Bound (Chained Trilogy Book 2) by Marion Elise

Author:Marion, Elise [Marion, Elise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Marion Press
Published: 2014-12-06T17:00:00+00:00

“Are you all right, Caden?”

Glancing up from his plate, Caden stilled his dirk and met Esa’s gaze. They supped together in his solar. He’d asked her to come alone so that he could enlist her help away from prying ears. The servants had been dismissed, and they had been eating in silence for ten minutes. He set his dirk aside and leaned back in his chair, his stare never wavering from hers.

“Of course I am,” he answered, keeping his tone even. He’d only drank one flagon of wine today, his personal best since Gwen’s escape. This was the first day since then that he didn’t guzzle two to three flagons before lunch.

Esa paused, her goblet halfway to her lips. “Hmm,” she murmured, quirking one eyebrow at him before taking a slow sip.

“What the devil is that supposed to mean?” he challenged.

“It means,” she said, setting the goblet aside, “that I do not believe you. You are not all right, Caden.”

Taking up his dirk once more, he began stabbing at the sausage swimming in onions on his plate. “Whatever gave you that idea?”

“Perhaps it is your perpetually foul mood,” she murmured, returning her attention to her own plate. “Or the fact that you are drunk more often than not. And of course there were your rather diverting antics in the courtyard—”

“If you seem so bloody certain that I am not all right, then why would you ask?” he snapped.

Esa shrugged, lifting her dirk to her lips and biting the butchered meat from the end. “Because someone must force you to confront your problem. By asking you if you are all right, I was hoping to prod you into truly thinking about it.”

Caden sighed, clenched his teeth, and fought for patience. He could not very well ask Esa for a favor after losing his temper with her. “You needn’t concern yourself. Once the business of marriage and the signing of the treaty has passed, all will be as it should.”

“Hmm,” she mumbled again, spearing a slice of carrot.

Caden’s forbearance unraveled and he slammed his dirk down once again. “You wish to speak upon the matter, and obviously won’t let it rest until you have. Very well then, let’s have it.”

Esa calmly set her dirk aside and wiped her mouth with her napkin. She took her time, neatly folding and setting it aside before picking up her goblet once more. She took a sip and braced her elbow upon the chair’s armrest, studying him with a pointed stare.

“You are angry because Lady Gwendolyn left you.”

Caden’s gut clenched at the sound of Gwen’s name. “She did not leave me, she escaped. Lady Gwen was a prisoner, not a guest. I am not angry because she left, I am furious because she dared to escape.”

“Dared, and triumphed,” Esa pointed out. “A bloody bold thing to do, I’ll give her that. The lady is stronger than I supposed, and far more cunning.”

“Spare me your assessment. I am well aware of how cunning she can be.”

“Aye, so astute that she used your weakness against you.

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