#TeaserTuesday: AOTE Cover Reveal

 

“I want to believe you.” That was far too candid, but she was past the point of caring.

He nodded. “I understand why you don’t.”

Amelia frowned, and massaged at the tension that sprouted in the center of her forehead. “Gods…why are you so bloody agreeable all the time? I hate it.” When she gapped her fingers and peered through them, she saw that the slight frown he’d worn the past few minutes had turned the other direction. His lips formed the barest upward curve, more a neutral expression than a true smile, but something bright had come into his eyes.

“I’ve never actually been part of an argument before,” he said, like a confession.

She snorted. “No free will, no romance, no arguing, hm?”

“None.”

Tired of holding it, arm full of pins and needles, Amelia laid the sword carefully on the ground, within reach should she need it. She rested her elbow on her knee, and cupped her chin in her hand. “I should kill you, you know.”

He nodded, and looked neither surprised nor alarmed. “You’d be within your rights, both as an Aquitainian and the commander of this army.”

“See?” She sat up, and gestured at him with both hands, frustrated, tired, bloody sick of making decisions and then wondering if they were the right decisions. “Agreeable. Too agreeable. What sort of man says ‘yes, my lady, you’d be within your rights to kill me?’ This is why I don’t trust you. Why you must be spying on us.”

He waited a beat, seeing if she was done, she supposed. Her too-quick, open-mouthed breathing filled the tent, and she clamped her lips shut tight.

When she was quiet, he said, “It’s as I’ve said before: I don’t wish to be a Sel any longer. Not to be a Selesee slave, at any rate. I want to be free. And I believe helping you is the only way I can be.”

A part of Amelia wanted to scream.

A larger part of her wanted to tip over onto the cot, curl up, and sleep for three days.

She did neither, but said, “When was the last time someone offered you water?”

“A…while.”