A.L. Jambor by The Tower in the Mist Read Free Book Online Page B

made me feel that way?
    He came through the gate and stood before me.
    “You look lovely,” he said. “I had to see you. Geezer told me you’d gone to Earth, but I didn’t believe him. It’s taken me all this time to get away by myself.”
    “Come inside,” I said. “I’ll make us some tea.”
    We went into the tower and walked to the kitchen.
    “What kind of tea would you like?” I said.
    “I don’t want tea,” he said. “I want to kiss you.”
    He was behind me. I turned and he kissed me. The heat filled my body. His lips felt like home.
    I pulled myself away and turned my head. I felt ashamed. Geezer was so good to me. We were now sleeping in the same bed.
    “I need you,” he said. “I’ve thought of nothing else these past few weeks.”
    “And before that? Did you think of me then?”
    I knew I sounded bitter. I was. I hadn’t heard a thing from him, not a letter, a note, nothing, since leaving him in his northern courtyard. And here he was as if nothing had happened in between.
    “You know where I’ve been.”
    “Your wife lost her baby.”
    I wanted him to know that I knew he hadn’t been celibate.
    “Duty,” he said as if the word could right all his wrongs.
    “What do you want, Mace?”
    “I want you.”
    He moved toward me and put his hands on my shoulders.
    “I want you to come and live with me in London. Neela wants to go back up north. You could be my queen here.”
    “No. I can’t now.”
    “Why? What’s changed?”
    He looked into my eyes. He kissed me. Then he pulled away and looked at me for a long time.
    “Geezer?” he said in disbelief. “You and Geezer?”
    His tone pissed me off. “He’s a good man.”
    “He’s a thousand years old!”
    “He cares for me. He always has. He’s been here.”
    “And you know where I’ve been.”
    “It doesn’t excuse you.”
    “Really. Running a kingdom doesn’t excuse me.”
    “Oh, shut up.”
    I ran from the kitchen to the hallway. He followed me. I wanted to hit him. I wanted to make him feel pain.
    “Go,” I said.
    “I had to marry her,” he said.
    “Go. I don’t care. Just get out.”
    “I had to have an heir. A royal heir.”
    “You could have told me that the first night you met me.”
    “I thought you knew. I thought you understood.”
    “How could I know?”
    “I thought you were from Esher.”
    Hadn’t I told him about Pryll? He was lying. I had told him I was from Pryll. When we were in bed together.
    “You knew I came from Pryll. You read Geezer’s ridiculous book. You knew what Pryll was like.”
    “Margaret.”
    “You let me believe you loved me.”
    “I did - I do love you.”
    “You let me go. Why didn’t you stop me?”
    “The day you rode out of my courtyard, my heart was torn out of my chest. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t bear my life.”
    “Why didn’t you stop me?” I said.
    “How could I stop you? I couldn’t have you there, not with Neela. But now, you could be with me in London.”
    “No. I can’t hurt Geezer.”
    “But you could hurt him then, is that it?”
    “I didn’t know, not then. I didn’t know until…”
    “How could you not know. I knew.”
    “You knew!” I cried.
    He was thinking of an answer.
    “Well, not at first.”
    “Then when?”
    “That first night at supper I couldn’t take my eyes off you. If I had seen it then, I wouldn’t have touched you. But he didn’t talk about you, and I just assumed there was nothing between you. Then, after you and I…well, I saw it on his face when he looked at you. By then it was too late. I had to have you.”
    “And Geezer be damned?”
    He stepped forward and kissed me again. God help me, I wanted him. I wanted him so much I nearly let him take me right there, right under the room where…Ceil slept.
    I pushed him away.
    “No, I don’t want this anymore. I want the life I have. It’s good, and he’s good to me. You hurt me. You’ll hurt her.”
    I’d said too much. He looked confused.