Ibegin to stir and turn over in search for Felix, only to find him standing by the foot of the bed, packing a bag. “Arabella,” he murmurs, his gaze roaming over me affectionately. “You’re awake.”I sit up and clutch the bedsheets, covering myself as I try my best to meet Felix’s eyes, thoughts of last night rushing through my mind.“I’m sorry, beloved,” he says, sighing. “A hurricane destroyed one of the empire’s most important horse breeder’s stables.” Felix continues to pack. “I wish I didn’t have to go, but I must. They provide most of our army’s horses, and I have to minimize the damage.”“I’ll come with you,” I tell him, trying to ignore the tenderness between my legs. “If you truly are right, and I can wield elements, then it’s best for me to practice outdoors until I’m certain I can control my powers. What if I accidentally create a tornado? Besides, I don’t think anyone but you could teach me.”Felix nods, his gaze pensive. “We’ll be away for at least a fortnight, and it won’t be comfortable.”I nod as I slip out of bed and wrap myself in our bedsheets. “I understand. How much time do I have to pack?”He looks down at his feet for a moment, as though he isn’t sure bringing me with him is the right choice. “I have to attend a strategy meeting before we head out, so that gives you about an hour. Pack enough of your things for a fortnight, but do not worry should you forget anything. So long as you remember exactly where you left an item, I can retrieve it for you.”I nod and throw him a reassuring smile, and he sighs as he turns to walk out of the room, giving me some privacy to get ready and pack. I’d been worried that things would be awkward between us this morning, but thankfully, that isn’t the case. Even so, the thought of being alone with him for a fortnight fills me with a new kind of nerves.I pack as quickly as I can, but by the time I make my way down, my mind is still filled with memories of everything he did and whispered to me last night, and I have no doubt my cheeks are rosy. I’d initiated the consummation because it felt like the right thing to do, but by the end of the night, he had me begging for more. What happened between us didn’t feel like a mere formality, but it should have.“Your Excellency,” Elaine says, smiling as I approach the palace’s large gates. “I hope you have a most pleasant trip together.”I try my hardest to smile back at her without giving away how flustered I feel this morning, but the way she grins tells me I’m failing.“Ready?” Felix asks. I nod, and he takes my bag from me before touching my cape and transforming it into the same plain one we wore several evenings ago.“Will I ever be able to do that?” I ask, unable to hide my wonder.“It is unlikely,” Felix murmurs, his fingers wrapping around my hood to pull it up. “As far as I’m aware, I’m the only alchemist still alive. Elemental wielding and alchemy are very different powers. Elemental wielding allows you to call the elements to you and bend them to your will, and if the few records I was able to find on it are correct, it requires no exchange as alchemy does. To change your cape, I have to exchange one type of fabric for another and perform several transmutations in rapid succession, but that isn’t possible with elemental powers. You could, however, call air to you at will and create a tornado, for example, but at most I might be able to make things float by transmuting air and moving it from one area to another. Depending on what you’re trying to do, my powers are a lot more limited than an elemental wielder’s would be.”Felix pauses once we reach Sirocco, and my nerves overtake me when I realize I’ll be riding with him once again. Being in close proximity to him makes me nervous in a way it didn’t before. I keep thinking of the way he made me feel in bed, the way he touched me, and how incredible it felt. I know he can’t read my thoughts, but I have a feeling he can tell what I’m thinking of.Felix wraps his hands around my waist, startling me as he lifts me on top of Sirocco. He pauses, our eyes locking for a moment, before he pulls away and sits down behind me, our bodies connected.Within seconds, Sirocco starts to move at such a high speed that I’d be terrified if I wasn’t so hyperfocused on Felix behind me. He’s got his arm wrapped around me, and the way his forearm touches the underside of my breasts has my cheeks flaming and my heart racing. He isn’t keeping as much distance as he did the last time we rode together.My back is pressed against his chest, my bottom between his legs. I didn’t find our position quite this intimate last time, but now it’s all I can think about. I’m startled when Felix leans in, his lips brushing over my ear. “Sit still, Arabella. You’re making this very difficult for me, just like you did last time.”I turn to look at him, startled once more by his proximity. My lips nearly brush over his, but he doesn’t move back. He just looks down at me with an expression that instantly reminds me of the way he teased me last night.“One more hour,” he says, his voice hoarse. “Try not to torture me any more than you already do. Keeping up Elaine’s enchantment is getting more and more difficult the farther away we get from the palace. My magic is very weak compared with hers.”I look into his eyes, mesmerized by the beautiful gold specks in them. “What enchantment?” I ask.Felix smiles, but there’s something sinister in that smile, something dangerous. “The one that keeps you from feeling what kind of effect you have on me, wife. Since we agreed to give our marriage a chance, I won’t hide such things from you any longer, but I also don’t intend to shock you mere minutes into our journey.”I turn away in a rush, staring ahead in an effort to hide how flustered I am. He’s… aroused? The thought of that has my cheeks heating. I can’t help but think of the things his tongue did to me, desire rushing through me involuntarily.I’m so flustered by the time Sirocco comes to a standstill that I’m not certain I can face Felix. Instead, I turn toward the woman rushing toward us, her cheeks rosy. Her smile drops slightly when she notices me, as though she expected Felix to come alone.Felix jumps off and turns toward me, his hands wrapping around my waist like they did before. He takes his time lifting me off, his hands lingering longer than they need to.“Alison,” he says, turning toward the woman once my feet hit the floor. “Meet my wife, Arabella.”Alison stares at me, her expression betraying her shock. This is the first time Felix has introduced me to someone who wasn’t instantly happy to meet me. Alison seems far from it. If anything, she looks crestfallen.She curtsies, and I take her in. Long blond hair, bright-blue eyes. She’s beautiful, and I can’t help but wonder if that’s the kind of woman he’s normally interested in, someone whose features greatly differ from mine. I’m not entirely clueless. I recognize the jealousy I see in her eyes, and I have a feeling it’s warranted.“It’s an honor to meet you, Empress,” she says, her voice trembling. “Your Excellency,” she adds, turning toward Felix. “The stable has collapsed, and we lost some of our horses.”Felix nods and grabs my hand, causing Alison to tense, but Felix doesn’t appear to notice. Normally I’d shake him off, but instead, I find myself tightening my grip on him.“Alison and her family are the best horse breeders and trainers the empire has to offer. We might not have crops, but we have some of the most talented people. Their horses are one of the main reasons we’re able to make it through the woods.”I nod in understanding. They’ve had to become creative and hone their skills to earn a living. Unlike most other countries, there is no farming here, and even trade is risky. What I’ve come to love most about Eldiria is its people. They never cease to impress me. I’ve spent weeks quietly observing the hundreds of people working in the palace, and all the soldiers that train so diligently, and I’ve never seen more hardworking people.“I’ll make my way there myself,” Felix tells her. “You head back inside.”Alison’s expression tells me she prefers to stay, but she doesn’t defy Felix. With one last lingering look at him, she turns away and heads toward the tall building in the distance.I struggle to hide my shock when we arrive at what once used to be their stable. Even Felix looks grim. There’s wood lying everywhere, and no part of the miles-long stable is still standing. I see the way Felix’s shoulders drop and instinctively place my hand on his arm. He turns to look at me and smiles humorlessly.noveldrama“This one won’t be easy, but it’s fixable. It’ll just take a bit longer than I expected. Just watch and see if you can feel or see my alchemy, all right?”I nod, and much to my surprise, Felix takes his cape off. He turns toward me and wraps it around my shoulders, enveloping me in his warmth and scent. It startles me, and he smiles. The way he smiles at me is different now. Intimate, almost. Last night has transformed us both.“I thought you never took your cape off outside the palace,” I murmur.He nods. “There’s no one around for miles. I’ll put it back on before we go inside.”He turns away, and just as he lifts the first piece of wood into the air, snow starts to fall. Felix looks up at the air, a crestfallen expression on his face. It breaks my heart to see both him and his people work as hard as they do, only to be knocked down again and again.For hours, Felix works tirelessly, putting the stable back in place piece by piece. All the while, I watch him, and it’s clear that though he makes it look easy, it’s anything but. Sweat has drenched his uniform and a frown has etched its way into his face. Just as he asked me to, I try my best to focus on how his alchemy works, but it’s hard to make sense of the energy trails I’m seeing and feeling.Felix turns to me when it begins to snow harder. “You should head inside, Arabella. The snow is becoming too much. I don’t want you to get cold.”I shake my head. “I’m fine,” I tell him. “These two cloaks are keeping me perfectly warm. I’m okay. I’ll stay here with you.”He looks into my eyes, a longing in them that I’ve never seen before. I’ve never seen Felix look this forlorn. At the palace, the curse is something everyone seems to have learned to live with. But I think cases such as these reopen the wounds for him. I never thought I’d have any sympathy for him, and I didn’t think I’d ever want to understand him… but now I find myself wishing I could share his burdens. Guilt eats at me when I think back to the way I treated him, the way I stabbed him and lamented his existence—as though I could do more harm to him than he already faces on a daily basis.He takes a step closer, his hand trembling as he raises it to my face. My eyes fall closed when his ice-cold hand wraps around my cheek, and I place my own hand on top of his. “Go,” he says. “She won’t let me help my people. She won’t make this easy. I don’t want you to have to watch this. I don’t know what I was thinking, bringing you on this trip with me.”She? I frown, tempted to ask him who it is he’s referring to, yet well aware that isn’t what he needs right now. Felix always seemed indestructible to me, but as he stands before me, I recognize the broken soul that resembles my own. “I’ll go,” I whisper. “If you come with me.”He shakes his head and starts to reply, but I place my hand on his arm and look up at him. “Come inside, Felix. This doesn’t need to be finished in one night. It’s snowing, and it’s getting colder and colder.”“You’re worried,” he says, sounding surprised. “About me.”I nod. It’s hard for me to come to terms with. I never thought I’d care about him at all, but it hurts my heart to see him so defeated. “I’m your wife,” I say without thinking. “It’s my right.”He smiles then and nods. “Very well, wife. Let’s head back inside.”