Laen stalked the corridors of his home with a burning anger that scattered his staff like frantic chickens with a fox at large in their domain. What the hell had he been thinking? The wretched woman made him so furious and yet the sight of her anger had been ... glorious. He had wanted nothing more than to pick her up and throw her on the bed and ... And he refused to let his mind wander down that particular road. This was undoubtedly the madness that had possessed his father’s mind when he had come across the red-headed she-devil that had ruined his young life. Well he was not his father, and he would not be taken in by it. He would be the master here, and what’s more he’d make sure she knew it.
Trying hard to forget the vision he had been confronted with yesterday afternoon, the sight of her tumbled in the sheets of the bed, he headed for the breakfast room with his thoughts in turmoil. That being the case it took him a moment to react to the sight of Corin sitting at his table, tucking into a hearty breakfast.
“Good morning, Laen. I must say your cook is a wonderful woman. I really should try to poach her from you but then again perhaps not. If I ate like this every day I might get mistaken for a Faery! I seem to have a tremendous appetite this morning though ... can’t think why,” Corin mused absently, apparently unaware of his impending demise, all the variations of which were parading through Laen’s mind in glorious shades of scarlet.
Laen gritted his teeth until his jaw hurt and wondered if the Fae laws of hospitality would object to him running his best friend through with a sword, in the circumstances. Surely seducing another man’s prisoner came with some kind of punishment? The thought of Corin in that bed, with Océane, filled him with a blind fury that had every muscle taught with the desire to cause him serious injury.
With difficulty, he forced himself to sit down at the table across from Corin, who passed him a basket full of warm muffins that were filling the room with a tantalising smell, but Laen continued to stare daggers at him. Corin put the basket down and sighed. “Good grief, man, spit it out whatever it is. Your face is giving me indigestion.”
“You just cannot help yourself can you?” Laen said in disgust.
Corin shook his head apologetically and helped himself to another muffin. “No I’m afraid I can’t. I’m ashamed to admit this is my fourth.” He shrugged, popping another piece of the delicious cake into his mouth and chewing contentedly.
“I am not speaking of the wretched food, man,” Laen roared in frustration, slamming his fist down so hard the china cups chinked in their saucers. “And you damn well know it.”
Corin glanced at him with a slight frown. “Oh, really? I do apologise, what else is it I can’t help?” Corin looked up as a maid came into the room with a tea pot and proceeded to refill his cup. She cast him a covetous look from under her lashes and Corin winked at her. She blushed and giggled before sashaying out of the room while sending what could only be described as a come hither look towards him as she went. Laen watched his friend's eyes follow her and it was all he could do not to reach across the table and wring his blasted neck.
“I am talking about Océane,” he said through his teeth.
He watched Corin nod and smile at him. “Ah, delightful girl, simply charming ... but I still don’t follow.”
A nerve was ticking in his jaw, he could feel it leaping under his skin as he took a deep breath and with every vestige of patience that remained he reminded himself of all the reasons Corin had been his friend since they were small boys. “Corin,” he said with a voice that was dangerously calm. “I am warning you, my temper is fraying and you acting the fool is enough to make me forget my duties as host and take you outside.” The last part of the sentence was spoken a little more forcefully than he had intended but at least it got his attention.
Corin wiped his mouth with his napkin and folded it carefully before placing it on the table and turning to face him. “Laen, am I to understand you are calling me out?” he asked with a deeply reproachful tone.
“Not yet,” Laen replied, feeling his blood pulse in his head, “but if you do not stop speaking in riddles and trying to evade me, I will!”
Corin huffed and shook his head, looking perplexed. “I assure you, my dear fellow, I am doing no such thing, and I am quite at a loss to understand why you are so hot under the collar.”
Laen stood up so quickly that the fine wooden chair he had been sitting on took a lurch sideways and hit the floor. “Because you took advantage of both my hospitality and my prisoner!” he yelled.
Corin looked up at him with a perfectly innocent and wounded expression. “I most certainly did not.”
Laen’s expression was one of complete incredulity. “You dare to deny it?”
“I not only dare, I completely deny it!” Corin retorted with some heat. “Not only that, I think you should consider the fact you have just maligned a lovely young lady’s reputation. Frankly, Laen, I believe it should be me calling you out!” He crossed his arms and glared back at Laen, looking indignant and very much the victimised party.
Laen’s head was beginning to pound in earnest and his hope of having some means of venting his anger seemed to be slipping away from him. “You mean to sit there and tell me you didn’t take her to bed, on your word of honour?” he demanded.
Corin stood up and pushed back his chair. “On my word of honour, Laen”
Laen was beyond puzzled, so he did what he always did when he was unsure of himself, and retreated to anger. “By the fires, Corin, the guards said ...”
“The guards said ...what?” demanded Corin with an icy tone.
Laen stared at him and knew he looked utterly bewildered but he just didn’t know what to make of the situation. He did know that Corin’s word was beyond reproach though. He had to back down. “You have given me your word and I accept I have made a mistake but ...” He shook his head.
“What?”
Laen sighed with frustration and picked up the chair he had knocked over. “I went to her room yesterday, the guards said you had not long left and that you had been there for hours and she ... She was asleep in bed in the middle of the afternoon and she looked ...” He swallowed hard and looked away from Corin’s knowing gaze. “Well, never mind how she looked.”
“Ah yes, the poor girl was complaining of a headache, that is why I left. Probably as a result of all those blows to the head you delivered. Child’s probably got a damn concussion! I offered to heal her but she’s so terrified of all of us she wouldn’t let me near.” He sighed, looking wistful. “I’m glad though, I’ll admit. I did wonder if she had feigned it to get rid of me.”
Laen scowled. “Why would she do that?”
Corin sat back down and picked his cup up. “Well, I think she found my advances a little hard to take. I’m of the opinion she is quite an innocent.” Laen felt Corin’s gaze on him, searching his expression for something.
“You gave me your word!” Laen exploded, thumping the table with enough force that a plate bounced from the surface and shattered in a star-burst that sent pieces scattering across the floor beside him.
Corin turned to him with wide eyes. “I gave you my word I did not take her to bed, I never said I didn’t try,” he clarified with a perfectly straight face.
Laen massaged his temples and reminded himself that Corin was his friend. He could not kill him ... unless he gave him a reason. Nonetheless the admission was interesting. He could not remember ever coming across a woman who could resist Corin once he had set his sights on her. “She rejected you?”
“As gratified as I am to hear that tone in your voice - why are you so surprised? My dear man, I really cannot believe you still think all human women are harlots. If you cannot see that girl is quite inexperienced in such matters, I do despair of you.”
Laen frowned. He hated to admit it but Corin usually knew what he was talking about when it came to subjects like these but he just couldn’t accept what he was hearing.
“You’re sure?”
Corin snorted with amusement. “Not completely sure, no, but rest assured I am at your disposal if you wish me to make ... deeper enquiries.”
“That will not be necessary.” Laen returned to massaging his temples; suddenly he had a pounding headache and the strong desire to bash his friend’s face in. “As I said before, you really cannot help yourself can you?”
Corin stood up abruptly as anger turned his eyes a deeper shade of gold. “If you think I’m going to sit here and listen to you bemoan the way I live my life you have another thing coming,” he said with some asperity. “Frankly, Laen, given the choice, I would rather be one of my conquests that one of yours. I may bruise the occasional heart a little but I do not leave them frozen to the core as you do. Neither do I feel the need to terrorise innocent girls and treat them as abominably as you have treated Océane. That you then make out as though I was doing something reprehensible when it is clear to me you are simply jealous is more than I can stand.” Laen glared at the fire in the hearth blazing brighter as Corin admonished him. The flames flickered and died a little and he glanced up to see that Corin was doing his best to get his anger under control. He looked at Laen, his face calm though his eyes still held the heat of his words. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I shall leave you before one of us says something he will live to regret.”
Laen watched his friend stalk out the door and wondered what in the fires of Tartarus had just happened. He was the one who got angry and ranted, not Corin. Corin rarely lost his temper with him, no matter how provoked, but the human question was coming between them more and more. Now he had to add Océane to the list of things that were tearing at the fabric of a friendship that had lasted for decades. More frustrating was the fact that Océane was not living up to his preconceived notions of what a human woman was, and it was most aggravating. But if he was wrong about that, and he was yet unconvinced of that, but if he was wrong … Gods he had a headache!