We made a sizable dent in the paperwork by the time Ivetta, Belle, and Theresa stopped by with tea and snacks. Nothing could make Luke forget about work like food. He jumped to his feet and bolted to the door, taking the tray with juvenile exuberance. At least he had the presence of mind not to invite the girls in. There was far too much potential for them to see something they shouldn’t among all the paperwork scattered about. Ivetta shot me a smile across the disaster and left with another tray, probably for Leon’s faction.
“I missed having her around,” Luke said happily, carelessly swiping a stack of papers to the floor and setting the tray on the open desk space he created.
“Luke,” I warned. My office was beginning to look like Leon’s after one of his faction’s parties.
“Don’t worry, Chev, we’ll get it cleaned up,” Clavis said dismissively, pouring himself a cup of tea and grabbing a couple of cookies.
“It’s not like you had time to miss her,” Nokto said to Luke with a sly grin. “Not when Arianna was still here.”
“She’s different from Ivetta,” Luke protested sheepishly.
“Yeah, Ivetta’s nice, Arianna-”
“Arianna is nice, too, once you get to know her,” Luke said quickly, cutting Clavis off before he could finish what was probably a barbed insult.
“I bet,” Nokto said knowingly. “She’s so nice that you disappeared early every night and didn’t show up again until late the next morning.”
“You don’t understand,” Luke said, shoving a handful of cookies in his mouth with obvious frustration.
“Guess that’s all we’re getting out of him for now,” Clavis said. “Back to Chev.”
“And it’s my turn to ask a question,” Nokto said, sipping his tea. “This time, I want a straight answer. Why did you wait?”
“She wanted to,” I replied simply.
“Maybe that’s what she said, but I saw you two together,” Clavis pressed on. “You could’ve talked her into it. Why didn’t you?”
“If you want more, you’ll get back to work.”
Nokto groaned. “Never mind, I’m done with questions. You’re not telling us anything, anyway.”
“Why should he?” Luke asked, swallowing his latest mouthful. “You guys don’t get it.”
“Please don’t tell me you think you’re in love with that Arianna,” Clavis said, exasperated.
“You’re gonna have to get used to her,” Luke said meaningfully.
Nokto stared at him with wide crimson eyes. “You didn’t.”
“Not yet, but I’m gonna,” Luke said, grinning proudly.
“Congratulations. Now, can we get back to work?” I interjected coolly.
Luke and Arianna. I didn’t have a problem with it, as long as she changed her attitude toward Ivetta. But that may have been an injured response to my rejection. I would have to talk to Luke about it later, when we were alone. Clavis and Nokto really didn’t understand.
Sariel returned at five o’clock, and I dismissed my brothers while he and I discussed a few matters. The most important was Ivetta’s birthday, which would occur shortly after Sariel returned from his vacation. A quiet, simple dinner was more than sufficient for my birthday, but she deserved something extravagant. Sariel would have to start work on it right away, delegating his responsibilities to capable hands during his absence. He would return in time to finalize everything and smooth out any difficulties that arose.
Paperwork would consume my day tomorrow, too. I also needed to observe my knights while they trained, and schedule assorted inspections around the kingdom. Ivetta could accompany me for most of those, but not my next visit with Leon to Freedom. Leon had spared no expense in ensuring appropriate security measures were taken, and there had been surprisingly few problems. Even so, it was still too early for me to consider the new community safe enough for Ivetta to visit. I wanted to wait a little longer, at least until an inn was built and I could have the added peace of mind from four solid walls around her. Ivetta was not sleeping in a tent on the ground.
Work was never-ending. But the promise of seeing her at the end of the day, today and every day for the rest of my life, lifted my spirits in a way that nothing else could.
“King Highness?” Luke asked, poking his head into my office at a quarter to six o’clock.
I had hoped to get a little more work done before dinner, without the distraction of my brothers, but it was not to be. Luke entered alone and took the seat across from my desk, fidgeting with the bear charm that hung from the sword belt across his chest. He had to perch at the edge of the chair due to the greatsword on his back.
“Arianna really is nice, and she’s been wanting to apologize to Ivetta for a while, but she hasn’t really had a chance to get her alone with all these ceremonies going on, ya know?” he said nervously.
If she really wanted to, she would have found a way. But that wasn’t why he was really here. Something so simple would not have him this nervous.
“See that she does. Is that all you wanted?”
Luke squirmed uncomfortably. “It’s not like they think. She and I haven’t actually…ya know.” He hesitated, and then he said, “How did you handle it? Waiting until she was ready?”
Not well.
“Cold baths, limiting our time alone, and keeping the engagement as short as possible,” I replied truthfully.
“But if she’d said it was okay, you wouldn’t have waited, right?” he asked, looking down at his hands as his cheeks reddened.
“Correct, but I think it was better this way.”
He snapped his head up to stare at me with wide green eyes. “Really? Why?”
Why, indeed?
“It’s…difficult to put into words,” I said slowly, thinking it through. “Nothing changed between us after the engagement ceremony. If we hadn’t waited, nothing really would have changed with the wedding, either, and the honeymoon would have just been a vacation. But everything changed, and it…meant something.”
I was far out of my comfort zone with this conversation. Never had I been the one to give relationship advice.
Was it dinner time yet?
“I guess that makes sense,” Luke mused. “Arianna’s kinda special, and I wanna treat her that way.” He sighed and stood up. “Well, I’m starved. You and Ivetta eating with us?”
“Yes,” I said simply, more than a little relieved he didn’t ask anything else. I was much more prepared to handle teasing than to deal with deep emotional topics. At least there would be none of the latter over dinner, and as soon as Ivetta and I were done eating, we were leaving.
Aside from knowing glances and sly grins, there was no teasing while everybody filled their plates and topped their wine glasses off.
“So, how’s it feel to be queen?” Leon asked Ivetta.
“The only real difference so far is that the clothes are more uncomfortable,” she said. “Ask me again tomorrow, and maybe I’ll have a different answer.”
“And how was the honeymoon?” Jin teased.
There it was. She immediately blushed, and I knew she wouldn’t stop until after dinner. Or rather, until after she fell asleep. I intended to keep her blushing the rest of the night.
“Enjoyable,” she said shyly, looking down at her food.
“That’s all?” Clavis asked. “Chev? Anything to add from what you said earlier?”
She glanced at me quickly, her blush deepening.
“No,” I said coolly.
“Don’t worry, Ivetta. He wouldn’t give us any details,” Luke reassured her.
“Although we tried very hard to get them,” Nokto added, his crimson eyes glittering.
“Some things should be kept private,” Yves said firmly, glaring at Nokto.
“Agreed,” I interjected.
“Guess we’ll just have to wait a few months and see what comes of it, huh?” Jin asked, smirking.
“Did you get any work done while we were gone?” Ivetta asked, trying to maintain her calm in spite of her blazing red cheeks.
“Not really,” Licht said quietly.
“We couldn’t help but notice that you didn’t take any servants with you,” Nokto pressed on.
“I think I’m capable of keeping house for two people at this point in my life,” she said, ignoring his implication.
“You did all the cooking?” Yves asked.
She nodded. “Of course I did. You don’t really expect Chevalier to have done any cooking, do you?” she asked teasingly.
“Ooh, I bet you’re a good cook, too,” Luke said, stuffing his face with a forkful of food.
“She is,” I confirmed.
“Any favorite dishes you’d care to share with us? Or is that too private, Chev?” Clavis asked slyly.
I looked over at her, considering. Her green eyes awaited my answer with more anticipation than I’d expected. I hadn’t said much about the food over the past week, since I was far too focused on other pursuits. Like teasing her. And I hadn’t been able to tease her for several hours now.
“Everything was good,” I finally said, barely able to suppress a smile.
“That’s not a real answer, Chevalier,” she chided. “You have to pick something.”
I smirked. She was already rising to the occasion. “Breakfast, then.”
She faked a frown. “That’s a meal, not a dish. Try again.”
Leon was chuckling at our exchange.
“Omelets,” I said, watching her sparkling green eyes.
She tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips, trying to hide a smile. “I do make a good omelet. It’s too bad I never made any for you.”
Leon was laughing heartily at this point, and several others were chuckling as well.
“Is this how you guys talked the whole time you were there?” Jin asked, grinning at us.
“No, but this is what he was like every time I asked him what he wanted to eat,” she said, mildly exasperated. “And we’re not going to get a straight answer out of him now, either, but if I had to guess, I’d say the pancakes I made one morning were his favorite. He asked for seconds.”
“We had pancakes?” I teased.
“Chevalier!” She shoved me playfully. “Just for that, who wants pancakes tomorrow morning? Not you,” she added, shooting a teasing glare at me.
“I do! I do!” Luke volunteered immediately, even though his mouth was full.
“I guess that answers that question,” Leon said, his amber eyes twinkling as he looked at us.
“I think so,” Jin concurred. “Chevalier’s smiling and joking.”
“And she’s happy, too,” Yves added.
“Guess they had fun,” Nokto summarized.
We were still smiling when we walked back to our room, but as we approached the door, I noticed her starting to get a bit tense. The last time she’d been in there with me was the night after the poisoning attempt. Even after a week of being with me, she was nervous. And maybe she should be. I’d been awaiting this moment for months.
“So, I take it that everything went well today?” she asked shyly.
Work was the furthest thing from my mind right now. I shut the door behind me and pulled her into a deep kiss. “Do you know how hard it was to have you in here all the time?”
Her cheeks hadn’t quite lost their blush, and it flared back in full force. “Well, that was your own fault.”
“I couldn’t leave you alone for too long. You’ve always been such an alluring little dove,” I replied between kisses.
“Don’t try to pretend your motives were purely honorable. I know better,” she teased, returning my kisses with fervor.
She was right. And there was nothing honorable about my intentions now.
“I would wake up to your humming and pretend to be asleep so you wouldn’t stop,” I said, pulling her over to the bed and pushing her down. “And I’d take my time getting out of bed so you would keep talking. Your voice, your smile, watching you move about the room…” I interrupted myself every few words with another kiss, unable to stop until she pushed me back.
“Chevalier, I can’t breathe,” she gasped, pushing me back.
I sat back, straddling her as I removed my gloves. Her chest was heaving against the fabric of her dress. That corset needed to go.
“No, Chevalier, I really can’t breathe,” she gasped, pushing me off of her and darting out of bed. She leaned against the nearest wall, resting her hands above her head as she gulped in air.
“You need to stop wearing these things,” I said irritably, rapidly undoing the laces of her dress and moving on to the corset. When did she start wearing them, anyway? She didn’t need them for her figure, and I didn’t need her passing out one day because she couldn’t breathe.
“Is that an order?” she asked hopefully. The corset sprang free, and she groaned in relief.
“Yes,” I said, spinning her to face me. “Now, where were we?”
“You were telling me how I used to drive you crazy,” she prompted with a coy smile, undoing my sword belt.
I leaned in for a kiss, grabbing the neckline of her dress and pushing it off her shoulders. “You still do,” I breathed, trailing kisses down her neck.
“Did you lock the door?” she asked huskily, her fingers loosening the fastening of my cloak and moving on to my jacket.
I sighed irritably and turned away from her soft, warm skin to the cold, hard doorknob. This was a lot easier at the chateau. But I didn’t get the pleasure there of turning around to see her dress around her ankles as she stepped out of it. Just her chemise and drawers were left. I crossed the floor to her, grabbing her shoulders and pushing her back onto the bed, kissing her before she could speak.
“No more interruptions,” I commanded, bracing myself above her with my hands on either side of her head.
She smirked and grabbed my shirt lapels. “Stop talking and kiss me,” she replied, pulling me back down to her lips.
There was nothing else left to say. She was in my room, in my bed, filling the place that had been meant for her from the start, and I was so glad I hadn’t decided to work late tonight.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiIgZks7VEA
