Her tongue wasn’t quite working yet, but the man seemed to understand what she meant.
“The wager,” he said. “Some bet you would die shortly after you were brought here. Others gambled that you’d linger for a bit, then quietly expire. I, however, knew that you would make a full recovery.”
“Recover?”
“Do you remember what happened?”
“I…” Chandra had a feeling, despite the relative comfort of her bed, that this was not a good place to be.
She started wading through the debris in her mind. Abruptly, the details of her capture came back to her.
Where is Gideon?
She groaned.
“Oh, dear,” said the young man. “That tragic?”
“Price Velrav,” she croaked with certainty.
“At your service!” He swooped down in an elaborate genuflection. “May I call you Chandra?” He added, “Since you’ve been lying in my bed for so long, I feel like conventional formalities would be absurd.”
She ignored the throbbing in her head, and looked under the sheet that covered her. “Where are my clothes?”
Her throat was so dry, she choked a little from the effort of speaking.
“I had them taken away to be cleaned. They were filthy.” He crossed the room to sit on the bed beside her prone body. “I didn’t want them soiling my sheets.”
She glared at him. “This isyour bed?”
“Well, all the beds here are mine, but for now it’s yours,” he said, leaning forward as he reached out to trail his pale fingers along her naked shoulder.
“Touch me and I’ll break your fingers,” she snapped, knocking his hand away.
“There’s water on the bedside table, it sounds as though you need it. Please,” he gestured to a pitcher, his movements light, almost feline. “Drink, you will feel better.”
Chandra jerked her chin at him. “Off the bed.”
“As you wish, my dear.” He rose with an amused look on his face.
She held the sheet in place as she laboriously pushed herself into a sitting position, always aware of the prince’s red-rimmed gaze. She turned and poured herself a cup of water; she drank and felt better, pouring another glass as soon as she’d finished. Only after drinking a third glass did she look at him again.
“I like a woman who’s that concentrated on fulfilling her needs,” Velrav purred.
“I don’t care what you like.” Her voice sounded more normal now. She must have been unconscious for quite some time.
He grinned. Chandra steeled herself so as not to react to the eerily white teeth that were filed to sharp points revealed by his broad smile.
“The story the riders told me is easier to believe now.” Velrav shrugged. “Lying there unconscious, you looked lovely, despite the bruises, and certainly very, er, healthy!” His lascivious gaze traced her body up and down. “Even, one might say, robust.”
“I attribute my good health to a steady diet of grub soup,” she said sourly.
“That’s a very nasty scratch on your thigh, though it’s healing well. What did that to you?”
“A goblin,” she said.
“Ugh. Nasty creatures,” Velrav said fastidiously. “And yet you eat them.”
“I don’t, my dear.” He sounded appalled. “That’s peasant food! Goblins are brought here only to feed some of my, er, less refined companions. What about that cut on your arm? It was festering nicely when you arrived.”
She said nothing; it took her a moment to realize he was referring to the incision made by the Enervant to remove the burrowing snake.
“Hmmm, the red hair is exotic. Just as I hoped.” Velrav tilted his head, studying her. “And now that your eyes are open, I find their color intriguing. Almost amber… fiery…
“When they brought you to me I was unimpressed. Despite your unusual coloring, you seemed like any other woman offered as a tithe.”
He grinned again. “Now that you’re awake, however… Yes, now I see the woman they told me about!”
“Get my clothes,” she said coldly. “I want to get dressed.”
“A lone woman who fought off a dozen villagers and four Fog Riders? It sounded too improbable! I thought perhaps the riders were trying to save their own lives by inventing the tale.”
She frowned, distracted. “How would telling you I fought them save their lives?”
“Ah, it would satisfactorily explain the messy condition you were in when you arrived! Unconscious. Pulse faint. Breath shallow. Face bruised. Your head split open and bleeding,” he said. “Of course, I had the servants clean you up.”
Chandra ran a hand over her head and found a gash on her temple. She explored it delicately with her fingers. It was tender and swollen, but healing.
“The spear handle,” she murmured, remembering. Evidently the rider had come close to killing her with that blow.
“Mortal bodies are so fragile,” Velrav said sadly. “Yours is obviously stronger than most-remarkably strong, I would say. But nonetheless vulnerable.”
“Yes, well, why did you care what condition I arrived in? Does blood taste better to you when the victim is awake and screaming?” she said scathingly.
“My dear! Vitality is of the utmost importance! I was positively enthralled by the description of such a healthy and vivacious young woman when the Fog Riders were summoned.” He sighed. “I rarely get such a special treat. Life is so… dispirited here. Naturally, I wanted you in perfect condition. And I gave orders to that effect.” He folded his arms and smiled pleasantly at her. “The Fog Riders know how dangerous it is to disobey my orders.”
“Well, sunlight can do a lot for morale,” she said, not really interested. “You should look into it.”
“Yes… Sunlight… You do say the most interesting things. Wherever did you get such an idea? I can’t help but wonder. And wonder, I like to say, is the first of all passions.”
“Listen here, Prince,” Chandra said. “If you think I’m going to kindle anything but your funeral pyre, you are sadly mistaken.”
“I can’t tell you how happy that makes me, Chandra,” he said with true glee. “Things have been so dull here for the past half-century.”
Chandra wasn’t sure how to react to that. Velrav just stood there looking at her, smiling, waiting.
“Maybe I could have my clothes now?” Chandra asked after what seemed forever.