on the table and said, “I’ll do you one better.”
I didn’t have time to react. Zawne had touched his wrist to activate his visin. He swiped this way and that, then directed the holographic screen at himself and made sure I wasn’t in the shot. “Get ready to look happy,” he said to me. Then he hit the livestream button.
“Hello, citizens of Geniverd. It’s Prince Zawne here, streaming live to the entire world, all six continents on all four billion active visins. Some of you may know that I am now an Aska warrior. What you may not know is that I’m engaged to be married.”
Zawne paused for dramatic effect while I freaked out next to him, mouth dry, eyes wide, heart palpitating. I couldn’t believe it!
“That’s right,” he said to the projection. “I’m getting married to Kaelyn of Gaard. We will be wed just in time for the coronation.”
Then he maneuvered his visin’s screen, showing four billion people the dumb expression on my face. He put his arm around me and pulled me close. “Here she is, my bride-to-be. Everyone, meet my new wife.”
I guessed I had my answer.
Chapter 6
Everything happened faster than I could have anticipated. Before Zawne’s livestream had ended, my visin was bleeping in my ear. Then Raad was screaming at me, “You got engaged in less than four hours? Did he even bed you yet?” His face was huge on the screen, as if he could open his mouth and swallow me.
“Whoa,” I said. “Back off from the camera. You look like an angry giant.”
“Sorry.” Raad moved back. He was grinning triumphantly. “I’m so proud of you,
