Now that Sir Ivan has cleared the air between himself and the Bloodletter, he is ready to move forward with his relationship with the queen. He enters the tactical map room looking for Chalyela.
He spots her as she rises from her scribe table.
“Good morn my fair queen,” Ivan says with great cheer.
Queen Chalyela is pleased to see him.
“I went to see the Bloodletter and he gives us his blessing,” Ivan whispers.
Chalyela smiles. She is glad that her old friend is not angry at her. She has heard of his marriage and she is thrilled that he is happy.
“Now I have something for you,” Ivan says hiding a rose behind his back.
Ivan pulls the rose from behind his back and holds it out to her. “It is my turn to give a peace offering.”
Chalyela grabs the rose and inhales its scent deeply.
She thinks about his words, “But why do you need to give a peace offering? You have not been unkind.”
“Aye, my queen, but I have,” he says in a flirtatious voice that gives Chalyela goose bumps.
Chalyela feels like a giggling school girl. “You have not been unkind,” she insists. “You have been nothing but pleasant.”
“My queen…believe me. I have been most unkind…to myself.”
“What have you done?” She asks.
“It tis what I have not done,” he says just before kissing Chalyela’s lips. Something that he has longed to do for quite a while.
They pull away. “Aye you have been unkind, because you have been holding out on me,” Chalyela says referring to his sweet kiss.
“I will never hold out again,” Ivan promises in a whisper.
Ivan pulls even closer and whispers so only she can hear. Chills run up and down her spine as his warm breathe makes contact with her ear.
Their physical longing is too much to bear.
“I shall have to marry you soon my love…”
“Why?” Chalyela asks sensing that there is a reason hiding behind his statement.
“Because I could not bear to deflower you before we are married, but I find it incredibly hard to wait.”
If it was possible for a human to melt, Chalyela is sure that she would. Right now she wants more than anything for Ivan to take her upstairs to her chamber, but she does not say as much…her face says it all.
Ivan has to step away before things go farther than he wants. He tells himself that he would not hesitate to marry Chalyela, but first he wants to win the fishing competition. If he is the best in the competition, he will feel as if he has earned the right to marry a queen.
At that moment, Troubadour Amelia enters the tactical map room with her lute and begins to play. Ivan and Chalyela joins in with the others who begin to dance; welcoming any distraction from their previous conversation.
