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My nightmares hadn’t been this bad in a long time.
I woke up exhausted the next morning. Chevalier and I were both lying on our sides, facing each other, his arms wrapped tightly around me and his heart beating a slow, steady rhythm in my ear. I’d lost count of the number of times he’d shaken me awake and calmed me down through the night. It had been one nightmare after another, and I just wanted to close my eyes and go back to sleep, cocooned in his warmth and security.
But I’d miss Belle if I didn’t get up soon. And I wanted to explain to her in person why I’d cancelled our evening together. Some things just couldn’t be said in a letter.
Freeing myself from Chevalier’s embrace without waking him would be a problem, though.
I eased back, holding my breath and watching his face for signs of wakefulness. It didn't change in the slightest, but his arms tightened around me.
“Where are you going?” he mumbled without the slightest twitch of an eyelid.
“To have breakfast with Belle.” I shifted up to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Go back to sleep.”
He pulled me closer, nuzzling into my hair with a deep sigh. “No, I should get up. I have to call a round table.”
The heat of his breath felt so good against my skin. He was a step away from falling asleep again, and so was I. Except for the curiosity his last statement roused in me.
“A round table? Why?”
“You’ll find out then.”
His fine blonde hair was tickling my face. I reached up to comb it away and asked, “You want me to be there?”
He hummed his assent. “You’re a member of the royal family now.”
He didn’t move, and I continued threading my fingers through his hair as I thought. Round table meetings were for matters of extreme and urgent importance to the kingdom or the royal family, and in the time I’d known Chevalier, the only outsiders allowed to attend had been Sariel, acting as the king’s regent or the head court minister, and Belle, fulfilling her role as the person who would name the next king. But I was the queen now. I was part of the royal family, so I had every right to be there. Although I preferred to leave the politics to Chevalier and his brothers as much as possible.
Chevalier knew that. He wouldn’t have asked me to attend if he didn’t feel it was important.
What could this be about?
It had to be something recent—very recent. Within the last twenty-four hours, most likely. Aside from the hour I’d spent alone with Amber, I’d been with Chevalier that entire time. Was it during that hour? Or before that? Certainly not after. The ride back to the palace had been surprisingly tension-free. Well, maybe not so surprising, since Chevalier, Leon, and Gilbert had all been worried about me and, thus, had been on their best behavior.
But not on the ride to Freedom. And the only point of contention, other than me, had been Leon.
“Does this have something to do with whatever Gilbert was implying about Leon?”
Chevalier nodded and sighed again. “We need to get up,” he muttered reluctantly.
“But the round table won’t happen right away, will it? It'll be later today, right? So, I can tell everybody about it at breakfast, and you can go back to sleep. I’ll wake you up in an hour or two.”
He sighed again and pulled back, resting his cheek on the pillow and looking at me with sleepy blue eyes. “You’re as tired as I am.”
I brushed his messy bangs out of his face. “But you’ve missed two days of work, and you’re calling a round table. That means you’ll be working late tonight, doesn’t it? And I won’t. I may even go to bed early. So, you need an extra hour of sleep more than I do.”
A soft smile played across his lips. His grip around me loosened, and he brought a hand to my cheek, stroking it with the back of his finger. “You never stop thinking about others, do you?”
I felt a hint of warmth in my cheeks. Just last night, I’d been blaming myself for being too selfish, and now, he said something like that? I bit my lip and looked away, but he cupped my cheek in his hand and guided my gaze back to him.
“Stop feeling guilty.” He leaned in and gave me a gentle kiss. “Go have breakfast with Belle.”
I smiled and returned the kiss. “You’re going back to sleep?”
He responded by rolling away from me and pulling the blanket over his head.
My nightgown and his pajamas lay discarded on the floor, remnants of our first and only enjoyable hour in bed, and I picked them up and tossed them in the laundry hamper. I put on my dressing gown and poked my head into the hallway to ask Julius to send for Theresa, and then I gathered my clothes, hairbrush, and hairpins and headed into the bathroom. I didn’t have time to take another bath, but I cleaned up the best I could, rushing to finish and have my undergarments on before she arrived.
I expected her to be upset, and she was.
She stormed in with lips pursed tight and green eyes flashing, closing the bathroom door as hard as she could without slamming it. I didn't get a single word out before she snapped, “Explain.”
“I’m sorry about last night, Theresa. I had some things on my mind, and…”
She looked me over as I spoke, head to toe, and I trailed off, heat rising in my cheeks. A smirk spread across her lips, and when her eyes returned to mine, they held a distinctly mischievous glint.
“Where is it?”
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I stammered, turning away from her and picking up my corset. “Here.”
“Ivetta.” She took the corset from me, and I held my arms out for her to wrap it around me. “You never change out of your nightgown and into your undergarments before I arrive. Unless you never made it into your nightgown, and you have something to hide.”
My face was beet red in the mirror. She pulled the laces firmly but not too tightly, her fingers working from experience, her mind doing the same. I swallowed nervously.
“Hurry up. I don’t want to miss Belle at breakfast.”
Theresa laughed and picked up my dress. “You’re so cute. No, really, where is it?”
“Do you want to keep your job?” I snatched the dress from her and her knowing smirk, averting my eyes to the fabric as I stepped into it.
“You wouldn’t know what to do without me.”
I stood still as she laced the dress up, keeping my mouth shut and my eyes on the towel rack in the mirror. Even my reflection was dangerous. The love mark in the center of my chest seemed to glow through the fabric.
Chevalier had threatened to put it somewhere more visible. I had threatened to revoke his privileges for a week if he did.
Thinking about that steamy moment wasn’t helping me feel less flustered.
“Nothing on your neck,” Theresa said. “Which means it’s somewhere more private.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“Then you want me to guess.”
“N-no!”
She was brushing my hair now, working out the many tangles of a restless night. I winced at a particularly painful tug.
“Wow, you two had a lot of fun last night, didn’t you?”
“I had a lot of nightmares last night,” I replied icily.
Her smile fell. “Sorry. I didn’t know. Was it about…why you sent me away?”
“Yes.” I sighed, debating about how much to say. “I’ll tell you everything later, alright?”
The corner of her lip twitched. “Including where the love mark is?”
“How do you—”
“You wouldn’t be so defensive if I wasn’t right.”
I pressed my lips together until she finished doing my hair, and she took the hint and ceased her teasing. Spending part of the night making love to Chevalier and another part of it battling nightmares always made things awkward in the morning.
“Done,” she announced, inserting the last hairpin and stepping back.
“Thank you. I’ll, um…” I sighed and turned to face her, touching a finger to the center of my chest. “Here.”
She stuffed her fist in her mouth to stifle her squeal. I fled into the hallway with as much dignity as I could muster, avoiding eye contact with my guards and hoping my face would cool to normal before anybody else saw it.
I knew it wouldn't. The door to the round table room was in front of me too soon, and I took a deep breath to steady myself before I pushed it open.
“Good morning, everybody,” I said with a well-practiced smile.
“You made it!" Belle patted the empty chair next to her, one of two remaining seats at the crowded table. "Here, I saved you a spot!”
“Thank you. I think we’ll have to move to an actual dining room the next time everyone is here. It’s getting a little tight.”
Chevalier was the only Rhodolitian brother missing. The rest were all here, along with the foreign princes, Belle, Rio, and Arianna, sitting next to Luke, of course. Telling everybody about the round table meeting wouldn’t be difficult.
Rio was a foreign prince too, I reminded myself. I still wasn’t used to that.
“Are you feeling better this morning?” Belle asked.
“Yes, sorry about that. I just had a lot on my mind last night.”
“So, how do you explain this morning?” Jin asked, smirking behind his glass. “You’re looking a little red.”
“A lot red,” Clavis corrected him.
“And I can’t help but notice Chevalier isn’t here,” Nokto added.
“Ugh, you guys are the worst!” Yves interjected, stabbing at his food with excessive force. “They’re married. What they do is their business.”
“Not quite.” Clavis’ golden eyes glittered with his bright smile, and a feeling of dread settled in my stomach. “There is still the matter of the bet.”
Belle groaned. “You still haven’t told them yet, Ivetta? You know they won’t stop pestering you about it until you do.”
I sighed, looking around at all the expectant faces. Luke and Arianna were the only two not looking back at me. They were too busy staring into each other’s eyes, and when Arianna moved her left hand, a glint of light reflecting off of metal caught my attention.
I felt a flutter of excitement. I needed to deal with the rest so I could focus on that.
“First, I’m red because of a conversation I had with Theresa. Second, Chevalier is sleeping in because he’ll be working late tonight. He’s calling a round table today. And third,” I continued, raising my voice over the first murmured questions, “if I tell you, the rest of the honeymoon is off limits. No more questions. Is that clear?”
Clavis straightened in his seat eagerly, quick to regain his smile after his momentary surprise about the round table. “Other than the night in question, of course.”
“Including the night in question.”
Silvio laughed. “You’re acting like they’re a bunch of children.”
“As if you don’t have a lot of money riding on this, too,” Nokto commented.
“Everybody at this table does,” Silvio snapped back defensively. “Except for Belle and the mutt.”
“That’s because I’m not a sleazeball like certain people,” Rio replied cheerfully, his tone and his smile in direct contrast to the sharpness in his sea-blue eyes. Silvio met his glare head-on.
“Stop it, you two,” Belle intervened. “Ivetta, just go ahead and say it.”
Silence fell around the table. I looked at them all, grown men in positions of great power, currently displaying all the maturity of teenage boys. It was utterly ridiculous.
“After this, I want to hear about Luke’s proposal to Arianna.”
For the first time since I arrived, Luke and Arianna broke eye contact to look at me, both surprised.
“Yeah, yeah,” Clavis said, waving his hand dismissively. “When was the first night for you and Chev?”
I smiled and shook my head. “Fine. The first night.”
A single collective groan arose from most of the men. Keith wore a bashful smile, however, and Gilbert looked rather triumphant as coin purses appeared. Money changed hands, traveling around the table to the three winners.
“Told you,” Licht said quietly as he, Keith, and Gilbert raked it in.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEgmiwkKr3S
