I was still gathering as many pieces of my mind as I could, dizzy from the sudden information. Worry clouded my eyes.
There was so much I didn't know or understand yet. I tried to cover the tension in my shoulders by smiling. I watched Nicholas
sit back down and finish his glass of sparkling wine. He kept his eyes forward, watching his court intently.
“You have a lot more explaining to do.”I thought, hoping he’d hear me, and the corners of his mouth picked up in a small
smile.
“I expected as much. We will talk in the morning. You must be exhausted. I will send a maid to take you to your
chamber.”
“Will this maid also be your sister?”
He laughed a little under his breath and placed a hand on top of mine. The grey sparkles appeared once again in his blue
eyes, dazzling me a little.
“No, a real maid this time. I promise,” he said.
“When were you going to tell me about how the deal is pretty much unbreakable?” I asked, my brows pressed together.
“I couldn't risk you saying no. I was planning on telling you about it this evening in private, but I may have gotten carried
away announcing your arrival earlier.”
He rubbed his thumb against my knuckles which sent another load of shivers down my spine. What was that? He’d held my
hand before and I didn’t turn into jelly then, so why now?
As he clicked his fingers, a maid appeared from beside the throne room pillars, a smile plastered to her face as she
curtsied towards us both.
“Take her highness to her chambers. She is tired from her trip.”
Kissing my hand, he bid me goodnight, before I was whisked back to the room I was in before. It seemed to be my room.
Once the maid made the bed and provided me with night clothes, she left me. Settling on the bed, I was unable to sleep as I
thought about today’s events.
Chapter 20
ORNELLA
Days went by, but Nicholas didn’t come to visit me or seek out my presence. Instead, I was left to my own devices of
reading the many books in the library, wandering the gardens—which were just as beautiful in the day as they were in
the night. April kept me company during the day. It seemed she had been charged as my escort and told to become my
friend.
I sat in a little corner cove flipping through a page on Fae history—one April demanded I read—to get the lay of the land. I
was bombarded with facts and information I had never heard of.