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My mind was a mess.
What was I supposed to say? How was I supposed to explain sitting in a private gazebo with Prince Gilbert? My blush would complete the picture well enough to whoever was approaching, and though I hadn’t wanted Prince Gilbert’s attention, he had been kissing me.
And I hadn’t hated it.
I really needed to get away from him so I could think. He was like a poison seeping into my thoughts, twisting what I knew and what I thought I knew until I wasn’t sure of anything anymore. I’d scooted to the opposite end of the bench from him, but there still wasn’t enough distance between us. He was still right there, both arms stretched out over the back of the bench and one leg crossed over the other, watching me and clearly enjoying himself at my expense.
“Ivetta!” Prince Clavis called, rounding the bend in the cobblestone path with Prince Silvio following closely on his heels. A faint hope fluttered in my chest. Prince Clavis’ smile remained firmly in place as his golden eyes flicked from me to Prince Gilbert and back again, but it seemed strained. “Fancy seeing you two here.”
Prince Silvio was already smirking knowingly.
“I found the official tour of the palace lacking,” Prince Gilbert said casually. “It ignored these beautiful rose gardens and their great potential. Fortunately, our little dove has been more than happy to accommodate my interests.”
I dropped my gaze to my lap, clenching my hands in my skirt until my knuckles turned white, hating how red I knew my cheeks were. Could he make it sound any worse?
“Careful with that ‘our little dove’ talk, Gil,” Prince Clavis said lightly. “Chev doesn’t take kindly to the idea of sharing her.”
And Prince Clavis was making it worse. Just what I needed. I closed my eyes as the spark of hope died, wishing I were anywhere but here.
“So I’ve noticed, and yet he keeps sending his brothers to fetch her in his place. Now, why do you think that might be?” Prince Gilbert asked thoughtfully.
Prince Silvio laughed. “Probably so he doesn’t kill you. If you had your hands all over my woman, I know I’d kill you.”
I grit my teeth, wondering how much more of this I could take. How much more I would have to take, since I didn’t really have a choice in the matter. I had to sit here until they let me leave. Prince Clavis was under Prince Gilbert’s thumb, just like I was, and he couldn’t help me.
But then I heard three claps, and that spark of hope was back.
“Okay, since I am clearly the only gentleman here, as well as the most handsome prince present, I shall take it upon myself to escort the lady from this bawdy house. Ivetta, shall we go?”
I looked up to see a brown-gloved hand hovering in front of me and Prince Clavis smiling down at me. The choice was simple. I placed my hand in his and stood as his fingers tightened around mine, so much warmer than Prince Gilbert’s frosty touch.
“Not so fast. I still have a few questions for her,” Prince Silvio said, leaning against a pillar at the entrance to the gazebo and looking me over with his sharp sea-blue eyes.
“Hm. In that case, I’ll just have to make you move,” Prince Clavis said pleasantly, reaching into his jacket to withdraw a small glass vial.
Prince Silvio’s light blue eyebrows shot up to disappear behind his fringe, and he stepped quickly aside. “Are you insane?”
Prince Clavis laughed. “I don’t know, but Gil should, since he is. How about it, Gil? Am I insane?” he asked cheekily, shooting a smirk back at Prince Gilbert as he pocketed the vial and led me out of the gazebo.
“Neither of us is, which makes us all the more beastly,” Prince Gilbert replied, chuckling.
“Ah, so this is where everybody went,” Prince Leon’s booming voice called.
A wave of relief washed over me as his distinctive broad-shouldered figure rounded the bend in the path ahead, a friendly smile on his face. Prince Clavis suddenly stopped, and a snap and twang rang through the air. I barely registered the strange sounds before Prince Leon jumped back, narrowly missing something that fell from the shade tree above to hit the cobblestone with a heavy thud.
“Oops. Forgot about that,” Prince Clavis said, smirking.
A white cloud hung in the air above the spray of white covering the gray cobblestones. Flour, I realized. It was a bag of flour. And though I was too overwhelmed to see the humor, Prince Leon was laughing heartily.
“Nice try, Clavis, but I’m not letting you get me in front of those two.”
Prince Clavis shrugged and resumed our path toward Prince Leon. “They’re not getting the full Rhodolite experience unless they see at least one of the Seven Wonders of Clavis.”
“So, write them a letter and call it good. It doesn’t have to be a prank.” Prince Leon walked across the flour and stopped in front of me, tousling my hair playfully. “If he’s bothering you, Ivetta, just slap him again. I’m sure our guests would appreciate that much more than one of his pranks.”
“Wait, she slapped him?” Prince Silvio exclaimed, laughing. “You are sassy.”
“Wish I could have seen it,” Prince Leon said. His amber eyes were warm and friendly, but he dropped his voice and muttered, “Get her inside, Clavis.” Then he strolled past us to the gazebo, raising his voice again to talk to the foreign princes. “From what I hear, Clavis deserved it,” he started, launching into his second-hand account of the story as Prince Clavis led me away, a chagrined smile on his lips. The laughter and talking faded away behind us before Prince Clavis spoke in a quiet, uncharacteristically solemn voice.
“You should have drunk the champagne.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The rush of anger, fear, confusion, and I didn’t know what else was draining out of me, leaving behind a numb exhaustion.
“I realize that now. Thank you for what you tried to do,” I replied quietly.
“For what it’s worth, he promised he wouldn’t kill you.”
I looked up at Prince Clavis, his smile gone from his face, his golden eyes downcast.
“What does he have over you, Prince Clavis?”
He let out a harsh laugh. “This isn’t a secure location, Ivetta. I’m not telling you anything here.”
“Well, where is a secure location? Your room?”
He shook his head. “Chev probably sent Leon, which means he’s waiting for you in the library. He’s already angry enough at me without a delay in your safe return.” He sighed. “Well, your return, anyway.”
I sighed, too, and looked down at my feet, crossing from cobblestone onto the carpet as Prince Clavis led me inside. “I don’t want to see him,” I muttered under my breath.
“Why not?” Prince Clavis asked, surprised.
I blushed and shook my head. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to say that aloud.”
“But you did.”
“It’s nothing,” I said firmly, raising my head to look down the hallway stretching out before us.
“You’re not good at lying, Ivetta.”
“It’s nothing you need to worry about,” I amended, looking up at his probing golden eyes.
He frowned but kept silent, two blatant signs that he was upset. I squeezed his hand reassuringly and returned my gaze to the path ahead. It didn’t matter if the entire palace saw me walking hand-in-hand with him. Prince Gilbert would permanently tarnish my reputation before this week was up, if he hadn’t done so already. And I was too tired to care.
“Here we are, at the library, and this is where I leave you,” Prince Clavis said brightly when we reached our destination, his mask of gleeful mischief back in place. “Put in a good word for me with Chev, would you?”
I gave him a forced smile and nodded. “I’ll do that. Thank you, Prince Clavis.”
He released my hand and held the door open for me to step into the familiar room of silence and books, the afternoon sunlight warming the air and brightening the room. I looked around at the emptiness, wondering if Prince Clavis was wrong about Prince Chevalier. The door closed behind me. I closed my eyes and sighed, leaning back against the door as I rubbed my left cheek. He wasn’t wrong. Prince Chevalier was probably just waiting for me in the back room, and I didn’t want to see him because I couldn’t handle him right now. My resistance was at an all-time low, as that encounter with Prince Gilbert made painfully clear, and I didn’t trust myself not to say or do something I’d regret later.
I needed coffee.
Another sigh echoed through the air, but it wasn’t mine. I jumped and spun to my left, my hand dropping from my face to wrap around my other wrist as I met Prince Chevalier’s icy blue gaze. He was leaning against the wall beside the door, hidden from sight when it had been open, his arms crossed over his chest and his expression inscrutable. I swallowed and tried to compose myself.
“Sorry, Prince Chevalier. I didn’t see you.”
“Clearly.”
He pushed off from the wall and walked past me toward the back room. I followed reluctantly. He was going to ask me about Prince Gilbert, and what was I supposed to say? That I let my anger get the best of me, and now Prince Gilbert owned me? That Prince Gilbert manipulated me from the start, his words and actions carefully chosen to bring me into willing submission?
That I let Prince Gilbert kiss me when I told Prince Chevalier he couldn’t?
I felt filthy. The guilt and shame weighed me down, and I stared at the floor, listening to the door close, the click of the lock, Prince Chevalier’s footsteps approaching me, waiting for him to speak - but he didn’t. His right hand came up to cup my left cheek, and though I immediately flinched away, the cool black leather settled against my skin, coaxing me to look up at his searching crystal blue eyes. He stepped closer to me, his left hand brushing my waist and sliding around to pull me into his warm embrace.
“Prince Chevalier, you promised,” I whispered.
“This wasn’t part of the promise,” he murmured.
The scent of roses wrapped around me with him, lighter than that of the gardens, stronger than the lingering poison Prince Gilbert left in the twisted knots of my mind. I closed my eyes and leaned into the comforting firmness of his chest. His thumb rubbed gently and slowly across my cheek, erasing the last traces of Prince Gilbert’s lips from my skin, and I sighed again as the tension faded away. This was the security I couldn’t find anywhere else, and I thought again that I’d just like to stay here forever. Even if it was all wrong, it felt perfectly right.
“This isn’t working,” he muttered.
“What isn’t working?” I mumbled.
“Last night made sense. He wanted to question you, and he created a logical plan to isolate you and maximize the time he had to accomplish his goal. Using Noisy to delay the Mime’s arrival and subsequent interference was a ploy I hadn’t anticipated, but it was a well-reasoned precaution on his part. Today, his motivation is unclear, and that prevents me from predicting his movements and actions. Using you to irritate me is now secondary to his primary goal, which I don’t yet know.” He sighed and nuzzled into my neck. “And that increases the risk to you.”
The feel of his breath on my skin was heavenly. I could almost drift off to sleep, right here, except for this nagging at the back of my mind that I might have a clue as to Prince Gilbert’s primary goal, and it probably wasn’t something that should even concern Prince Chevalier.
“I’m distracting you,” I said miserably, forcing myself to push him away.
His hand around my waist tugged me back.
“What is this?” he asked, his voice lowering dangerously as he plucked the crushed black paper rose from my apron pocket.
I blushed and averted my gaze. “It’s…Prince Gilbert gave it to me as part of a magic trick,” I said hesitantly.
“Has he threatened your mother?” Prince Chevalier continued.
I bit my lip and toyed with a gold fastening on his jacket. “Not…not exactly.”
He caught my chin and forced me to look up at his flashing blue eyes. “Tell me.”
I didn’t want to. It was just another thing for him to worry about when he shouldn’t even be bothering with me at all. But the intensity in his gaze wouldn’t let me say anything less than the truth, and I was too tired to fight him.
“He came to my house yesterday,” I admitted. “When I was supposed to go home for lunch. But I didn’t come, so he went to my neighbor’s house, where their five-year-old daughter was home alone because her mother was taking care of my mother. He didn’t hurt her, but he asked her about me, and when I found out…it really upset me. So, I confronted him. And…”
I trailed off, not wanting to say it aloud. The pulse in Prince Chevalier’s jaw told me he didn’t need me to continue.
“Go home. I’ll handle this.”
“But - it’s not time for me to leave yet,” I protested, surprised by this turn of events.
“You’re too tired to think clearly. Either you go home, or I take you back to my room.”
My eyes shot wide open, my heart rate skyrocketed, and my cheeks burned possibly hotter than they had in the gardens. He didn’t mean it that way. He couldn’t mean it that way.
He was smirking.
“To sleep,” he added, poking my forehead and releasing his hold on my waist to stroll past me to the door. “Make your decision, or I’ll make it for you.”
The lock clicked in the door, and I swallowed hard, trying to force my jumbled thoughts into some semblance of order.
“I…I think I’d better go home.”
He chuckled. “Then come.”
I followed him to the front gate and boarded the carriage obediently, keeping my head down to hide my flaming cheeks. The mere thought of taking a nap in his room - in his bed - made me feel intensely uncomfortable. Prince Chevalier stopped midway into closing the door behind me, and then he suddenly stepped up into the carriage and leaned in very close, his breath hot on my ear as my heart started racing all over again.
“If you continue blushing this way, your mother is going to suspect something,” he whispered.
I felt like my heart was going to explode in my chest. Thankfully, he stepped back out of the carriage, his icy blue eyes bearing a distinctly mischievous sparkle.
“The carriage will pick you up in the morning,” he said in his usual cool tone. “Goodbye.”
I swallowed hard. “Goodbye, Prince Chevalier.”
The door closed, and I leaned back against the seat and put my hands over my hot cheeks. That wasn’t fair. I couldn’t handle his teasing at the best of times, and I was too tired to think straight. Hopefully, I would get enough sleep tonight to better handle the princes tomorrow. All the princes. Especially Prince Chevalier.
I should probably tell him about Prince Gilbert’s interest in my background. Tomorrow. After a good night’s sleep, when I wasn’t at risk of melting from a single touch.
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