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“Good morning, Charlie.”
“Good morning, Princess Ivetta, King Chevalier,” the coachman called cheerily from his seat in the coach box, a wide smile on his face. “Pleasant day for a drive.”
“Yes, it is,” I agreed.
The rain had washed the cobblestones clean in the outer courtyard, where Charlie and a team of shining white horses waited with the royal carriage. No, gray horses. But without Licht or Keith around to correct me, they looked white, as white as the startlingly white carriage they pulled, and I decided there was nothing wrong with me calling a white horse white in my mind. A lead horse tossed its head, catching the bright sunlight with the metalwork in its traces and reflecting it around the courtyard to the shining silver armor of the guards and the brilliant golden rose emblazoned on the carriage door. It was a beautiful day.
And there was nothing wrong with me calling a white horse white in my mind.
“Ivetta, wait!”
I turned away from the open carriage door and Chevalier’s waiting hand to see Yves trotting down the steps carrying a small box. From the way he supported its base with one hand, I guessed it was a dessert of some kind. He must have gone on another baking spree.
“Glad I caught you,” he said. “Here. I saved this from the others last night.”
“Oh, thank you,” I said, taking it from him. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Well, it was the least I could do after yesterday,” he said, smiling bashfully. “I didn’t know you’d already had so much champagne.”
He was so sensitive compared to the rest of his brothers. I smiled and shook my head. “Because I didn’t tell you. It wasn’t your fault.”
“We need to go,” Chevalier interjected coolly.
The clip-clop of hooves echoed off the stone walls, and I looked past Yves to the entrance as the Marquis de Michel stepped through the massive wooden doors. He and his carriage had arrived. His steely blue eyes scanned the courtyard without ever touching on me, and I felt a flicker of irritation. He’d given Chevalier and me his approval - or benign indifference, anyway - and now, I didn’t matter. I may as well be invisible to him.
But I wasn’t about to let him ruin my good mood.
“Good morning,” I called to him. Then, to Yves, whose head snapped around to look at the Marquis and back at me so quickly that I heard his neck crack, “Thanks again. We’ll be back later this evening.”
“This evening?” he asked, frowning thoughtfully. “Are you sure you don’t want to just stay there for the night?”
Chevalier offered me his hand and Yves a curt reply: “No.”
I stepped up into the carriage, and Chevalier followed, dropping our books on the seat opposite us. “Don’t wait up,” I called to Yves, my voice carrying clearly through the open windows as Chevalier pulled the door shut. The carriage jostled into motion. I waved at Yves, and then Chevalier wrapped an arm around my shoulders and surprised me with a kiss.
“Chevalier,” I protested, darting a glance past him to the courtyard as warmth flooded my cheeks. “Everybody can see us.”
“I’m aware.”
That teasing smirk could be so infuriating sometimes. At least we passed through the gate and onto the road quickly so I could relax.
“Well, I was going to say you could take a nap if you’re tired, but you seem wide awake,” I teased. “So, what did Yves make for us?”
“Cookies.” Chevalier kept one hand on my far shoulder and took the box from me with the other, tossing it next to our books on the opposite seat. “And we just had breakfast.”
“Oh, you-” I pulled back as far as his arm would allow, shaking my head and rolling my smiling lips inward. The sparkle of mischief in his crystal blue eyes rivaled Clavis’ at his worst.
“We’re on the road now,” he said, settling his free hand on my waist and rubbing tantalizingly from my back to my stomach. “No one can see us anymore.”
This was how we were starting the day? How many hours did we have left in this carriage ride? And then however long we stayed at his family estate before another long carriage ride back. That was an awful lot of time to get into trouble.
Or have a lot of fun.
I licked my lips, keeping them rolled in but letting my tongue peek out of my mouth, and his eyes instantly dropped to focus on it. His smirk widened.
“You may be right about dessert,” he murmured, his eyes back on mine. “I’m craving something sweet right now.”
I put my hand over his mouth as he leaned forward. “Then you should have a cookie, because this is a busy road, and we’ll be in the city before too long, and-”
He grabbed my wrist and pinned it to the carriage wall beside my head as he kissed me. I giggled against his lips.
“You’re squishing me.”
“You don’t want to be seen,” he replied. He released my wrist and removed his arm from around my shoulders, settling both hands on my waist and pushing me further into the corner. I wrapped my arms around his neck, giggling again as he continued a series of short, sweet kisses.
“Because nobody will guess it’s me you’re mauling just out of sight.”
“Mauling?” He chuckled. “Is that what you want?”
My already racing heart sped up even more. “N-no! I-”
He cut me off with another kiss, taking advantage of my open mouth to slip his tongue inside. I gasped in surprise, curling my fingers into his cloak as his heated kiss continued. There was nothing playful about this anymore. His fingers dug into my waist, and one kiss bled into another, intense and passionate and as close to mauling as he could get without moving his hands.
And I loved every minute of it.
“Chevalier…”
He chuckled and pressed a kiss to the side of my mouth. “You really are a foolish little dove.”
“Mm…”
He trailed kisses down my neck and back up again, finishing far too soon with one on my earlobe. “We’re almost to the city.”
My eyes flew open. “Oh, Chevalier-” I shoved at his chest, but he didn't budge. He slid his hands from my waist to my back to pull me flush with him, his teasing smirk inches from my face.
“Nobody can see you,” he said, dropping a kiss on the tip of my nose. “Except me.”
It was impossible to be mad at him. Not when he looked like a little boy who just opened the present he always wanted. Except for that sultry gleam in his eyes. And his broad shoulders blocking everything except him from my sight. And the hard muscles of his arms holding me in place, and his firm chest under my hands, and the hilt of his sword digging into my thigh.
Never mind. He didn’t look like a little boy at all.
I reached up to brush his pale blonde bangs back from his face. “Is this how the entire ride will go?”
“No.” He pressed his forehead to mine, his lop-sided smirk evening out to a smile. “Just the best parts.”
At this rate, my heart would explode before we even left the city.
“So,” I said, sliding my hands up to fiddle with the tiger engraven on the clasp of his cloak, “how long until we get to your family estate?”
“Assuming the roads aren’t overly muddy and we make good time, we’ll be there shortly after midday.”
A few hours. It seemed like a long time when I considered we’d get back to the palace well after dark, but then I remembered the same trip had taken multiple days when Yves, Licht, and Nokto brought me back from the border. When sitting upright for more than a couple of hours left me crippled with pain. And, as if that wasn’t humiliating enough, I went into a panic when we crossed the bridge-
We were going to cross that bridge.
The bridge was west of the palace. Michel territory was west of the palace. My social engagements had taken me short distances from the palace several times now, to the north, the east, and the south. Never to the west. Never across that bridge.
The pounding of hooves on wood - the blackness of night - the terror and hopelessness of knowing I was alone, alone and helpless - the blow to the back of my head-
“Ivetta.”
Chevalier’s voice brought me back to his arms, inside a royal carriage in broad daylight. He kissed the tip of my nose again.
“You’re safe.”
I nodded and buried my face in his chest. He held me close, shielding me in the corner from any prying eyes as I trembled uncontrollably. That night was long gone. It was in the past, and I wasn’t alone anymore, and Chevalier would never let anything like that happen to me again. The bridge was just a bridge, a means of getting from one side of the river to the other. That was all.
Maybe, if I told myself that enough times, it would become true.
He rubbed my back, up and down, the same rhythm and path his hand followed when he stroked my hair to soothe my fears. My breathing steadied and slowed. The pounding of my heart lessened until I could hear the clip-clop of hooves on cobblestone, the rattling of wheels, the murmur of people going to and fro about their business.
It was a beautiful day, and I wanted to enjoy it. I wanted Chevalier to enjoy it.
I took a deep breath and looked up at him. “Sorry. I…I think I’ll be fine now.”
His crystal blue eyes studied my face, and they narrowed slightly. “Don’t apologize.”
I gave a forced laugh. “You keep telling me that.”
He kissed my forehead. “You keep apologizing for matters that are beyond your control.”
I bit my tongue to stop from apologizing again. The corner of his lip turned up.
“Is it still too early to have a cookie?” I asked instead.
His arms loosened around me as he pulled away. I straightened in my seat and glanced out the windows, hoping my face wasn’t too red. Or too pale. I tended to pale when the panic took over.
“Here.”
But as soon as a cookie appeared in front of my face, held between Chevalier’s fingers, I knew without a doubt that I was beet red. I did my best to frown as I reached for the cookie. He snatched it away.
“Chevalier!”
“Is there a problem, little dove?”
I sighed and turned away from him to face the window. “Yes, there is. You’re being impossible.”
A little boy on the sidewalk pointed at us and tugged at a young woman’s hand. His mother, probably. I heard his high-pitched, excited voice, but I couldn’t make out his words. I couldn’t hear her reply, either. Her smile said it was something nice.
“Maybe I will have that cookie,” I said, turning back to Chevalier. “After you tell me why we’re going to your family estate today.”
“To eliminate distractions,” he replied.
My heart skipped a beat. This was just so we could be alone?
“You don’t have business there?”
He shook his head and held the cookie in front of my mouth again. Darn it, I loved that smirk, and I loved the intensity in his eyes. I leaned forward and took a bite, watching his eyes follow every move and feeling heat spread all the way to the tips of my ears. He popped the rest of the cookie in his mouth, reminiscent of the time I made beignets for Mother’s birthday.
That had been so embarrassing.
“You just like to make me blush, don’t you?” I accused him after I finished swallowing.
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders again and kissed my cheek. “Yes.”
My stomach did a somersault.
“Someday, I’ll figure out how to make you blush, and you can see how much you like it,” I said unconvincingly. It was hard enough surprising him, and I'd never seen him blush. I didn't know what it would take to make that happen. And the smug confidence in his eyes said he saw through my hollow threat.
“I look forward to it.”
I shook my head and turned my attention toward the window again. The midday summer heat hadn’t arrived yet, and it seemed as though everybody wanted to get their business done before it came. There were quite a few mothers with children on the sidewalks, along with business owners tending to their shop displays, street sweepers tidying up after the storm, and people just out for a walk.
“I’ve been thinking about visiting the Stotts one of these days,” I said, watching a little girl skipping along. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen them. I wonder if they turned my old house back into a storage shed.”
“A storage shed?”
I nodded. “The village priest bought it from the previous owners for Mother shortly after she came here. Of course, he didn’t tell them that was why he wanted it, and they got angry when she moved in. They ended up leaving before I was born, I think.” I paused thoughtfully. “I should visit him, too. He did a lot for us.”
The city passed us by, and when we reached the countryside, the carriage turned away from the village to the road leading to the bridge. Chevalier took my hand and gave it a squeeze. I braced myself.
But as we neared the bridge, a handful of distant figures racing across the hillside toward the river caught my attention.
“Is that…?”
I watched them, trying to pick out more details. Varying heights, dark hair…
I smiled. “Those are the Stotts boys. They practically live in the river during the summer.”
Indistinct hollering preceded one of them leaping into the river with an enormous splash. The rest joined suit. I giggled, watching them.
“Do you know how to swim?” I asked Chevalier.
“Yes.”
Of course he did. He knew everything. I turned back to him and smiled, and his thumb rubbed the back of my hand.
“Have you ever been swimming in a river?”
His teasing smirk was gone, replaced by a fond smile. “Is that an invitation?”
“Well…I don’t know. Maybe.”
Hooves struck wood, followed shortly by wheels. The vibrations and hollow thuds made me stiffen in my seat. Chevalier leaned in and kissed my forehead.
“You’re safe, Ivetta.”
I nodded, keeping my eyes on his during the eternal seconds before the muffled sound of hooves striking dirt allowed me to take a shaky breath. The tension left my body in an instant, and I slumped against him, closing my eyes and letting out a sigh of relief. He kissed the top of my head and wrapped both arms around me for a warm embrace.
“You’re safe."35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjG5nEkgyvh
