“What do you mean, you ‘offered’?” I choked.
“Only as a test,” she said with a dismissive wave. “To see if he was the wretch we always believed him to be. He’s not, by the way. If he wasn’t so damned serious all the time, I dare say he could be sweet.”
What would I have done if he’d accepted? What wouldshehave done? Before I could ask, the man in question strolled into the library. My face flushed, and Lowri’s smile grew as her eyes raked from Caiman’s dark waistcoat to his black boots. When he noticed us, he twisted away as if to escape, ramming straight into Broderick’s broad frame blocking the exit.
Caiman turned back around with a grimace and bobbed his head. “Good morning.”
Lowri jumped to her feet, dipping into a low curtsy. “Good morning, your highness. I trust you slept well.”
“Quite. And you?”
“Very well, thank you.”
What were they? The best of friends? “Lowri? Could you be a dear and run down the hall to grab my shawl? It’s rather drafty today.”
“Are you mad?” She wiped her brow with the back of her hand. “It’s like an oven in here.”
Broderick nudged Caiman.
Caiman gave him a confused look. Broderick rolled his eyes and nodded toward me.
“I . . . ah . . . I have a coat. You can have it if you’d like.” Before Caiman could slip his arms free, I stopped him with a raised hand.
“That is too kind. But I would prefer my own shawl. Lowri?”
Although her eyes narrowed, she bobbed a curtsy and spun toward the exit. Broderick glanced between Caiman and I before following her out the door.
Shifting his weight from one foot to the other, Caiman shoved his hands deep into his pockets as he looked everywhere in the room but at me. “Are you feeling better?”
If anything, my headache had worsened. I’d only managed a few bites of toast at breakfast. Hopefully, lunch would be more appealing. “No. But it’s a discomfort of my own making, so I must suffer through.”It was too bad my healing magic didn’t work on hangovers.
Awkward silence fell, punctuated by the ticking clock.
“Right. Well, I’d best be off.” He started for the back of the library, toward dark tapestries and dusty tomes on towering shelves.
“Would you like to sit with me?”I blurted before my brain could catch up with my mouth.
Caiman ran straight into one of the bookshelves, cursing and holding it steady so it didn’t topple over. I set the empty glass aside and patted the cushion, still dented from Lowri.
I found myself holding my breath as he closed the gap between us and sank onto the sofa. I breathed in his subtle, spicy scent, feeling traitorous for liking it so much. Instead of looking at me, he stared toward the vacant fireplace. Above the mantle hung a beautiful painting of a ship sailing a violent sea, turquoise waves crashing across the deck.
“That’s a nice painting,” I said.
Caiman stared at the thing as though he’d never seen it before. “I hate it.”
Of course he did. Caiman hated everything. Instead of telling him as much, I asked why he hated it.
“It’s depressing, isn’t it?”
“I think it’s dramatic.” The ship’s torn sails and the way it seemed to be careening straight for the shore left me waiting for the sound of a hull crashing on the jagged rocks jutting from the water. “Good art should evoke emotion.”
His head tilted as he considered. “Eh . . . I still hate it. There are far nicer pieces in the back.” He stood and started toward the tapestries. “Are you coming or not?”
My stomach lurched when I stood, but I recovered quickly, following him past shelves and shelves of so many books it would take ten lifetimes to finish them all. The air grew mustier the farther we went, and the brightness faded. He told me to wait and disappeared behind one of the last shelves. There was a clatter and a curse, and then Caiman emerged and gestured toward the murky darkness to where an oil painting of a field teaming with bright wildflowers and distant snow-capped mountains leaned against the far wall. But it wasn’t the scenery that stole my breath.
In the center of the flowers, with her hair in a long braid over her shoulder, sat a pink-haired faerie with luminescent wings.
My heart began to pound in my chest.“Why do you like this one?”