The Element of Fire, page 250 by Martha Wells
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n't anything better to do, and a few others stayed because they haven't anywhere better to go." She was quiet for a moment, looking out at the overgrown comfortable garden.
It was hard to believe that Boliver had ever been imprisoned out there, or that anyone but Kade had ever lived in the quiet dusty peace of this room. Thomas said, "Or maybe they liked it well enough where they were, once your mother was gone."
Kade looked down at him, her gray eyes serious. "I think you like me a little bit, even if it would half kill you to admit it."
"It would not half kill me to admit it." The sunlight, muted and changed by the layer of illusory water above, transformed the color of her hair to the same dusty gold as the drape. After a moment, he said, "I know what Ravenna told you, that night in the Guard House. She was oversimplifying the case. She does that when she's trying to get something she wants very badly."
Kade clapped a hand over her eyes, reeled around, and half fell into one of the wooden chairs. "Do you know everything?" she demanded.
"No. If I knew everything, we wouldn't be in this situation." He smiled. "But I suppose I should be flattered that she considers my presence an inducement. I'm old enough to be your father."
"But you're not." She slanted a deliberate look at him. "You're not?"
"No, I wasn't at court then. And I do keep careful track of those things, in the event they become important later." Thomas realized he could hardly be doing a worse job of putting her off if he had actually set out to seduce her.
Kade shifted uncomfortably. "I told her I didn't want the blasted throne."
"I know. If you'd accepted, it would have been a rare disaster. Exciting, but a disaster all the same."
"Well, that's what I thought." She hesitated a long moment, drawing a design with the toe of her boot on the floor. "Do you trust me?"
Tell her no, he thought, and whatever it is that's happening between us will end. But he did