The King's Cursed Bride

Tested: Part 2

            

Zorelle made a sweeping gesture. "Please, sit."

Carissa took the chair at the other end of the table.

Zorelle planted her elbows on the table, interlacing her fingers. "You can come closer, you know. I don't bite."

"With fangs like that, I doubt it."

Zorelle's eyes flashed, but Carissa met her gaze calmly. She was afraid, but not of Zorelle. She was afraid of betraying Elon. Just the thought was enough to send a tendril of cold snaking around her chest. She didn't want to turn against him, but his own words made it sound as though it were inevitable.

Zorelle's smile resurfaced. "As you wish, then."

Out of the corner of her eye, Carissa saw someone approach. She turned just as the servant held out a basin of water. Carissa washed her hands and glanced at the table. Should she eat to keep up her strength? What if the food was tainted with something that made her more compliant? What if they used it to drug her?

"You're awfully quiet." Zorelle licked her sauce-stained fingers, her gaze remaining on Carissa.

"I have nothing to say to you."

A servant flinched, his grip tightening on the platter he held. It seemed that he was afraid for her. Maybe Zorelle would punish Carissa for her insolence. But she couldn't bring herself to care. Better have her enemy act like an enemy than pretend to be a friend.

Carissa glanced up at the ceiling of the tent. A sphered of glass dangled above the table, glowing with pale purple light. What was such light made of? Was it a type of fire?

"Your husband hasn't told you everything, you know."

"I know," Carissa said.

"Do you?"

Carissa nodded. "He keeps things from me, usually for my own benefit."

Zorelle nodded slowly. "You're telling me that every single time he hasn't told you something, it's helped you? Every time he's allowed a disaster to unspool your life, it's benefitted you?"

Carissa curled her toes in her boots as a barrage of questions came to mind.

Had it helped her when he hadn't told her Aleck would return? Or when he let her believe her mother would never forgive her? Or when he let her make a fool of herself at the ball?

But she'd doubted Elon before. She couldn't afford to do it again. "I trust him, Zorelle, even if I don't understand his reasons."

"Then you never question what he's doing?"

"I try not to."

"But if you never ask questions and he never gives you answers, how do you know, Carissa? How do you know that he's right about all he says he is?" Zorelle leaned back in her chair, her food forgotten. "Allow me to answer for you: you don't."

Carissa lifted her shoulders in a stiff shrug. "It doesn't matter. He's been right plenty of times before, so I can trust he'll be right in the future."

"But, to you, it seems he's been wrong before, doesn't it? It seems that he's made mistakes, allowed things he shouldn't have."

"I trust him, Zorelle, and while that may not be enough for you, it's enough for me." She pushed her chair back. "If you'll excuse me, I think I've had enough."

Zorelle's lips smoothed into a smile. "Of course." Carissa began to turn, but Zorelle continued, "And one more thing, Carissa. Your husband has been to Esmeray before."