Roland looked at their intertwined hands, he did not feel like letting go but this was Sigrid Thorin. How could he hold her hand and not feel bugs crawling all over his skin?
He dropped her hand and cleared his throat, he readied himself for her to grab his hand and try to get cozy with him. Unexpectedly, she did not attempt to touch him, she took a step away from the pillar and sat down on the enchanted marble floor.
In all of Eldoria only two places had such floors, the royal castle and estate of mages, they shimmered and changed colors basing on the time of day. There was a rumor that every carpet in the royal castle was enchanted as well but it had not been proven.
Roland folded his right hand and unfolded it, it almost felt as if something was amiss. He found himself thinking that it was not so bad holding Sigrid’s hand. He had never held the hands of a woman before except for a few occasions on balls and also not directly without a glove and not for long.
Sigrid’s hand was not gloved and he could hold it without screams of scandal or arousing misguided notions in a potential eager doe eyed noble young lady hoping he would marry her the next day.
He moved and sat down next to her, looking out at swans swimming in the moat. It was much quieter over here than the hunting grounds.
"Shouldn’t you be getting back to your party and sick guest?" She asked him.
He scoffed, "I thought you did not want me around her, you were quite firm in your objection of her becoming my secondary wife."
Sigrid picked up a stone, she tossed it up and down, catching it in her hands skillfully with every throw. Then, she threw it in the moat, startling the swans that honked and hissed furiously even though the stone had landed a big distance away from them.
All she wanted to do was watch the water forming some ripples, not create more enemies of the flying kind. She picked up another small stone and responded without looking at Roland.
"Are you sure that you want a secondary wife? Do you want us to live like your parents? Your mother is trapped in a loveless marriage, your father favors his mistress that obviously wants one of her sons to be crown prince.
I don’t want to live like that Roland, fighting for your favor day and night as if its the most important thing in the world. Our marriage was decided for us, the way I figured, we need time to see if we stand a chance without a third party slithering in like an unwanted snake."
Roland clenched his jaw, the subject of his mother’s marriage was a very sensitive one in the royal family. Right from childhood, he had witnessed for himself how his father gave his mother the cold shoulder and lavished affection on his secondary wife.
Benjamin, his third brother was their father’s most loved son and Thalassa the princess and fourth child of the king born from Rina was the beloved overly pampered princess of Eldoria.
He had sworn to himself that when he married and had children, he would balance his affections appropriately and not create another unhappy family. However, fate had played a joke on him and he married Sigrid Thorin, he was having a hard time reconciling his dream of the kind of woman he wanted to spend his life with and the one he had actually married.
"I am going to be clear about this Roland, now that divorce is legal, if you bring home another woman I am divorcing you. If we have children, I will be taking them as well plus half of your wealth."
He wanted to jump up and have his ’aha! you were after my wealth’ moment but it was impossible, the Thorin’s were not hurting for money.
He also could not accuse her of wanting to be queen, she was going to marry Oliver Ye before the king decreed that they wed. There was no doubt that the Thorin’s were very unhappy with the marriage, her father had made it more than clear, as had her grandfather.
"Why did you marry me?" he asked, again.
Sigrid looked at him with a frown, "Have I not answered this question?"
"Other than the king’s decree, why else did you marry me?" he replied, persistent in knowing the answer.
Sigrid shook her head, "I saw you naked, jeez Roland, keep up." she groaned.
She moved to her knees and abruptly grabbed his head, inspecting it like a mother looking for lice in the hair of her child.
"How injured were you in that war? How many blows to your head did you receive?"
He shoved her away as gently as he could. "We are in the royal castle for heavens sake Sigrid. You cannot just treat me like a doll in public."
She had her chest thrust out, her breasts were brushing against him. As if that was not enough, she lowered his head and practically shoved it into her cleavage, and she was turning his head left and right. Her unruly hands had even lifted his shirt. What would people think if they saw them like that?
He pointed at her with a shaky finger, she was trying to seduce him obviously, she had married him because she was after his body as she had always been.
"Why is your face red?" Sigrid blurted out. "You are actually ill, do you have a fever? Let’s go and find a doctor." She got up and then offered him her hand.
Roland had seen many men do this for women, offering a hand to help them up not because they could not do it on their own but because it was the gentlemanly thing to do. Finding himself on the receiving end of the gesture was very abnormal.
He ignored her hand and stood on his own, "Let’s return to the celebration."
Sigrid chose not to be slighted by the action, she took her hand back and followed him slowly. She was thinking to herself that this was by far the most civilized conversation they had ever had, with the exception of the knives and near strangulation at the beginning.
When they returned to the hunting grounds, many eyes were drawn to them, it was the first time they were being seen together in public ever since the wedding.
"Roland," the king bellowed happily, "You are with Sigrid too, excellent. Your sister Thalassa just reminded me that we have not made any arrangements for Emmah. She saved your life and she has no home apart from the orphanage, we cannot allow her to go back there. Thalassa is suggesting that Emmah move to the vale to live with you and Sigrid, what do you think?"
Sigrid’s eyes that were warm once turn turned cold, she knew what Roland’s answer would be. The demon of duty and responsibility was going to take a hold of him and he would say yes.
"No," She blurted out quickly and stepped in front of Roland. "Not unless we get an officer from the office of interior to register her as our adopted child. Is miss Emmah willing to become my husband’s daughter?"