Leander was still dreaming about the Maiden that morning. His dream was a strange one like sea monsters diving into the aqua sea of her eyes. While reaching for her, her dress turned to water… red water… blood slipping through his fingers and leaving him alone. He stroked his wet hand against his face to smell the scent of her blood like perfume.

Keeping his eyes closed, he cracked his neck.

He knew what he was dreaming about as he fell through the clouds like a dagger from heaven to slice the red tide beneath him. He hadn’t been the bodyguard of a Wizard for years for him not to know what dreams meant when they busied themselves in the cavern of his slumbering mind.

He was struggling.

The feeling of hot blood over his hands in wartime was the most warmth he could hope to experience. Not only was there heat on his skin when the air was so icy he could see his breath like ghost vapor but there was also triumph. He had outwitted the black craw of death in battle once again.

A world where a woman wore a pretty dress and sat in the sunshine surrounded by her admirers was no place for him. Stepping forward into a world like that was like choosing a false vision of the afterlife and stepping into the red mist that was the Mistress of the castle herself. As a soldier, you didn’t get peace until the war was over, or until you were dead.

If he didn’t follow his instructions to kidnap the Maiden and stayed to compete for her hand with all the sincerity of his heart, it would be like dying because the war wasn’t over. The war just wasn’t here. Here was where the King and the Wizard had sent him because the King needed money.

The King needed money.

Money.

His awareness awakened like hundreds of coins smashed together at once.

Leander was sitting up in his bed. The sun had risen to the eleventh hour. The Maiden was sitting on the edge of his bed. His fingers were laced with hers and her wrist was against his lips.

The moment hung between them, like the one where she stared at him through the bars the night before. They looked at each other, scouting the depth of each others’ eyes. He wondered what she saw in his bronze eyes, while her cool ones showed nothing but cool refreshment.

He kissed her wrist again.

She moved to slap him with her right hand.

He blocked it with one finger of his left hand. “I have kissed the hands of many ladies of the court before yours, got down on my knees swearing all kinds of vows. I would protect them with my life. These occasions are not as intimate as a marriage ceremony as there are many knights swearing promises to many ladies–often more than one lady. There is nothing remotely indecent about me kissing your hand.”

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“Oh?” the Maiden asked, her voice mild yet challenging.

“Yes,” he said lingeringly before allowing his lips to explore her skin in a way that would not have been acceptable in any court anywhere.

“Ugh!” Stocking exclaimed behind her. “There are a ton of us here and you’re going to put those kinds of moves on her while we’re watching?”

Leander kept his eyes on the Maiden and kept his fingers locked with hers. He noticed she made no effort to remove them. “What’s your name?”

“I’m not supposed to say,” she whispered back.

“It’s quite alright to tell me,” he coaxed. “I’m a knight and I have a much higher rank than the Mistress of your castle.”

“Really?” she asked, her eyes flashing like turquoise moons.

“Just whisper it in my ear,” he pressed.

To the shock and horror of the other men in the room, she leaned forward, and putting her mouth very close to his ear, she whispered, “You smell like blood.”

He kissed her knuckles. “So do you.”

The griping the men made behind her back was enough that the two conspirators let go of each others’ hands at the same time but kept their eyes on one another.

“Breakfast is already past, but luncheon will be in a few hours. Have you chosen a workshop or has one been chosen for you?” she asked.

“Neither. I was given today to rest,” he volunteered, rising to his feet.

“Then you can come with me. I graze the sheep on the eastern plateau. A little help would be more than welcome,” she offered. “I’ll pack a few bites from the kitchen and we’ll eat on the plain. Does that suit you?”

He nodded.

She flounced her skirt and left the room.

“Yo, you brainless peck,” Agrite shouted once she was gone. “You can’t go with her. We’ll kill you.”

Leander yawned. “Can’t that wait for tonight? I’d like to get to know her a bit more before I’m ready to die for her.”

“Isn’t that what all the wrist kissing was about?” Koe said crankily.

“I didn’t promise her anything. I just got a bunch of freebies,” he said with a grin before hopping up from the bed.

However, Leander was grossly outnumbered and they pounced on him. Then he was unceremoniously carried back through the castle on their shoulders. He didn’t fight it at all because he had been hazed so many times it wasn’t even a mystery what the men were going to do to him.

“Stop being so jealous, boys!” He laughed like he was their champion and not like he was about to get thrown in the pool again. “You’ve all had your shot with her. Don’t be so greedy! It’ll just be for the afternoon.”

“Dunk him! Dunk him! Dunk him!” they chorused.

“If you want to, but I’m pretty sure I’ll come out of that water looking and smelling cleaner than I do now!”

Splash!

Into the water, he dropped.

He stayed down for a second longer, waiting for them to wonder if they’d killed him so they’d peer over the water to check on him. On schedule, the noses came over the edge.

Leander heaved himself out of the water and splashed them all.

They ended up having a water fight and Leander’s hair was dripping into the collar of his dry clothes when he went to meet the Maiden.