How hard can it be?
I blinkdown at the coins in my palm, counting them a third time.Five coppers.Five. I labored for nine hours in sickly sweet air with only two fifteen-minute breaks for five bloody coppers.
This can’t be right.
My fingers have gone black from the dye they use on the fabrics, and the muscles in my shoulders scream every time I try to lift my arms. My feet and head ache, my back feels as if it’s permanently stooped, and yet I can’t even afford a room for the night on this wage.
I consider skipping dinner, but after missing lunch, I’m so woozy, I can barely stand.
On the way back to the inn, I stop by a café with cats roaming in and out of the open doors. A bowl of stew and a stale slice of brown bread costs two coppers, leaving me with three.
When I finally make it back to my room, I fall onto the lumpy mattress, too exhausted to crawl beneath the covers, hoping tomorrow is better than today.
Fifteen
ALLETTE
THEN
Today is Tuesday.
Normally, Tuesday isn’t the most interesting day of the week, but for the last four weeks, Senan Vale has darkened my rooftop each Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately, this morning, Aunt Marjory insisted we join Lord Windell for high tea at The Belle—averyposh restaurant where only the most important Scathians dine. It shouldn’t have taken this long, but Lord Windell brought his mother, and she and Aunt Marjory instantly hit it off. I’ve never heard my aunt speak so much at once.
My heart pounds as my aunt’s tower slowly comes into view. Not that I’m looking forward to the prince’s visit. Sure, he makes me laugh, and I dream of his smile more often than I’d care to admit, but I refuse to become part of his harem of women who fall at his feet and seek to fulfil his every whim and desire.
Even so, a smile tugs at my lips, and I find myself searching the slate tiles for a shape I’ve come to know all too well, only to realize the rooftop is empty. Did he leave when I wasn’t therewaiting for him, or had he come at all? It’s not as if I can fly to the castle and ask. If I’d known last week would be his final visit, I would’ve done things differently. Perhaps I would’ve even gotten up the nerve to ask him to kiss me.
It sounds ridiculous now, but I had this crazy notion that Senan might have been interested in me romantically. Which is mad when I think about it. I mean, the man can have any woman he wants. He probably leaves my tower to visit someone else. He probably goes to a hundred different towers a week.
Oh well. I suppose it was fun while it lasted.
The balcony outside my chambers greets me with a hollowthump. I draw the doors aside and?—
There is a handsome prince sitting at my dressing table.
Bloody hell.Senan wasn’t on the rooftop because he was in my room! How long has he been in here? What has he been doing? Please tell me that he didn’t find my journal, the one where I keep a detailed log of every single time he visits. Of my deepest, darkest fantasies that, mortifyingly enough, have begun to feature the prince himself.
I scan the room but see no sign of the leather ledger that I keep hidden beneath my mattress.
What is wrong with me? Of course he wouldn’t have looked for my damn diary.
“What are you doing in my room?” Thank goodness my bed is made and I threw my dirty laundry into the hamper for once. Imagine having Senan waltz in and realize I’m a slob.
His eyes widen, and his head tilts like he is a curious puppy instead of one of the most powerful fae in our realm. “You’re angry with me.” He says it as though he is shocked that someone can be anything but moon-eyed and placating in his presence.
I prefer to reserve my mooneyes forafterhe leaves.
“Of course I’m angry. This is my bedroom. You cannot simply come in whenever you like. What would you have done if aservant had found you, hmmm? Or my aunt?” If Aunt Marjory found out I had a prince visiting me, she’d probably faint. Or worse, she’d getnotions.
The hinges on my ancient jewelry box whine as he opens and closes the lid. Once. Twice. “You were late, and I got bored waiting for you on the roof.”
I stalk over and slam the thing closed. No doubt he has already had a nose through my mostly faux collection. Which shouldn’t bother me in the least. From the state of this tower, he must’ve surmised that we aren’t well-off, but the thought of Senan knowing exactly hownotwell-off we are makes me feel self-conscious.
When I was younger, I never really thought too much about money because I always had plenty of food and fine dresses to wear. What my family lacked in coin, we made up for in love and laughter. The moment I set foot in the gilded halls of Aurora Academy, I realized how destitute we really were. Ever since graduation, my aunt has been on the hunt for suitors who would “elevate our rank.” Suitors like Lord Windell. Sometimes, it feels as if she only sees me as her ticket to a taller tower.
“So you decided to do a little breaking and entering to entertain yourself?” I ask.
“I didn’t have to break anything,” he says with a cheeky grin. “The door was open, as if you wanted me to come inside.”