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“Something on your mind, little dove?”
Gilbert’s pleasant voice pulled me from my gloomy thoughts to the sunny gardens. I’d just left the round table room and my uneaten lunch behind, with Leon’s casual answers to his brothers’ many questions still ringing in my ears, and my mask of composure clearly hadn’t fooled Gilbert.
The telltale clanking of armor behind me announced my guards, taking a step closer to me. Too overprotective, as usual. I stopped and half-turned to address them and their stony expressions. “Could you give us some privacy, please?”
“Queen Ivetta—”
“Within sight, but out of hearing range,” I interrupted Julius firmly. I preferred giving orders as polite requests, but if they wanted to be stubborn about this, I could be stubborn, too. My request wasn’t unreasonable. The winding paths ensured they would never be more than a few yards away from me at any given time, and Gilbert didn’t pose a threat to me. Not physically, anyway.
Julius and I stared each other down for a tense moment. The sounds of a garden in springtime filled in the silence, with birds chirping, insects buzzing, and a slight rustling of leaves in the wind, all oblivious to our battle of wills. A battle I always won, even if Chevalier was my opponent. Julius, of all people, should have known that.
He finally relented with a stiff nod.
“Thank you.” I turned back to Gilbert, who was watching with amusement. “Sorry about that.”
“Your guard dogs are very faithful,” he commented, falling into step beside me. “How quickly loyalties change.”
I frowned at him. “Please don’t call them dogs, and are you going to explain that last statement, or should I add it to the list of secrets you’re keeping?”
He laughed. “This is one I don’t mind explaining. I sent Julius here a few years ago to kill Leon.”
My blood ran cold. I glanced over my shoulder to ensure my guards couldn’t hear us before I asked, “You…what?”
He chuckled at my shock. “Are you still that naïve, little dove? Chevalier and Leon were the best candidates for the throne, and you already know I had Clavis after Chevalier’s head. Did you think I was just ignoring Leon?”
“I…never thought about it,” I admitted.
“Of course not. Because you would never think I might have plans in place for each of the princes, not just Chevalier. But that’s all over now. Leon had discovered Julius immediately, anyway. How ironic that the perfect opportunity to discredit him has appeared now that we’re allies. It’s enough to make me cry.”
His face fell into an obviously fake display of anguish, and the unsettling feeling in my gut turned to irritation.
“It’s nothing to joke about. You know how important bloodlines are to the nobility. They only accept me because Chevalier has the perfect lineage, and he’s made it clear he won’t tolerate any opposition to me. When they find out Leon has no royal blood, it won’t matter what the royal family says. There will be a backlash.”
The mirth left his face in an instant. “You’re still having problems?”
Of course, he would focus on that. My worry for Leon had my stomach twisted into knots, but Gilbert didn’t care about him. He didn’t care that every member of the royal family other than Chevalier and Leon had faced criticism their entire lives. Jin and Luke, illegitimate children of commoners; Licht and Nokto, legitimized by marriage, but still born of a commoner and saddled with the supposed twin curse; Yves, a pariah because of his Obsidianite mother, princess though she was; Clavis, mysteriously born of the queen’s lady-in-waiting and best friend, a noblewoman from a family indentured in service to the Michels for generations. Chevalier and Leon had been the only two above suspicion. Until now.
I could already imagine the insults.
“It’s the same as it’s always been. Some people still question my background. Probably more people than we realize, but few are brave enough to speak up about it anymore. I’m used to dealing with rumors and hearsay about me, so it’s nothing I can’t handle.” I sighed and added, “And it’s nothing Leon can’t handle, but I know it will hurt, regardless.”
We walked a few steps in silence. When we rounded a corner, Gilbert spoke again.
“I found out when Leon contacted me for help with the ex-slaves. But you’d already guessed that, hadn’t you?”
I nodded. “And that Clavis was involved with the border crossing. Thank you for helping with that.”
He smiled again. “I threaten to expose Leon, and you thank me.”
“You don't have to deny or downplay the good things you do,” I chided him. “Say it was a threat all you like, but I think it was a warning about a possible threat. Maybe somebody who can do some real damage discovered the secret, so the royal family needs to make a statement now to head that off?”
His silence spoke volumes.
“Hey, are you ignoring me or somethin’?”
Silvio’s haughty voice interrupted the conversation and stopped us at an intersection. He was scowling, as usual, and his copious jewelry jingled with every long stride toward us. I suppressed a sigh of resignation and offered him a sweet smile.
“Hello, Silvio. I’m sorry I didn’t hear you calling. Could we have a few more minutes alone?”
His sea-blue eyes flicked from me to Gilbert and back again, and he smirked. “Chevalier know about this?”
He was already testing my patience.
“We’re just talking, Silvio, and my guards are right behind us.”
“Sure,” he scoffed. “Well, Glumskull is boring me out of my mind, and your sassy maid just brought tea and pastries, so if you want it hot, hurry up. And you need to teach her some manners.”
He spun on his heel and strode away before I could reply, his blue cloak billowing behind him, leaving me with the amusing mental image of Theresa chewing him out. Her sharp tongue could match his easily.
“That’s the first time you’ve smiled since the round table.”
I looked up at Gilbert and quickly averted my eyes as the smile slipped from my face. There was an unmistakable fondness in his blood-red eye that made my cheeks warm. This was probably the expression Chevalier had been talking about when he said he didn’t like the way Gilbert looked at me.
And it couldn’t continue.
I needed to walk off the nervous energy.
“Um, Gilbert, there’s something we really need to talk about,” I began hesitantly, keeping my eyes on the cobblestone path, the rose bushes, or anything that caught my eye while I worked up my nerve. “I’ve been avoiding it because I keep thinking it’s settled, and then it just keeps coming up again.” I took a deep breath and forced myself to look up at him. “You need to move on, Gilbert.”
It was as if a curtain fell across his face. His walls were up again, his eye guarded and inscrutable in his mask of cool indifference. He didn’t reply.
“I’ve thought about this a lot,” I hurried on. “I know I was supposed to marry you, and I’m not so sure that would have been such a bad thing, but Mother made her decision, and that isn’t how things turned out. I married Chevalier. You made an agreement with him to support us. So you need to stop pestering him whenever I’m around.”
He smiled his pleasant, meaningless smile. “Have I ever told you how much I hate your mother?”
That stung. I closed my eyes and took another deep, steadying breath before I met his gaze again. In a way, I could relate to that. Or at least understand his position.
“I’ll admit I was angry at her when I found out everything she was hiding from me, too, but she did what she thought was best for me, and there’s no changing the past, anyway. I know you care about me, and I appreciate that, but you know we can never be more than friends. So…maybe you should try looking around? See if there’s somebody else who catches your interest?”
He gave a soft laugh. “Like your friend Elise?”
“Oh, please, no,” I said without thinking, scrunching my face up. Then I realized how that must have sounded, and I was suddenly stammering, trying to undo any perceived insult. “I mean—I’m sure her father would love that, but she’s, um…I think you need someone more…”
This time, his laugh was full and almost normal. “She’s too weak for me. Is that what you’re saying?”
“Um, well…” I shrugged helplessly. “Yes, that’s about it. Frankly, I think she’d faint if you looked at her the wrong way. But there’s Regina. She isn’t with Clavis anymore. Although she likes pranks as much as him, so you’d have to watch your back all the time. Which…you probably already do…”
He stopped walking and turned to face me. I stopped, too, and cast a nervous glance back at my guards, still trailing us with sour expressions. At least their presence would stop him from trying to kiss me.
“I recommended appointing Julius as the head of your guard detail,” Gilbert said quietly. “Failure to keep you safe would incur the wrath of Chevalier, Leon, and myself, and I could think of no better incentive to ensure your safety. But he’s more devoted now to you than he is to any of us, isn’t he?”
I bit my lip, an anxious fluttering filling my stomach under his intense gaze, and I nodded. “Yes, he is.”
He smiled wryly. “You have a way of doing that.” Then he turned abruptly away and walked down the path in the direction we had come, toward my guards. “We should join Silvio and Keith.”
Was everything resolved, then? I didn’t know. If Gilbert didn't give a straight answer, there was no telling, and if he didn't, there was no point in asking. I sighed and followed him, counting the remaining hours of the day in my mind. It couldn’t end quickly enough.
“Oh, Queen Ivetta! I’ve been looking for you!”
If I’d been paying attention, I would have seen her coming. She always wore her hair piled high on her head like a beehive, and she was always fishing for compliments about it, too. I remembered that, but I couldn’t remember her name. I smiled as I racked my brain. All that came to mind was Lady Beehive.
“It’s nice to see you again,” I said, choosing the safe route. “I’m on my way to have tea with Gilbert, Silvio, and Keith, but maybe we can catch up later? In an hour or so?”
She looked past me to Gilbert and paled. “O-of course. An hour. Yes.”
Gilbert and Chevalier shared many attributes, and one of them was scaring others away. I couldn’t say I minded that trait at times like this.
Gilbert led me to an isolated alcove walled off with rose bushes and vines on all sides save for the open arch encased in red blossoms and green foliage. It was one of my favorite spots in the gardens. Theresa had set the little table with tea and pastries, and Silvio and Keith sat next to each other, chatting. Silvio was leaning back in his chair, one leg crossed over the other, pretending to be annoyed as he listened to Keith, and his sea-blue eyes flicked to mine. Keith offered me a warm smile
“About time,” Silvio snapped. “Did I hear Beehive Lady?”
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” I responded politely, taking the seat Gilbert pulled out for me. “And, um…yes, you did, although I wish you wouldn’t call her that.”
He smirked. “Everybody does. It doesn’t help that she wants everybody to call her Bea instead of Beatrice.”
“Beatrice! That's right. I couldn’t remember her name for the life of me.”
Laughter echoed around the table, and I felt the tension easing from my shoulders as I laughed along with them. Maybe the Gilbert situation was under control; maybe not. Either way, I’d said what I needed to say, and I didn’t want to waste more time worrying about it. As for Leon, what would come would come. There was no use stressing myself over something I couldn’t control. I just needed to make it through this day and get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow would be better.
I hoped.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuK9RF7fy56
