Gifted Stone by Kelly Walker Page A

amused.
    “I promise, Your Highness. ” Hopefully her use of his formal title would make it clear that she wasn’t amused, either.
    His shoulders relaxed, but his eyes grew worried. Pulling her hand into the crook of his elbow, he began to guide her in the direction of her chamber. As her hand touched his arm, she vaguely noted that the pain which had been quite severe only a week ago was now nearly gone. She couldn’t be sure, but she suspected the gift of the Warrens had aided her herbal remedies in hastening her hand’s healing.
    “What is it, My Lady? I have the feeling something else is bothering you.”
    Would he be offended if she told him the truth?
    “Emariya…”
    It wouldn’t be at all proper for her to tell her betrothed the real reason she was sad. She missed her home and her brother who’d betrayed her by sending her to her soon-to-be-husband under false pretenses. How would that make him feel?
    “You can tell me anything.” He stopped walking and turned her gently toward him, looking deep into her eyes.
    Emariya groaned. It was as if he could read her thoughts! She supposed the truth was her only choice, proper or not. “I miss my home.” She chewed her lip, watching his face for signs of the hurt she expected he must feel.
    Torian pulled her against him and spoke gently into her hair as he nestled her head beneath his chin. “Of course you do. I’d be surprised if you didn’t.”
    “I thought you’d be angry.”
    “Why?”
    “Well, because I thought you’d think I was saying I didn’t want to be here with you.”
    “Are missing your home and enjoying my company mutually exclusive?” Torian cocked an eyebrow in the way he often did when he was teasing her.
    “I suppose not.”
    “All right then. So stop pouting.”
    Her jaw dropped in indignation. “I wasn’t pouting.” She glared at him before bursting into a fit of laughter.
    “What is it you miss the most about your home?” Torian started walking again.
    Keeping close to his side, Emariya answered with ease. “The openness of everything. Sure, we have walls around Warren’s Rest, but I haven’t spent much time within them. I was often in the surrounding hills, alone, free to go where I wanted without fear of anyone wishing me harm.”
    “And here you are constantly shadowed by guards, and their presence bothers you?”
    “At times, yes.” Not to mention that the soot marks on the walls boasted a constant reminder of exactly what she needed to fear.
    “How come?”
    “I don’t think being shadowed by the guards disturbs me so much as being unable to go anywhere.”
    “But you’ve the run of the castle. I want you to consider it yours. Go where you like, as long as you take the guards with you.”
    “That’s just it, though. I don’t want to go anywhere within the castle; I want to go beyond it, but I can’t. Not without crossing the bridge back to the mainland.”
    “Absolutely not.” Torian’s voice had turned hard. “The mainland is not defensible. Besides, everything Thalmas has to offer we have here in the castle. If there is something else you want just tell me what it is and I’ll get it for you.”
    She sighed. “It’s not that simple… I miss the freedom of not being confined. Of not having walls around me. I miss having the raw ground beneath my feet. Flowers…my garden. Riding through the meadow. I miss…home.”
    They paused outside her door and she could feel the longing filling her eyes as they met his.
    “You know I would give you that if I could. All of that and more,” he whispered.
    “I know.” She stretched up and kissed him gently on the cheek before letting herself into her chambers and closing the door behind her. In her head, she added the words she’d left unsaid. But you can’t.
    One of Emariya’s handmaidens, Kora, was changing the linens on her bed.
    “Kora, could you find Jessa for me?”
    “Yes, Your Highness.” Kora curtsied and hurried out of the room. Emariya