“Thank you, Wynn.”
She takes one last look at her handywork, drags her mask back in place, and leaves me to my own nerves. I press a hand down my fluttering stomach and take a handful of deep breaths before getting up to lock the door behind her.
When I hear movement on the balcony, I slowly turn toward the white curtains swaying back and forth in the breeze. My heavy heartbeats mark the seconds until Senan steps through my doors. Should I greet him with a kiss? No, that would be delusional. A hug, then? No, that would be strange because I’ve never hugged the man before and to do so now might make things between us awkward.
Why isn’t he coming inside? Perhaps it isn’t him at all but someone else. Except, a caller would arrive at the main doors a few levels down, not at my private balcony.
The shadow on the other side of the curtain finally moves. Long fingers sweep the curtains back, and my prince steps inside.
Notmyprince.
Theprince. A man I barely know. A man who is only here to keep himself occupied on Tuesdays. A man who is…crying?
He looks at me through glistening, red-rimmed eyes. His typically windswept hair is matted to one side of his head and sticking straight out on the other.
I take a halting step forward, unsure whether to go to him or keep my distance. “Senan? What’s wrong?” It must be something terrible for him to have shown up like this.
His face crushes up, and those proud, strong shoulders seem to crumble. I cannot believe my own ears when he quietly whispers, “The king is dead.”
The king…his father.
“Oh, Senan…”
Death doesn’t care if you’re a revered king or a lowly commoner. When he wants to take you, there is no amount of money or power in the world that will stop him.
I might not know what to do, but my body does. My feet carry me to where he waits, one foot in my chambers and one footoutside, as if he himself cannot decide whether to stay or go. My arms do not hesitate to slip around his form and draw him close.
His strong hands capture my waist, sliding to the small of my back, clinging to me as a broken sob wrenches from his chest. Holding him as tightly as I can, I whisper words of reassurance that I’m not even sure he hears.
In this moment, I make a silent vow to be the person to help him pick up the pieces of his broken heart.
To be the one to help him mend it.
And to be happy for him when the time comes for him to give it to someone else.
Twenty-Three
SENAN
I restmy elbows on the balcony edge, watching flashes of lightning spark in the clouds below, listening to the low rumble of thunder.
I miss you.
I love you.
I’m sorry.
Words whispered to the darkening horizon, meant for someone who will never hear them.
I’m not sure how long I loiter out here, but eventually the cooler evening air sends me back to my room. Inside, I find Bilson with his arms folded over his broad chest, towering over a servant dressed head to toe in white.
My boots make no sound as I cross the lush carpet. “What is happening here?”
The guard shifts his weight, directing his scowl at me. “Sergeant Bell said you requested all the servants called Leni be brought to your room. Don’t you remember?”
As a matter of fact, I don’t. Which isn’t exactly surprising since I had a lot to drink last night. For some reason, my thoughts have been consumed by the servant who helped meescape the king’s wrath yesterday, so it isn’t outside the realm of possibility.
“Of course I remember,” I say, turning my attention to the servant. There had been something so incredibly familiar about her. Which sounds silly considering she’d only recently been hired. But the way she’d wrenched her hands. The timbre of her quiet voice when she told me her name. The way my skin had buzzed for hours after she’d touched my hand.