The cold sheets are the answer to a question I wasn’t brave enough to ask.
I step into the shower, and the water’s hot, hotter than I’d normally set it, and I stand there and let the water do the thing I refuse to let myself do, which is cry.
It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay.
By the time I turn the water off, I’ve decided something. I’m going to survive this. I’m going to go downstairs, have breakfast with his family like a normal person, and pretend that the man who broke me apart last night and left before I woke up is just another person at the table.
I’m fine.
I’mfine.
I find myself going through my stuff in hopes that I find something decent, and five minutes later, the best I’ve come up with is a loose floral dress, a never-been-used hand-me-down from Mom. One of her exes gave it to her as a gift, but she didn’t like it because the neckline was too high.
I put it on.
There’s the sound of morning activity coming from below when I step out of my room, and I use it as a map to find my way around this huge, huge house that Icelle calls home.
Eventually, I find my way to the dining room. Icelle’s already there with Raiden, the two of them talking quietly, and it just makes me wonder.
Does Raiden know about Icelle’s secret crush?
“Good morning.” Icelle rises to her feet as she greets me, and so does Raiden.
“G-Good morning.”
I grew up in a home where adults are more like vampires—I only see them at night—but I manage to strangle the words out because this family’s manners are impeccable, and it’s impossible not to have them rub off on me.
“Breakfast should be served in a couple of minutes. Have a seat first.” Raiden sounds so mature for his age. He’s even pulling my chair out—
“Let me do that.”
The voice makes me jerk in surprise, but there’s no time for me to process this since Arkane is already right next to me, and my mind is saying,don’t look up, don’t look up,but my heart is a lot more foolish, and...yeah.
I end up listening to my foolish heart.
I look up, andoh.
He’s already gazing down at me with gleaming eyes that say he’s simply been waiting for me to look up.
And that’s when it happens.
Because one look into his dark eyes, and everything I walked downstairs carrying—the shock, the mortification, the despair, the rehearsed scripts for how I was going to pretend last night didn’t gut me—all of it just...
Melts.
Because the darkness in his eyes is answering me.
I don’t know how else to explain it. His eyes are telling me I was wrong. About all of it. He didn’t leave because he was finished with me.
And I have no idea why I believe that from alook,but I do.
“Good morning, princess.”
It’s that old joke again. My name is Tiara, and people start calling me princess. I used to hate it because the word can’t be any further from the truth. But for some reason, because it’s someone like Arkane, who’s as princely as they come even without the royal blood—
Why do I really feel like a princess when it’s Arkane who calls me—
Oh!