Until Darkness Ascends

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

It was the last day of the festival and she once again sat on the decorative chair with her book tucked between her hip the arm. All the while, man after man would come and present his fares for marriage. None of them piqued her interest.

But she had a feeling no one would.

Because while she sat before these males, putting on a façade of interest, her mind seemed to live on Altair. She was intoxicated with his brooding protection, and the safety of his arms around her waist as she took to her climax. That is what she did, after all. She didn't give him pleasure, never pleasured him in the same way he pleasured her. She took it, but he coaxed her too. He told her too.

No, he ordered her to.

She shifted, the burn of passion rearing its hot edge.

"-maiden?"

Cordelia snapped her attention back to her suitor in front of her. "I'm sorry?"

"I asked about your childhood."

She smiled at him, apologetically. "Unfortunately, my childhood was not the greatest. I grew up in the Kingdom of Voltulora under the reign of King Cailborne."

"I read that the King was overthrown quite recently. A barbarian tore his heart from his chest at his wedding, nonetheless."

She shifted once more from awkwardness. He must not have put two and two together, but then her heart grew heavy, and the burn of rebuttal scorched her throat. But she stayed quiet, understanding that perhaps stories had become convoluted as they roamed the Middle Kingdom.

He continued, "A sad reality, really. If you ask me, whoever is responsible should be bound and brutalized, held in a cuckold as punishment."

She couldn't hear more. No, she could, but she didn't want to. She grew angry, standing before the man with a fierce look. "I think we are done here."

"Pardon, I still have minutes left-"

"No," she responded. "I said our time is done." Even before he could fight her, she picked up her skirt and left the hall, briskly walking back to her room.

How dare he? He didn't know what happened. He didn't know why what happened occurred. He didn't know Altair or her or King Cailborne for that matter. And he was wrong; it wasn't Altair who should be punished, it was Cailborne. That King was the savage. That King was the brute. He was the one who brutalized her relentlessly, harshly, and without remorse.

She stopped for a moment. She had the right to be angry. Altair was...important to her. He was her friend at the least. And at the most...well, she wasn't sure yet. She didn't know why she grew furious at the slightest insult thrown at him. She became far angrier at a slight at him than anything at her, and she didn't understand why.

"Cordelia?"

"What," she growled, turning toward Malachi. He sidestepped her anger and she immediately retreated from her aggression. "I'm sorry. I don't...I don't know what's overcome me."

Malachi analyzed her. "It's alright," he responded, though it sounded as if he was distracted by something. But he didn't have time to speak longer to her before Altair stepped next to him.

"Cordelia, what's going on?"

"Nothing. I'm okay. Let's just prepare for the joust."

Even though she made her way inside her room, Altair followed, shutting the door behind him. She paced, still aggravated.

"Is this about yesterday?"