I received a letter a few days later, directly from the steady hands of Miss Cory.

The envelope was feminine. I remember thinking Ser Dalton had really nailed her ambience with that word. The parchment it was made from had a metallic sheen to it, though it was closer to white, like ivory, or the freshly fallen snow of the Oreia Winter after the first light had hit it in the morning.

There was a seal on the back. It was a golden rose, and before I read it, I knew who it was from. I looked to Cory for some explanation but once it had left her fingers, it was mine, and she was gone.

Which left me wary to hold it.

I did not want to be caught. I walked a few feet considering it, before I hid inside an empty guest room, if you can imagine. I slid my finger beneath the wax to break it, and it was short-worded, but powerfully suggestive.

Intimidating, even for a man like me.

Ser Elías,

Congratulations on your win, both in the Games and in proving your value to me. You are to meet me in the Library, Wednesday morning, to resume your previous detail.

Do not be late. I have something for you.

E.

The signed initial was ornate; careful. The ends of it swirled in a way that they looked like they belonged at the start of a fairy tale and I hung on the final promise of something.

I didn't know why she had felt the desire to put her pen to paper, just to acknowledge my 'value' as she had called it, but I was ...incredibly touched that she had. I buried that letter, deep into my things, and I prayed that it would never see the light of day without my strict invitation, nor get lost in the rowdiness of Barracks Life.

So Wednesday morning I ventured to arrive at my post earlier than my usual time. Eliza was already waiting for me. I laughed, looking for her maid, but she was alone.

"I thought I would arrive before you," I said. "I hope this doesn't count as late?"

Her palms gripped the table she was leaned against, and she shook her head. "Good morning to you, as well, Knight."

"Oi. Good morning, my apologies. I did not–"

"–I'm nervous," she confessed.

"...Nervous? Why?" I checked the hall. "To be alone with me?"

"Yes, but not in the way you think."

I narrowed my brow. "We could wait in the corridor for Miss Coraline?" She shook her head.

"She's not coming," she said too fast. "I have a gift for you, of sorts."

The way her sentence formed was almost too shy to be the same woman who had so fiercely educated me of her intentions to survive, but it was. It was just a hidden facet, shimmering before me, like the diamond on her hand.

"You do not owe me any gift," I tread, gently. "I do not seek anything from you, Your Majesty. Only to serve you, as is my Oath."

"Noble," she whispered. "Even now?"

"Yes," I nodded. "I am by default. Though I am surprised you did not add 'fool' to your remark."

"The gift," she insisted, "Is this library."

"I beg your pardon?" I asked.

"Well, I cannot give you the actual room. Nor books. But I can grant you access to them. Any hour. Any genre you should like. They're yours. Take them, exchange them as you finish one, for another. It is yours to ravish."

I breathed, releasing a happy sigh, a noise I had not intended to make. It struck her, earning me her coyer smirk.

"Does this please you?" she asked.

"Yes," I said. "Very much."

"I want you to have something to bring you joy, as your performance has brought me so much of it."

"Joy? You liked watching me get pummeled that much?" I was bolder. I remember wanting to be next to her, to touch her face, but there was a grand distance between us as I sought refuge still by the door. "It was just a bit of swinging metal."

"I liked that you did not become injured best," she said. "I was very worried, you must know."

"Well," I joked. "I did take a strike or two, places I would have liked to have not. Like when the Crild Knight rocked my skull. Did that bring you joy, too? Heh."

Her hands were nearly white, but she did not fall into the trap I set for her. She made no mention of the handkerchief.

"Might I be bold?" I tried. "I have a curiosity." Eliza didn't react at first, she seemed to want to consider what my question might be for a moment longer, so I added; "I only wish to know one thing, and if you deem it stupid, you don't have to answer it. Just don't... punish me for asking, yeah?"

With that, she agreed, slowly nodding her head. I wet my lips, retrieving the cloth she'd sent to me from out of my pocket.

"You've kept it?" she squeaked.

"Your Majesty..." I dared. "...What is this?"

"It's... Do you not know? It's from my dress. The one you–"

"No," I chuckled. "I know what it is. Why is it? Why have you given this to me?"

"...It was to show my favor," she said plainly. "You were my pick to win the Games." Her hands said more as she started to ramble. "You performed rather gallantly. When you–"

"These are sent to Blades as tokens of love," I said. "Is this a token of love?"

She stared at me, neither of us wanting to break before the other. A sound came from the hallway, and very calmly, unswayed by the same panic that might have consumed me before this moment, I tucked the silk back into my suit where it would be safe. The footman passed without a word, and when he was gone, out of our proximity and back to castle-routine, I closed the door.

She sucked in a bit of air when I had done it.

I tried to quell her nerves. "I only seek privacy to protect your image, Your Majesty," I said. "I will not defile you. I will remain standing right here."

Eliza parted her mouth. "You were my pick to win," she said again, barely louder and clearly the only thing she wanted me to know.

"You humble me," I conceded, and she blinked, starving off her tears. "Do not cry," I said. "I did not ask to see you cry."

"Then why do you ask?" she pressed. "What is it that you wish to hear from me?"

"I wish," I paused. "I wish to understand what you want. I think that is a fair request of any man in my position. I am yours to command, but I do not wish to be toyed with."

"I would not toy with you," she said. "That is not my nature. Not with you."

"Good," I nodded. "...Because I don't see this as a game. I feel there is far too much danger to call it that."

"Elías..."

"Do you not agree? And tell me if I go too far."

"Tell me you are dumb," she whined.

"...What?"

"Tell me, that accepting, that keeping that, means you are so recklessly, so dumbly devoted to me, that if I let my intentions with you be known, you will not hurt me for them. Declare it. Here and now. Tell me you are my fool."

I searched her face, slowly repeating each word she had just blurted out to me in my head. "...I am your fool."

She breathed, happy, and her own surge of emotion poured out over her cheeks. Eliza brushed the wetness from her face, her hands receiving their first break from gripping onto the table for dear life, since I had come in. The color rushed back into her palms, and she laughed, deprecatingly.

"Now call me Eliza for once, Fool," she croaked.

"I would like to know your intentions first."

She spoke; "The other knights, they call you Candy. Because you are good with women. I've heard the term before. Is this fact?"

"That is why they call me that, yes." I was more direct.

"And you didn't tell me, why?"

"I didn't want you to know," I said.

"You had many women send you things. What all did you keep and from who?"

"I kept nothing. Only yours."

"Why?"

"Why must you ask?" I shrugged. "You already know."

"I am your Queen," her jaw tensed. "I will not be a meaningless conquest. If you so much as breathe a–"

"Eliza," I said. I moved closer to her; I touched her arm. "I do not, I will not– not ever, harm you. Or your reputation. I am your sword. I protect both. By not only Oath of God, but by preference. Ha. By reverence."

"You could have any woman," she said. "Four boxes to prove it."

"Five. But there is only you."

My words were breathy, dramatic, as was my fashion; stupid and dangerous, but never more true. She liked them, too, I know, because she rewarded my honesty with the most furious, heated kiss that could have existed in time until then.

Her hands were tight against my jaw, and she had to lift herself onto the tips of her toes to actually meet my lips with hers, but once she had, I gripped her by her arms and held her there for as long as she allowed. After we parted, she shut her eyes.

"I should not have done that," she whined.

I nodded once, but I was not about to press it. I was not about to damage our relationship by warring with her on this hill. "Would you like me to leave?"

"No," she cracked. She kissed me a second time, this one, softer.

Eliza's hand brushed the leather of my pants, a sensation I had not been prepared for. I moaned, and she covered my mouth with the other as she proceeded. She watched to see how I responded, but all I could do was twist us around and pin her to the door. Step closer to feel her caress. Flinch at the sudden use of my arm that was basically dead to the injury I'd gotten from the joust.

She hesitated, watching my face twist and following my fingers to the root of the pain. Hand over mine, she scowled. "You're hurt."

"Aye, but a bruise," I chuckled.

She did not believe me, trying to move the leather from its place to see for herself.

"Your Majesty," I started. She frowned. "I'm fine."

She let go, traced the horse absentmindedly, and then paused. I went forward to kiss her; she kissed my neck.

"Promise to only lay with me," she begged into my ear. "For as long as I want you."

"I promise," I hummed back, out of my mind.

Her hand returned to the front of my pants. "If you must seek the company of someone else, warn me. Please. I cannot find out."

"I want for no one but you," I said.

"Please, just–"

I had to pull away, to rest my head to hers. I stopped her hand from stroking me, reveling in the pleasure she was stirring. "My Queen," I managed.

"My Elías," she said.

"It's Gregory," I whispered.

"Gregory, then. If you call me Eliza when we're alone. I like the way you say it."

I opened my eyes to find her. "You have the wrong assumption of me, Eliza," I sang. "I do not have other women I am seeing."

"Good," she sighed. "Good."

"No," I insisted. "I do not think you understand. You are the first, the only woman to ever touch me like this."

"I'm... But how is that possible?" she asked. "You're so..."

"Properly fit?" I teased, reciting her words. I smiled weakly, sure she would be repulsed by my admission.

"A true Dalton then?" She swallowed, and I nodded.

"Aye."

"Then why me?" she said. It was not a question but a realization. "You could find someone to touch you, someone to make you happy. Another virgin. A wife. You could have a family. Sire a child. Buy land, have–"

"I do not want that," I told her. "How? How could I want that when I have this?"

"And if I change my mind?" She stepped back to drive the point. "If I decide I do not want you?"

"Do as you please," I said. "If you wish this never happened... it never happened."

"You'll just forget it? Forget me?"

"I could never forget it, forget you. But I will never speak of it for as long as I should live." She stalled a few seconds longer, processing what I had said, and for good measure, I retold her; "I am your fool."

That was her catalyst. She chuckled, madly, and then broke into a real smile. "You are something," she said. "Something new, for sure." Eliza reached behind her, and settled her hand onto the door knob. "So that you don't read into my flight, I am only biding my time with you."

"Your pardon?"

"...I would like to get to the day."

"As you wish," I said. I sorted myself, realigning my gear.

I accepted that she was ending it, before it would ever start but, a sly hand over my heart, she watched my face, adding; "I wish to make this right for you," she said. "If I am to be your first... It will not happen against the wall of an aging library. We'll have to revisit this conversation. Yes?"

I felt the breath leave out my nose, painfully, but her words were my anesthetic.

"I will have you, make no mistake. But I reward loyalty... and properly so. This is no way to treat a loyal man."

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