I laugh. "That was once, and we were children."
She laughs, too. “Did you know that I saw your woman? She doesn't seem like she is made of strong enough stuff to be queen."
I frown, thinking of her kick. "Believe me, she is stronger than she looks."
Together, we walk out of the throne room, and I return to the library and call to Luth, one of the stone benders. He trots over while I lay the scrolls on the long table and lean against one of the chairs. The air smells dusty from stone paper thousands of years old. “I need your help with the queen’s quarters.”
“Of course, my liege.” He too takes a glance at the rows and rows of our people’s knowledge. “Would you like me to come now?”
I push off the table. “Yes. That would be excellent.”
He follows me dutifully as we enter through my room and cross the tunnel. I explain what I need quickly, and he listens carefully.
“Light fingers, Luth. I will be displeased if she hears you and wakes,” I murmur. I don't tell him I know she's sleeping from how she feels through our connection.
"As you wish, my King," he says with a bow and turns back to the wall to begin tracing along the stone.
I survey the tunnel separating our different rooms. It is relatively long, hidden in what looks like a wall from the outside. Traditionally, it was used to give both sovereigns their own spaces to think, study, and rest. They could call on each other when need required their presence.
Members of the crown started visiting every city at the age of twenty to ensure a mate was recognized by fifty. There were great balls held for my parents, and they ruled for nearly a hundred and fifty years.
It is strange to muse what my life would look like if the war had not happened. Such expensive parties are a thing of the past. I was in the middle of a war at the age of fifty. Now I am over a hundred, and I had expected to die with my crown. Estela is a blessing from Grutabela.
The stone bender continues to work on tracing patterns on the wall, and I watch as stones shift to create a window into Estela's room. At the first glimpse of my mate, relief floods through me.
She is still fast asleep. Her chest is rising and falling with each slow breath as her long brown hair is splayed out on the pillow beneath her. She is wearing a sheer nightgown, which reveals the bandages all over her body. To my dismay, she is still filthy in areas that weren't touched during her healing.
My breath catches when I see the glowing stone displayed on her chest. It glows for me. I am filled with an intense urge to open the door right next to the window and touch her. But I know that I cannot do so until she is ready, until she comes to me of her own accord.
"It is finished," Luth says.
I nod to him. "And you are sure it still looks like normal brick from the other side?"
"Yes, my King. There are many other places throughout the palace that have similar stone enchantments. My father helped make them, as his father did before that," Luth says, his same quiet, unwavering confidence.
I appreciate that about him.
My appreciation evaporates when I look back to find him glancing out the window to look at the new queen. Irritation rises up inside of me, a sensation similar to sitting in one cramped area for much too long, despite knowing that his glances aren't more than curious. I fear the mating bond has made me over-sensitive, but having her means she can be taken away. Luth saw how I was affected over our first meeting.
A voice inside of me says that no Enduar would dare touch her out of reverence, but another voice, the one pushing me since the day I was born, reminds me that I am weak.
I shoot back that a level-headed king does not give in to his demons so easily. "Thank you for your help. You may go now," I say to Luth.
He bows and hurries back down the halls. When he slips through my room, and back to making weaponry, I am left alone with a view of the little human. Sleep makes her vulnerable. The tight lines of worry and pain etched into her face soften, revealing undeniable beauty.
I reach my hand up and touch the stone separating us, needing to be closer somehow.
"What horrors has life shown you,amor1?" I whisper. The last word is one of her human words. When she had clung to me, bleeding and broken, she'd whispered a simple phrase. One that gave me hope beyond compare, only to be crushed when I realized she wasn’t speaking to me.
Te amo2.
I love you.
A lump forms in my throat, and my eyes burn. I. Cannot. Touch. Her. It is killing me. Death by a thousand pricks of a needle, stabbing me repeatedly as I watch her from the shadows like a coward.
I tighten my fist and decide to make one last adjustment to her room. It does not take the same skill level as this window, and my stone bending will do well enough. Her old bathroom was broken and eventually removed while we rebuilt parts of the palace.
Perhaps giving her a place to wash would help her feel safe.