ANOTHER NIGHT

I am not a queen because I rule, I rule because I am THE QUEEN.

Birthed in my heart. Alive in my veins…

*****************

That night, Nadezhda carefully opened the door to her room and, in the same manner, closed it behind her.

She and Zorgan had had dinner together and despite his supposed total concentration on his meal, he had noticed that she only drunk water.

Her vessel of wine had remained untouched.

She hadn’t offered it the briefest of glances.

She turned around a small smile from a successful escape on her lips.

‘‘Must you wrestle with all I offer?’’ A voice asked, forcing her to jerk around forcefully, a frightful sound from her mouth.

Zorgan was standing before the French window of her room, his hands behind him and his gaze at the unfathomable darkness beyond. The heavens were barren of stars, but the moonlight poured freely, kissing his unbound hair, draping just beyond his shoulders. He was dressed in a navy blue nightrobe, the fabric soft and flowing around him.

‘‘How? Why are you-” She stuttered. Her reason for acting like a rat on the stair treads and for opening her door carefully held no result. The person she was trying to evade was already present in her room.

‘‘I’ll employ you to save your breath. I’m staying in my room tonight.

First thing tomorrow, a joiner will be found and everything will be back to proper use.

It isn’t like I can’t manage the bed for a single night’’ she said as she climbed atop it, heart silently pleading for the frame to hold.

She still couldn’t fathom how she had managed to break it so badly.

For one blessed heartbeat, the bed stood – then the last good leg gave out. She bit back a yelp as she tumbled off.

Zorgan’s hands, rigid behind his back, balled into fists, but he did not turn to glance her way.

She straightened, dignity frayed but intact, as the broken bed creaked pitifully.

‘‘This is a disaster of my own making,’’ she muttered, brushing dust from her sleeves. “I’ll just make do with the settee tonight.’’

‘‘Nadezhda, Take yourself to my chambers,’’ Zorgan said calmly.

Nadezhda closed her eyes for a second before she opened it again.

‘‘As I previously conveyed during dinner, I must inform you strongly that I do not wish to stay in your room. Not tonight, not ever.

It will be respectable of us to uphold the words of one another, to ensure that we act with the understanding of the terms that bound us together in the first place.’’

‘‘Terms?’’ Zorgan questioned with a chuckle, one that sounded dark and concerning.

He turned around to face her, streaks of moonlight now falling on his face.

‘‘Freedom was your pursuit, while mine was the desire for a wife. It was the pursuit of a wife that led you to the recent suffering you’ve endured, but I have remained unburdened, roaming freely.

Over Ten thousand have fallen beneath my hand; I am no virtuous man.

I only strive for justice and justice would demand that you are spared from further pain tonight. I say once more: take yourself to my chambers.’’

Nadezhda’s nose flared in irritation, her arms crossing tightly over her chest.

‘‘Now you bear the look of a dragon,’’ Zorgan remarked, a faint smirk tugging at his lips.

‘‘You certainly are a stubborn and relentless man, Prince Commander Zorgan of Valcresh-”

Zorgan cut in with a low murmur, ‘‘Haven’t heard that in some time’’

‘‘What if I still decide to resist?

Perhaps seek refuge with one of them-’’ she tried to press, and Zorgan was quick with his response.

‘‘I’ll come for you myself and I promise to make a show.

Oh, dear Rebel, I Will. Make. A. Show’’

Nadezhda gritted her teeth, feeling the weight of defeat settling in. She knew that staying with her chambermaids, or any other, would only bring discomfort to them, and none of the other rooms were ready for an overnight stay.

She resolved to take all the details of the minor palace, the ones she had previously overlooked, into serious consideration from now on.

With one hand resting on her hip, she pointed her index finger at Zorgan with a firm motion. ‘‘I swear by the heavens, if any part of you touches me, if even the slightest graze of your skin meets mine, I will set you aflame in your sleep.’’

Zorgan let out a low groan at the thought of such an image. ‘‘All you do is make threats you can never follow through with.’’

Immediately, Nadezhda’s eyes gleamed with an intensity that caught his attention as she took a step toward him.

“Is that a challenge I hear?’’ Her gaze, cool and unwavering, made Zorgan uneasy as if she might find satisfaction in setting him on fire.

‘‘Rest… rest is what we need now.

After you, my lady,’’ he said, though his gaze flicked to her hand, searching for any sign of a weapon that she could use to ignite him.

Nadezhda smirked, watching him check her hands. Satisfied with his wariness, she turned and left the room with Zorgan trailing behind her.

Before following her out, he lingered at the window, eyes drawn to the balcony, though he didn’t stare for long.

Before he left, he cast a brief look toward the balcony, but the sight of it brought an uncomfortable wave of memories- of a person no longer alive.

It stilled his approach, and he quickly shut the door behind him, moving to the bed, where Nadezhda had already set boundaries with pillows.

The next morning, Nadezhda found herself almost completely sprawled on Zorgan’s chest. He had been awake for some time, his thoughts tangled between her threat and the softness of her hair, which now rested against his skin.

She lifted herself from him, her eyes burning with a feral light. Zorgan reclaimed his voice, pressed by the necessity to make her comprehend.

‘‘‘Mother’ … you kept calling as you trapped me with your hands-’’

Truthfully, it was no trap; he had surrendered the moment her hands touched him, but that was a verity he would never utter out loud.

Awareness dawned upon Nadezhda like a lashing cold wind. She had been lost in the throes of her dream.

‘‘I apologize, we are now square,’’ she said briskly before sliding from the bed and hurrying back to her chamber, vanishing into her private wash hall.