I kept her out of the palace all afternoon, allowing plenty of time for the servants to set up for the party and the guests to arrive. It was dinner time when we returned, as I’d planned, and the look of sheer astonishment in her green eyes when my brothers swarmed her and shouted, “Happy birthday!” was better than I’d expected. I followed behind as they swept her away into the ballroom, where an enormous crowd burst into applause. She was too stunned to speak. Belle ran up to take her hand and pull her toward the center of the ballroom.
“Make way for the birthday girl!” she shouted, a path parting in front of them. A massive, multi-layered cake waited proudly on a display table, wearing a gown of red, pink, and white icing roses. Belle brought Ivetta to a stop in front of it, beaming from ear to ear. “Quiet down, everybody, quiet down!”
The ballroom fell silent as hundreds of smiling eyes looked at her, my queen, the woman they adored.
“I don’t know what to say,” she stammered, blushing.
“Say thank you,” Belle prompted.
Ivetta smiled gratefully at her and turned back to the crowd. “I can’t thank you all enough for this wonderful surprise. Let’s have some cake!”
The crowd erupted, and the party began. Sariel put a glass of champagne in one of her hands and the first slice of cake in the other. The rest of the cake was quickly demolished as wine and champagne flowed freely. I couldn’t get anywhere near her, but I was happy just to watch her. She was constantly receiving thanks and praise from one person or another, her smile radiant, her cheeks rosy. The display table was whisked away, and the music began. Every man in the room, regardless of age, wanted to dance with her. Princes, nobles, villagers, butlers, even shy little boys who wanted to see ‘the pretty lady’ - and one small child was particularly excited to see her, although he couldn’t get close to her. I recognized his gray eyes, his tousled, straw-colored hair. It was the boy from the festival.
“Roger! Roger, come back here!” His obviously tired mother caught up to him and pulled him away from the crowd. “You’re going to get lost again,” she chided.
“But it’s Ivetta! The nice lady from the festival!” he protested.
“Her name is Ivetta, but I’m sure it’s not the same person,” his mother said firmly.
I smiled to myself and looked around for Belle. She was getting a refill of champagne.
“Belle,” I called as I approached her.
“Yes, Chevalier?”
“That little boy over there,” I said, pointing at Roger. “Do you see him?”
“The one with the messy yellow hair? Looks to be about six years old?” she asked.
“That’s the one. Ivetta will want to see him.”
“He’s going to get trampled out there, though,” Belle said. “I know. Ivetta’s gonna need a break soon, anyway. I’ll take her out to the balcony, and then you can keep her there while I get him. What’s his name?”
“Roger.”
She nodded. “Alright, then.” Belle drained the last of her champagne and handed the glass to a waiter. “Here I go!” She plunged straight into the crowd, pushing through until she reached Ivetta, and then she dragged her away to the balcony. I followed around the edge of the ballroom.
“You run the household, host parties for the nobility, come down to the town to visit all the time,” Belle was saying when I arrived, counting on her fingers, “you’re basically responsible for Rhodolite’s good relations with Obsidian-”
“And you have tamed the Brutal Beast,” I interrupted as I stepped out onto the balcony. Ivetta’s shining green eyes met mine, overflowing with emotion. She looked like she was about to cry. “Belle,” I said, glancing over at her.
“I’m leaving. Don’t keep her too long,” she said, winking at Ivetta as she left.
I closed the gap between us, taking a glass of champagne from her hand and setting it on the railing. “Are you enjoying your birthday?” I asked, tracing traced symmetrical lines from her chin, down her neck, across her shoulders, down her arms, to her hands, where my fingers intertwined with hers.
She nodded, still unable to speak.
“Good,” I said, leaning in and kissing her. “You have made quite an impression in a very short time, little dove. I have a little surprise for you.”
“Another one?” she asked softly, and then she looked down as Roger tugged on her skirt. Her green eyes lit up, as I knew they would. “Roger!”
“Are you really the queen?” he asked, his eyes wide.
I stepped aside, and she squatted down in front of the boy. “Yes, I am,” she said, smiling and smoothing his hair back. “Look how big you’ve gotten! I bet I can’t even pick you up anymore.”
He smiled proudly. “I’m going to be a knight, so I’ve got to eat a lot and get big.”
“A knight, huh? Why do you want to be a knight?”
“So I can take pretty ladies to the festival and carry their books,” he proclaimed, smiling up at me.
Ivetta laughed, both at his words and at the undisguised shock on my face. I brought Ivetta to the festival as my maid, and yet the child thought I was the one serving her. She had taken charge as soon as he appeared, come to think of it. I’d never even said a word to him. It would have been easy for him to get the wrong impression.
“I think you’re going to be a great knight, Roger,” Ivetta said. “But I’ve got a little secret for you. Do you think you can keep a secret for me?”
He nodded enthusiastically.
She leaned in and whispered in his ear. Roger’s eyes widened, and he stared up at me.
“Remember, you promised not to tell,” Ivetta said sternly, though she was smiling.
Roger looked back at her, a distinctly crestfallen expression on his face. “But that means he’s your husband.”
She nodded. “Yes, he is.”
Roger frowned. “But I wanted to marry you.”
Now it was her turn to be surprised, and my turn to laugh.
“Roger? Roger!”
His young parents came out to the balcony, taking Roger by the shoulders and pulling him back.
“I-I’m so sorry, King Chevalier, Queen Ivetta,” his father stammered.
“Shh!” Roger said, putting his finger over his lips as he looked back up at his father. “You’re not supposed to know that he’s the king!”
Ivetta stood up, laughing, as his parents stared in shock at their little boy. “He wasn’t bothering us,” she reassured them. “I’m so glad to meet you. Roger and I met at the festival last year.”
“Oh, it was you?” his mother asked, her eyes wide.
“Well, I was just a maid then. Roger was telling me he wants to be a knight.”
“But she’s already married,” he said sadly to his mother.
I came up to her and slid my arm around her waist. “You’ll just have to find your own pretty lady,” I said, charmed by his innocent crush on Ivetta. “But if you’re any good as a knight, maybe, somebody, you’ll get to guard the queen.”
Roger’s eyes lit up. “Can I really?”
“Of course!” Ivetta said, smiling broadly. “Now, it’s getting late, and knights in training need a lot of rest, so when your parents tell you it’s time to go to bed, you’d better do what they say. Okay?”
“Okay!” he said excitedly. He turned and looked back up at them. “Is it time to go? I need my rest,” he said importantly.
They smiled gratefully at her. It was easy to see that he was a handful, and Ivetta’s leveraging of his affection for her was much appreciated.
“Yes, Roger, it is time to go. Thank you so much for everything, King Chevalier, Queen Ivetta. And happy birthday!”
She watched them go, beaming from ear to ear, and I turned her back to face me.
“I have more competition, I see,” I mused.
“Yes, you do. And we’ll have to be careful to keep your secret. We don’t want people figuring out that you're not just my knight.” She stood up on tiptoe to kiss me. “Thank you, Chevalier. I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday surprise.”
“There she is!” Clavis burst onto the balcony, followed by several of my brothers. “You can have her later, Chev. Right now, she’s in hot demand!”
She barely had time to give me an apologetic smile before they pulled her away from me and back to the ballroom. I followed them back inside, too pleased with Ivetta's obvious joy to be annoyed by Clavis' poorly timed interruption.
“That was adorable, Chevalier,” Belle said, smiling broadly as she met me just inside the door.
“She’s going to make a good mother,” I commented, watching Nokto taking her hand on the dance floor.
“Of course, she is, but I was talking about you. Since when are you good with children?”
“That one is special to her,” I replied dismissively.
“Sure. Whatever,” Belle said, laughing as she rejoined the dancing.
Gilbert was the next to dance with Ivetta, and I automatically tensed. His smile was genuine as he gazed at her, and they talked and laughed as if they were old friends. I watched closely, only allowing myself to relax when another man cut in and Gilbert was walking away from her. His blood red eye caught mine, and he made his way toward me.
“You seem to be keeping Ivetta happy,” he commented, stopping beside me and turning back to watch her fondly.
“That was part of our agreement,” I said coolly. A thought occurred to me, and I smirked. “Her life isn’t torture anymore, is it?” I added with a sidelong glance at him.
His smile didn’t fade, though his blood red eye hardened. “You already won, Chevalier. Don’t push it.”
I chuckled as he walked away. It wasn’t easy to get under his skin, but that little comment had done so quite nicely.
Arianna caught my eye on the edge of the crowd, her hazel eyes distinctly nervous as she watched Ivetta. Luke came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, bringing a blush to her cheeks as he whispered something in her ear. She nodded, her blonde curls bouncing on her shoulders, and the two slipped out of the ballroom.
He had the right idea.
I looked back at Ivetta, smiling brightly but obviously tiring after the long night of dancing. It was time for us to leave, too, although it wasn’t so easy to whisk her away since she was the center of attention. I stopped the orchestra and made my way through the crowd to her side.
“Thank you all for coming,” I said, catching Gilbert’s eye and slipping my arm around her waist possessively. “Your new queen has worked tirelessly to ensure our kingdom is one of peace and happiness, and I appreciate your assistance in making her birthday a success. Goodnight.”
He scowled and turned away. I led Ivetta back to our room, smiling smugly. She didn't notice, leaning heavily against me as we walked. I wasn't surprised when her first action upon arriving was to collapse onto the bed.
“What a day,” she sighed.
“It’s not over yet,” I reminded her as I sat down beside her.
She smiled up at me, her green eyes shining in her tired face. “How did you manage that? Getting the nobility to agree to having commoners and servants attend the party?”
“That was Sariel’s doing. Ready for your present?”
“I get another present? But I’ve had a whole day of presents, and I don’t think I can handle one more.”
“It is your birthday, after all, and your knight wants to spoil you.” I kissed her forehead and stood, heading toward my bureau where her last present was hidden.
“Nineteen,” she sighed. “A year ago today, I set foot in the palace for the first time.”
I removed the necklace from its hiding place and carried it back to her. The ex-slave jeweler had outdone himself again. The necklace was a gold chain bearing a single dove made of many small garnets, each outlined with gold in a feather-like pattern. I sat next to her again, dangling it above her. She’d closed her eyes without my asking.
“Open your eyes.”
The light reflected from the many jewels and sparkled in her green eyes. She sat up to get a better look, taking it from me carefully.
“It’s beautiful, Chevalier. I love it.” The sheer wonder in her eyes, the softness of her voice, was exactly the reaction I’d hoped for. But I wasn’t done yet. I propped the pillows up at the head of the bed for her.
“Sit here.”
She obediently scooted back against the pillows. “How are you so perfect, Chevalier?”
I smiled at that. If either of us could be described as perfect, it was her, and she deserved to be treated this way every day, not once a year. I sat at the foot of the bed and slipped off her shoes. “Your feet must be tired.”
She pulled her legs back toward her. “They’re also sweaty and gross,” she protested.
I gently took hold of her ankles and pulled them back to me. “Relax.”
She complied reluctantly, laying back against the pillows as I massaged her feet. I glanced up at her and smiled. Her eyes were closed, her fingers tracing the golden feathers on the garnet dove.
“Nokto’s going to ask you if he can be my dance partner when you’re not up to it,” she said, breaking the comfortable silence.
“The fox is still after my little dove, I see.”
“Unless we find someone else for him to chase.”
“Oh?” I glanced back up at her again, but her eyes were still closed.
“It would have to be someone very special. She’d have to be able to resist him. He’s got enough women falling into bed with him at the drop of a hat.”
I moved my hands up to her ankles, and she cracked her eyes open to look at me. “Chevalier?”
I smirked, methodically working my way higher up to her calves. “You’re not too tired to talk about other men, I see.”
Her cheeks reddened as I continued my slow progress. “Why, Chevalier, are you jealous?”
“You were also dancing with Gilbert,” I said, tickling the backs of her knees. “And you’ve hired my replacement as your knight.”
She giggled and squirmed. “Stop it! You’ve got nothing to worry about!”
Maybe it was time to finish what I’d started earlier in the afternoon. I got up, taking the necklace from her and setting it on the nightstand. Her green eyes watched intently as I methodically removed my gloves, shrugged out of my cloak, and unbuckled my sword belt.
“When were you going to tell me that Gilbert is the king of Obsidian?” she asked, rolling onto her stomach and propping herself up on her elbows. I discarded my jacket, watching as she pulled her hair over her shoulder and peeked back at me coyly.
She wasn’t too tired to tease me.
I stopped halfway through unbuttoning my shirt to sit beside her and untie the laces at the back of her dress.
“He hasn’t made the announcement yet,” I replied, although it had been months since he killed his father, and I had no idea why he was still keeping it a secret. “What else did he tell you?”
“Oh, just that his father was behind the assassination attempt prior to our engagement ceremony,” she said casually, bending one of her legs backwards at the knee to playfully tap her heel into my shoulder.
I pulled the dress wide and pushed it off her shoulders, sliding my hands down her bare back. “You didn’t need to know that.”
“No, but it explains why you were so upset,” she replied, shivering as I slid my hands around to her stomach and lay down on top of her.
“Aside from the obvious,” I murmured, nuzzling into her neck and letting my hands wander freely.
“Mm, Chevalier,” she moaned. “You’ve made this the best birthday ever.”
I smirked and kissed her neck softly. “Are you too tired for one more present?”
“Not at all,” she mumbled into the blankets as I trailed kisses down her back. “Chevalier, you already know this, but I’m yours. Only yours.”
Those simple words made my heart race. I pulled away just enough to flip her onto her back and yank her dress down around her waist before I lowered myself onto her again. She slid her hands into my shirt, her warm touch sending a jolt up my spine.
“Happy birthday, Ivetta,” I said, a breath away from her lips.
“Only because of you, Chevalier,” she replied, wrapping her arms around my torso and pulling me down the rest of the way.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgd7brQNU0Z
