Stars, I hope so. “Perhaps.”
When it’s my turn, the House Master looks me up and down and assigns me to the bloody library.
That cannot be right. Surely he’s mistaken.
Before I can ask, he looks past me to Braith. “Guest rooms, east tower, seventy to seventy-nine.”
Together, we leave the canteen and head toward the hallway.
“Maybe the prince is busy,” she says with an encouraging smile.
“Perhaps.” What did I expect? That Senan would spend the day with me? He has duties and a life outside of this…whateverit is we’re doing.And a fiancée. I cannot possibly expect him to drop everything for me.
So, up the stairs I go, feather duster in hand, prepared to spend the day climbing ladders and cleaning shelves, my smile nowhere to be found. Until the prince leaves for Nimbiss, this will be my life. Work, stolen moments, and then loss.
Perhaps this is the dose of reality that I need to get my head out of the clouds.
I ease open the door only to find my prince waiting on the other side.
A cautious smile lights his face, like he knows exactly who I am despite my mask. In the blink of an eye, all my worries vanish into thin air. I leap into his arms and pull him close. “You’re here.”
The wrinkle between his brows deepens. “Where else would I be?”
He says it so simply. So matter-of-fact.
With her.
But he isn’t with the princess. He is with me.
Voices from the hallway grow louder and louder, and Senan pulls me deeper into the library. We run, hand in hand, all the way to the very rear, where heavy drapes cover the windows and the bouquet of ink and leather permeates the air.
Senan lets me go and meanders over to the closest shelf, gesturing toward the gilded spines. “Pick one.”
I draw down my mask so I can see him more clearly. “What do you mean?”
“You always loved books. I want you to choose one to read.”
As brilliant as that sounds, “I need to clean the library.”
“No, you need to sit and read.”
“Senan, I cannot lose this job.” Perhaps if I clean quickly, though, there will be a little time left over for exploring this beautiful place. The shelves are so high, I have to squint to seethe tops. Not a problem for winged Scathians, but for those of us without wings, it is quite the climb.
Senan folds his arms across his chest and looks down his straight nose at me. “I am your prince, and I have ordered you to sit down and read. If anyone takes issue, send them my way and I will deal with them however I see fit.”
That commanding tone makes my stomach flutter like a humming bird’s wings. He knows what that voice does to me. I give his arm a soft smack with the duster. “You can be an awful brute when you want to be.”
“And don’t you forget it,” he says with a wink.
There are so many options, but eventually I find a book that looks intriguing and carry it over to the settee, where Senan has laid out a tea set and a tray of dainty little biscuits shaped like flowers. Never in a million years did I think I would be lounging in the king’s library about to read a love story. “What are you going to do?” I ask, flipping to the first page.
He pulls a random book from a shelf and throws himself down next to me. “I am going to see if I can figure out why everyone loves these things so damn much.” He catches my legs and drapes them across his lap as he settles back against the settee cushions.
“Are you sure you don’t have duties to attend to?”
“My dearest Allette, believe me when I say there is nowhere else I would rather be.”
That is how our morning passes: me stretched across my prince, him pouring us tea whenever our cups are empty, lost in our books. At least, I’m lost in the book. Every time I glance up, I catch Senan watching me instead of reading. By the time I reach the halfway point, my eyes need a break. I roll my shoulders and lift my hands over my head for a long, luxurious stretch.