Julianus' arms wrapped around her, pulling her flush to his chest, the medals jangling again. Cassia rested her hands on his arms, shivering at the corded strength she found there.

She tipped her head back to look at him, nerves drowned in a tide of something she didn't immediately recognize.

"What a delightful creature you are," he said, watching her with that heavy-lidded gaze. "Nothing like I expected."

She shoved him away, then kept pushing him toward her bedchamber. He let her, never stumbling as he walked backwards until his legs met the bed. He fell to the feather mattress and she climbed on top of him, pinning his hands above his head. She leaned forward, her mouth hovering over his. "A truth for a truth," she said.

Julianus' mouth quirked. "I wanted to take you in the carriage today after that little stunt you pulled with your ladies." She raised an eyebrow, and he just shrugged and pulled a hand free, drawing a finger down her throat to the top of her sternum. "That dress did make an impression, Your Highness," he said, grinning now. "Your turn."

"I've never been with a man before," she whispered.

Again, surprise flickered over his face, and she didn't know if she should feel insulted or not. She was not averse to the idea like her mother and her ladies-in-waiting said she should be, she had just never met a man she wanted to take to her bed. Still, she began to wonder if there was something about her that had made him assume otherwise.

"Then why me?" he asked, surprising her in turn. 

Cassia sat up, blushing as she became aware of his body's response to her. His fingers played with the slits in her skirt, callused fingers feather-light on her skin.

Placing a hand on his hard chest, she met his eyes and said, "Do you want to break me?"

"How would you know if my answer is true or not?" His hands settled on her waist.

"I'm very good at reading people, Lord Julianus," she rasped, something fluttering low in her stomach as his fingers traced down her waist to the creases of her legs. "And I don't think you're the kind of man who is a very good liar."

His grip on her tightened as he turned his hips. She found herself on her back, looking up at him when he said, "I prefer my horses a little wild. They are more likely to survive battles that way."

That was the sort of answer she'd been waiting for. All the others had wanted her tame. She could never afford to be tame.

He found the laces of her dress, quickly peeling the layer of silk away from her skin, leaving her completely exposed to him. He threw the dress to the side, watching it fall to the floor. His hands traveled over her body and he groaned deep in the back of his throat.

Fingers shaking a little, she undid the clasps holding his cloak in place. It slithered to the floor, and she moved to the silver buttons of his jacket. In her ear, he whispered, "You're not frightened?"

He stood up suddenly, shrugging out of his jacket, which clattered as it fell to the floor. Then he toed off his boots before climbing back onto the bed, hovering.

"Do you want me to be?" She slipped her fingers beneath his undershirt, exploring hard ridges of muscle.

Julianus laughed, the low sound sending a shiver through her body, his only answer the soft clinking of his belt being undone. She pulled his shirt over his head, fingers tracing the scar on his neck down to the middle of his sternum where it sharply curved and went toward his heart.

"The sword of a Brunian warrior. At Orlanti," he explained, kissing up her throat as his hand trailed over her thigh. "Fierce, proud man. I almost hated to kill him." He laughed quietly. "I do not suspect he felt the same."

"Do you enjoy it?" she asked as his trousers were also discarded. "War?"

Cassia bit her lip. She'd been wondering that since he'd professed a dislike for both hunting and executions. Yet there had been a sort of dark enjoyment on his face as he'd fought—or, more accurately, played—with Malitech. 

Too late she realized perhaps now was not the best moment to ask. 

Julianus stilled for a moment, eyes turning thoughtful. "There is...simplicity on the battlefield that you cannot find elsewhere," he finally answered, raising up on his hands and knees, pinning her to the bed. "Well," he corrected, "almost no where else."

She couldn't stop herself from glancing down, partially with curiosity and partially with lust. Julianus saw and grinned, sliding a hand under her back. Cassia's throat went dry, but she didn't want to stop.

Julianus said, "I do not enjoy war. I am simply good at it."

Those were the last words spoken between the two as he covered her body with his.

There was pain at first, but Julianus was kind until Cassia dug her fingernails into his back and arched into him. Then it was all shared breath and tangled limbs. The calluses on his hands, put there by brutal hours with a sword, scratched at her skin, sending shivers through her body.

Pleasure burst through her, inspiring a small, ragged yelp that she muffled against his shoulder. Julianus kept moving, his breath playing over her mouth as he looked down at her. Cassia let her instincts take over, moving with him.

Her back arched as he began to shudder, something low in her stomach drawing tighter with every moment. Her hands scrambled along his back, encouraging him until Julianus let out a soft gasp. Cassia choked down an accompanying yelp, not daring to risk someone hearing her.

When they were both spent, he rolled off of her to lay beside her in the now tangled sheets. After a moment, Julianus asked, "That vial. It was something to prevent you becoming with child?"

"Yes," she rasped. She had gone to an alchemist as soon as she turned twenty and her father had started throwing men at her, just in case. 

None had taken her fancy until Julianus.

"I thought so," he murmured.

She nodded, eyes closing as she savored what had just happened. The mattress shifted and Julianus pressed a kiss to her stomach, just under her sternum.

"What are you doing?" she asked, eyes opening to see him hovering over her again. 

He didn't answer, instead just continuing to kiss and lick down her stomach, leaving a trail hotter than her already flushed skin. She shuddered as he pressed his mouth to the sensitive area just below her navel, and he looked up with a wicked grin.

"Since we have already decided to be conspicuously missing from tonight's festivities," he said. "We might as well really enjoy ourselves before tomorrow comes, along with its consequences."

Cassia couldn't help but agree, gasping in shock as Julianus ducked his head.

She was happy to spend the night wrapped up in a man who was little more than a stranger if that meant she didn't have to think of the boy's head falling, or the hatred in the rebel's eyes.

Julianus continued long into the night, happy to provide her a way to perform a much needed rebellion of Cassia's own.

                                                                         ~~~

Cassia was woken by teeth tugging gently at her earlobe. She opened her eyes to find grey, early morning light seeping through the west-facing window.

"I must go," he whispered.

She nodded, already missing the warmth and strength of his body. Julianus hesitated, then stroked a finger down the inside of her thigh, making her jump a little. He rolled over the top of her, pressing himself up onto his elbows so he wasn't crushing her.

Cassia placed a hand on the side of his face and he kissed her, tongue sliding against her own. His leg nudged hers and she nodded, breaking the kiss and pressing her hands into the strong muscles of his back. Her lips parted as he thrust forward, watching the muscles in his chest and shoulders flex under his golden-brown skin.

His movements were harder this time, faster. They left her gasping and shaking much too soon. And when it was over, she watched through languid eyes as he got dressed, the silk of her sheets cool where they draped over her body.

When he was clothed, he sat on the bed next to her. Eyes that were nearly black looked at her gravely. "What is it you want to use me for, Your Highness?"

Cassia pursed her lips thoughtfully, running a finger from the inside of his wrist to the crease of his elbow. Julianus did not seem perturbed by the idea that she was using him—he just wanted to know why.

She didn't see the harm in telling him.

"My father wants me to fall in love, or something near it." She sneered at no one in particular. "What he wants is for me to find a husband in the hope that I will become more interested in bearing children than in bearing the crown. If he had his way, he'd order me to marry and step aside for Malitech. Thankfully the gods have seen fit to grace me with laws that prevent that. However, it does not stop him from trying to force the situation. I do not want that, but some men are discouraged more easily than others."

"Ah," Julianus said softly, understanding lighting his dark eyes.

"Not many men want a sullied woman as their bride, even if they are the Heir," she said with a small smile. "I hope you don't mind if word gets around?"

"That I bedded the Heir?" He raised an eyebrow. "Or that she bedded me," he said with a grin as she hissed. "Not at all."

Relief swept through her as she sat up. She wrapped the sheet around her, staring at him. "Your father wanted you here, didn't he?"

She knew she'd already asked him this, but the idea that they were perhaps cut from the same cloth was too interesting for her to leave properly alone.

Julianus' face instantly darkened, but all he did was nod. 

Cassia placed a hand against his jaw, knowing she had no rights to his past regardless of what he had shared of his body. "Why?"

"To court you," he said with a sly smile. "Or some other fine lady, I suppose. Not that it matters." His voice turned bitter. "To make a name for myself somewhere beyond the battlefield."

He shook his head, the movement quick and brutal before he stood. "Your reasoning is just as much mine, more or less. My father will be apoplectic when word gets around that we've been fu—together," he quickly corrected himself, then continued, "but have no plans beyond that."

A smile played at the edge of Cassia's mouth as her fingers traced the same path his lips had taken moments ago along her throat. Then a concerning thought fluttered to her mind, making the smile fall. 

Perhaps Julianus was not so flippant as he acted. From what she knew of him, he was, after all, an ambitious man. It was something to consider before she decided what next to do with the general.

"I'm afraid ours will be a short engagement," she tested. 

All Julianus did was raise an eyebrow.

"At the end of this year, in five months, I take my travels," she reminded him. "Three years away from the castle."

"And by that time I will be in Brunia, trying to keep the blood out of my eyes," he said casually. "Your point, Highness?"

"I have no intention of relinquishing my crown for any man." She decided stark truth would keep things from becoming messy between them. For now.

He leaned down and kissed her. "And I have no interest in marriage, or anything more than a dalliance, really. I let you drag me up here because"—he stopped and looked at her consideringly, then shrugged—"because I wanted to fuck you. Then I understood why you dragged me up here, and it suited me well enough."

Julianus nipped at her chin before standing up.

Cassia smiled, relief flittering in her chest. "It seems we've a sort of agreement then?"

"If you would like to continue, I would just as much enjoy continuing while we're both stuck in this dismal place," he said smoothly, eyes tracing over the bare strips of skin the sheet didn't quite cover. 

"I would," she said, surprising herself with her own boldness.

She had always been strong-headed, but this was perhaps a dangerous path to tread, for either of them. The same thought seemed to occur to Julianus.

"Will my head be next on the chopping block?" he asked seriously.

Cassia pursed her lips, crossing her legs under her. She weighed the different options and answered him truthfully. "Only if we are unsubtle. People will speculate and whisper, but he won't care as long as it becomes no more than that. As long as I don't do anything to upset the reputation of the crown," she finished, a sour twist to her words.

The sheet still wrapped around her, she got up and went to the sitting room portion of her chambers. "Customarily, an Heir can take lovers if they so wish. It's nearly expected, though I imagine that's because they've all been male—or rather, the female Heirs before me have always stepped down and married properly. However, that is one argument that sways my father if he decides to become...involved in our affairs. Kings are more trapped by tradition than common folk, after all."

Julianus nodded and walked quickly to the main door, listening at it. They both froze when a knock sounded right by his head.

Her eyes widened, but all he did was hold up a hand. The other he pressed over his medals to keep them from jingling, and he slowly walked to her.

Another knock sounded and Cassia called, "A moment."

Julianus whispered in her ear, "Unless there is a servant you trust, you'll probably have to wash the sheets yourself." She felt him smile, a sort of smugness radiating from him. "Tell them you're getting in the bath. Now."

"I wish to bathe this morning," she said.

"If I didn't think I'd be tried for treason," Julianus whispered, "I'd be tempted to join you."

Cassia made a rude gesture at him, sending him into a silent laugh. They both paused as whoever was at the door called, "Will you need any help, Your Highness?"

"I could offer my services." Julianus nipped at her ear and she almost wanted to take him up on it.

It would seem Fate could occasionally be kind, she thought. Julianus was everything she'd been looking for in a potential lover. Handsome, willing and happily temporary.

"No," she replied to the servant, a bit breathless even to her own ears. "Return in an hour. I shall be ready to dress by then."

"Yes, my lady," came the muffled reply, followed by retreating steps.

They both relaxed. Julianus ran a hand through his hair, grinning at her. "About that bath..."

She elbowed him, then walked toward the door of her bathing room, letting the sheet drop. She could feel his eyes moving over her and looked over her shoulder to find his lips parted, his eyes glazed with animal want.

"I think we've pushed our luck as far as it will go, my lord," she reminded him. "I am very sure I'll be seeing you soon enough."

Julianus smirked and nodded before retrieving his cloak from her bedchamber. He slung it over his shoulder and crossed his arms. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "Why me, Your Highness? You've had your pick of men. Why choose me to play with?"

With a shrug, she said, "You were handsome. Then you were interesting. Then you were...accommodating." They both smiled at what was already a private joke. "It would seem we were both looking for the same thing. Perhaps we shouldn't question why we found it, General."

"Don't call me that," he snarled, tone suddenly dark.

Cassia startled, then nodded and he relaxed, offering an apologetic smile. He went to the door leading out into the castle. "Perhaps one of these days, I will tell you why."

"I might hold you to that, my lord," she responded before he left.

The door clicked shut behind him, and Cassia sagged back against the wall. The stone was cool across her back, making gooseflesh prickle over her skin.

Slowly, she pushed herself up and walked into the bathing room. Half the size of her bedchamber, the majority of the room was taken up by a square pool in its center, five feet long and five wide. Cassia padded across the golden marble of the floor and turned on all five faucets, using the warm tab.

The water that burbled out was cool, but quickly warmed as the people working in the heating room were alerted somehow that a resident of the castle required warm water. Cassia had never explored how this happened, but she appreciated it all the same as she descended into the pool and waited for it to fill. The edge of the pool came up just to her waist, but there was a low bench around the perimeter that she sat on.

Soon enough, water lapped at her feet. Cassia waited until it was at the middle of her calf, then turned the faucets off.

Carefully, she scrubbed the scent of Julianus from her skin, along with any other condemning evidence. She turned on a single faucet to rinse the soap away, then climbed out and wrapped herself in a towel before she fetched her sheets.

They smelled of him and of her, a pleasant mix. She blushed when she realized why Julianus had sounded so smug as he made this particular suggestion and tossed the sheets into the water before stepping in after them. 

Halfway through washing them, she realized she had no way to dry them. "Short of dangling them from the window," she muttered to herself, then blinked.

A servant would be unwise. They talked too much and she couldn't let word spread too quickly. People would already be gossiping over the fact that both the crown princess and the new general had disappeared right after dinner.

No she couldn't ask a servant... But a slave... Her mouth quirked in disgust. She abhorred that particular practice of the empire's, but perhaps it would save her today.

Already feeling guilty, Cassia wrapped up in her dressing robe and stuck her head out the door. The hallway was completely empty, and she darted across the hall to the door that would lead to the servant's passage.

It didn't take her long before she found who she wanted.

"You there," Cassia called upon seeing the telltale iron band wrapped around the bicep of the woman perhaps a little younger than herself.

The slave's eyes widened, her ice blonde hair marking her as a prisoner from the island of Brunia. She didn't lower her gaze as she was supposed to, and Cassia felt something like respect stir in her heart.

She smiled and beckoned for the woman to follow. "I need your assistance with something."

The slave nodded, bobbing into a short curtsy, and followed Cassia back to her rooms. She led her to the bathing room and the Brunian's eyes widened at the soaked sheets resting on the bottom.

"Can you get these dried and returned to my bed today?" Cassia asked.

The woman suddenly smirked and tilted her head toward the bedchamber, moving her hips suggestively under her simple shift-dress. Her boldness startled Cassia.

"What's your name?" she asked, strangely intrigued.

She blinked, the smirk slipping into a frown before the Brunian hopped down into the pool, gathering the sheets in her arms.

"Please," Cassia said. "It's not... I don't want to get you in trouble. I just...want to know your name."

She stared at Cassia for a long, long time, then started speaking in rapid-fire Brunian. Cassia was barely able to pick out even one or two words. She held up her hands, shaking her head in bewilderment.

The woman sighed and turned her attention back to the sheets.

"Your...name?" Cassia tried again uncertainly.

She was only rewarded with a blank look. Cassia sighed—the woman must have been captured and sold recently if she didn't have any grasp of the language.

Not that she really blamed the woman for not caring to learn her captors' tongue, but slaves who couldn't understand orders didn't last long.

Cassia extended her hand to help the slave from the pool. She only hesitated a moment before allowing the princess to pull her out of the pool.

The Brunian woman clutched the wet sheets to her chest, pale blue eyes scrutinizing Cassia before she turned and left the rooms without another word, head held high and proud. Cassia didn't say anything as she went. There was no point.

She sighed, flopping down into a chair by the window, staring across the green lawn of the outer courtyard. 

Cassia blinked slowly, watching as the king and one of her brothers mounted sleek horses, looking prepared for a hunt. 

She scowled. Her father had never allowed her to hunt. Never allowed her to pick up a weapon, which was ridiculous when he knew that weakness could very well get her killed. Then again, perhaps that's what he had in mind. She tossed her head angrily. 

Something glinted on the floor of her bedchamber, catching her eye.

Slowly, she crossed the room and found that one of Julianus' medals had fallen from his coat. Picking it up, she stared down at the red ribbon with its laurel wreath—a unit citation—and began to smile.

Perhaps Lord Julianus could offer her more than a scandalous affair.