The sound of our bedroom door opening and closing was almost imperceptible, but it was enough to wake me up. I lay still with my eyes closed, listening. No humming, no quiet movement in the room. That was Ivetta leaving. She wasn’t making me breakfast again, was she? I thought I made myself clear that the way she expressed her gratitude last night was more than sufficient. We needed to get back to work today.
It was only a moment before the door opened and closed again, just as softly, and then her light footsteps crossed the floor toward the bed. She stopped briefly, and then she padded away. The chair at my writing desk gave a slight creak when she sat down.
She must have stepped outside to tell her guards something. What couldn’t wait until Theresa got here? I ran through a list of possibilities and settled on the most likely candidate. The foreign princes were still here, and she usually ate breakfast with them when they were visiting. We hadn’t done that yet. She was probably canceling our personal breakfast with the intention of us eating at the round table when I got up. I would prefer to eat in our room, but I wasn’t going to argue. She was much better at hospitality than I was.
The room was silent except for the soft rustle of a page turning every so often. She was reading her mother’s Bible. Every morning, she did so, with rare exceptions like the past two days. I didn’t understand the appeal, and she offered no explanation. Nor did she talk about Sunday mornings, when she left me to sleep in while she went to church. I thought her interest in religion would stop after we got married, since she only picked it up after telling me that she wanted to wait until marriage. But it didn’t, and it didn’t seem to inhibit her in any way. Maybe it was something that helped her feel connected to her mother. It was odd that she didn’t talk to me about it when she had no problem talking to me about anything else.
I couldn’t get back to sleep.
I pushed the blankets back and stretched. Ivetta was seated at the writing desk in her dressing gown, her back to me, too immersed in her reading to notice me getting out of bed and coming up behind her. Her slender fingers slipped under the page on the right, preparing to turn it again. Hand-written notes filled the margins surrounding the text. The script was stronger and steadier than that of the letter at the end of her father’s journal, but it was unmistakably her mother’s hand.
That explained quite a bit.
I leaned in, brushing her hair aside to kiss her neck.
“Good morning, Chevalier,” she giggled.
“Have you finished yet?” I asked, sliding my hands down her arms and crossing them in front of her. A rhetorical question. I could see for myself that she was just over halfway through.
“For this morning, yes,” she said, leaning her cheek against mine as I rested my chin on her shoulder. “But if you’re asking about reading it all the way through, I’ve done that many times.”
“Then why do you keep reading it?”
It was a simple question. Her response was not. She hesitated, her shoulder tensing slightly under my chin.
“It grounds me, and I learn something new every time,” she said slowly. “I don’t feel right if I don’t read it every day.”
She really believed this nonsense. Learning something new every time? It was a book. I memorized each book I read, and although I knew she didn’t, I also knew that she rarely read the same book more than once. How could a few lines of text hold so much interest for her?
Had she really not felt right the past two days, when she was with me, happy and smiling?
The thought brought a strange churning to my stomach, a strange sense of anger. Wasn’t I enough for her? Why did she feel like she needed this crutch?
“You need to get dressed before Theresa gets here,” she said, changing the topic with forced cheerfulness. “We’re having breakfast in the round table room this morning.”
“I didn’t agree to that,” I grumbled, although I knew it was coming.
“I didn’t ask,” she replied, following her retort with a kiss on my cheek.
I replied with a chaste kiss on her lips before I released her and headed to my bureau. Normally, that kiss would pique her interest, and I glanced back to see if she was watching me. She wasn’t. Her eyes were on the Bible, her fingers caressing the worn cover as she closed it. She stood up and carried the Bible back over to her nightstand. There was something wistful in her expression as she looked down at it, something that annoyed me.
If she wanted me to understand, she had to come up with a better explanation than that feeble attempt.
“I haven’t seen Silvio and Keith since the party,” she said lightly, leaving the Bible on the nightstand and heading toward the window to open the drapes. “It would be rude not to go to breakfast this morning. And after that, I’ll try to see as many guests as I can while I’m doing my rounds with the servants. I don’t think I have anything else on the schedule for today. Sariel kept it pretty open over this week, which really should have made me wonder what you were planning, but I somehow didn’t notice. I suppose you’ll be back to work as usual?”
I usually enjoyed listening to her talk in the morning, but this wasn’t right. This was off. She was trying to fill the silence, avoiding the topic that was really bothering her.
“Yes,” I said simply.
She sighed, gazing down at the gardens below. Was that still about the Bible, or about my reluctance to talk to her about my work? She knew why I didn’t. And I knew her better than ever before, better than anyone else ever would, but she was still complicated. This wasn’t how I wanted to start my morning. I pulled on my pants, dropping the rest of my clothes on the bench as I walked up to her.
“You trust me with Gilbert?” I asked, redirecting the conversation to our upcoming breakfast with the others. I caught her chin and gently turned her to face me. Her green eyes were as complicated as the rest of her.
“I think you can manage, although you do seem to get along with him better when I’m not present,” she replied, smiling as her eyes settled into a mischievous glint.
“I don’t like the way he looks at you,” I muttered, stroking her chin just below her full lips with my thumb.
The knock at the door interrupted us. She slid her gaze down to my feet and back up to my eyes, slowly and deliberately taking in my appearance.
“Well, if you can be jealous and possessive, I can be, too,” she said teasingly. “So, either put a shirt on or go into the bathroom before I let Theresa in.”
I chuckled and placed a light kiss on her lips.
She giggled and shoved me away. “Go on. We’re late for breakfast already.”
I picked up my sword, propped up next to my side of the bed, along with the clothes on the bench, and headed into the bathroom. This was better. I understood this part of her, the part that liked to look at me, liked to tease me, liked my attention.
“I can come back later, if you’d like,” Theresa teased when Ivetta opened the bedroom door.
Out of habit, I left the bathroom door open, which meant I had no trouble overhearing everything in the bedroom.
“Get in here,” Ivetta replied, exasperated. “I just need your help getting dressed so Chevalier and I can join the others for breakfast before it’s lunchtime.”
“Why don’t you ask King Chevalier to help you get dressed?” Theresa asked, a drawer groaning as she opened it.
“Just the dress, Theresa,” Ivetta said hurriedly.
There was a brief pause, and then Theresa dropped her voice conspiratorially and asked, “Where is it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ivetta replied firmly.
“That’s right, because you always change out of your nightgown and into your undergarments before I arrive. Unless you never made it into your nightgown, and you’ve got something to hide,” Theresa said knowingly.
I chuckled. Ivetta was trying to hide the love mark I left on her chest.
“This one will do,” she said coolly. “Hurry up.”
Theresa laughed. “You two are so cute. No, really, where is it?”
“Do you want to keep your job?” Ivetta asked bitingly.
“You wouldn’t know what to do without me. Drop your hands so I can tie this right. These dresses are made to be worn over corsets, but since your devoted husband doesn’t want you wearing them, I have to work a bit harder to arrange everything so it looks right. Sometimes the fabric likes to bunch up in weird places. There. Now, how do you want your hair done today? Anything to hide on your neck?”
I finished getting ready and stepped into the open doorway.
“Theresa-”
Ivetta’s eyes met mine in the mirror. She closed her mouth, her cheeks flaming red, and shook her head just slightly. I smirked and walked up to her.
“Here,” I said simply, pressing an index finger to the center of her chest.
“Chevalier!” she exclaimed, the blush spreading to her ears.
Theresa burst out laughing, her green eyes dancing as she took Ivetta’s arm and led her to her vanity. “Sit,” she choked out, picking up Ivetta’s hairbrush.
That would be the extent of my interference. We had taken long enough. I removed my cloak from the coat rack and fastened it in place, and then I leaned back against the wall, crossing my arms over my chest as I waited.
“The youngest person in the room should not be the most mature,” Ivetta muttered. “Maybe it would be faster if I did this myself.”
“No, no, I can do something quickly,” Theresa said, small bursts of giggles erupting occasionally as she brushed Ivetta’s hair. “Besides, you need more time for your cheeks to cool off.”
“I don’t have too much time,” Ivetta said coolly, glaring at me in the mirror.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Theresa said reassuringly, expertly braiding Ivetta’s hair and weaving it around her head. “You’re going to be running around the palace all day, giving orders, chatting with people you don’t really like, being a queen everybody loves, without any time for fun. Just enjoy it while you can.”
Ivetta winced as Theresa pinned another braid into place. “It’s hard to enjoy it when you’re stabbing me.”
“It’s hard not to stab you when you’re rushing me,” Theresa retorted. “But that should be the last one. How does she look, King Chevalier?”
Beautiful, but I needed to focus on the upcoming day and not Ivetta. She knew what I thought of her. I pushed off from the wall and headed for the door. “Let’s go.”
“It looks great, Theresa, thank you,” Ivetta said, standing up and following me.
“You’re welcome,” Theresa said formally. “Now, it’s time for me to change your sheets. Again.”
I glanced down as Ivetta came to my side, just in time to see her green eyes flash before she turned back. She marched past Theresa to the bed, grabbed her pillow, and stormed back up to Theresa to smack her with the pillow. Theresa burst out laughing again. Ivetta ignored her and returned to my side without a word, her pointed look telling me to hold my tongue and open the door.
“I expect you both to be waiting outside the round table room at ten o’clock,” she said authoritatively to Julius as she stepped into the hallway.
She didn’t even wait for me before she started walking, but it was easy enough for me to catch up with my longer strides. I fell in step with her, sending her an occasional sideways glance. Her mask was firmly in place. Light-hearted, teasing, youthful Ivetta was gone, replaced by the queen of Rhodolite. She was getting better at quickly transitioning between roles.
“Hey, the queen is back,” Leon announced when we entered the round table room.
I ignored him and pulled out a chair for Ivetta. The round table was crowded, but Gilbert wasn’t next to either of the two open seats, much to my relief. I didn’t need a repeat of yesterday.
“I can’t have every day off,” Ivetta said, taking her seat. She scanned the table as I sat next to her, stopping when she reached Arianna, who was seated next to Luke and looked distinctly uncomfortable. “Good morning,” Ivetta said to her, giving her a genuine smile. “I think we’re going to have to start using the actual dining room. It’s getting a little tight here.”
Ivetta was too forgiving. Arianna hadn’t apologized to her yet, and Ivetta was already reaching out, trying to establish a friendly relationship with her.
The tentative smile on Arianna’s lips said Ivetta’s efforts were working.
“So, no disappearing acts today?” Jin asked, interrupting before Arianna could reply to Ivetta.
“Leon, didn’t you tell them?” Ivetta asked.
Leon grinned and shrugged. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean they listened.”
“We know where you went,” Nokto interjected. “It’s the before and after that remains a mystery.”
Ivetta met his sly crimson gaze head on. “Yesterday was the anniversary of my first day working here at the palace, so I made Chevalier pancakes for breakfast.”
That statement ensured she wouldn't have to explain what happened after we returned from the trip because my brothers would focus on the pancakes they didn’t get. She was quite good at guiding a conversation in the direction she wanted.
“Aw, man,” Luke whined, stabbing the food on his plate a bit more forcefully than necessary. “Why didn’t you make any for the rest of us?”
“More importantly, why didn’t you make any for me this morning?” Clavis asked.
“You?” Yves asked, his surprised exclamation echoing my thoughts.
“Yes, me. She and I met on her second day at the palace, so today is our anniversary,” he said smugly, his golden eyes glittering to match his smirk.
“Then tomorrow would be my anniversary, right?” Jin joined in.
“I am not making pancakes for every little thing,” Ivetta said quickly, before I could intervene.
“That hurts, Ivetta,” Clavis said, faking a crestfallen expression.
“Okay, next year, I’ll make pancakes for everybody on the day after my birthday. Satisfied?”
I wasn’t, but if we left immediately after that for an overnight trip to Freedom, I could deal with it.
“So, we’re just out of luck this year?” Licht volunteered.
“Are they really that good?” Keith ventured.
“Yes,” replied my brothers in unison.
Ivetta sighed heavily. “You do realize I’m the queen, right? I’m not supposed to spend all my time in the kitchen.”
“Sure, but it’s been so long since we’ve had your pancakes,” Leon said, his amber eyes pleading with her.
“It’s been a month,” she said flatly.
Luke groaned. “That long?”
She stared at them all helplessly, seven sets of eyes begging her to relent. Arianna and the foreign princes were looking around the table, confused at the sight of my brothers devolving into spoiled children. I kept silent and continued eating. One of the many benefits of choosing Ivetta as a partner was her social skills. I didn’t enjoy small talk or socializing, and I didn’t have to join in when she was around. And, while I didn’t want her in the kitchen all the time, I wasn’t about to dissuade her from making pancakes again.
“Fine,” she finally said. “Tomorrow morning, I’ll make everybody pancakes.”
“I’ll have to delay my departure until tomorrow,” Gilbert mused.
That was less than ideal.
“Same,” Silvio announced.
“I would like to stay as well, if it’s not too much trouble,” Keith said quietly.
“No trouble at all,” Ivetta reassured him.
The conversation moved on, allowing Ivetta a chance to eat. I only half-listened, running through my list of things to do today. First and foremost, Leon and I needed to talk. His background was coming out soon, whether he liked it or not, and may already be known to Gilbert. We needed to tell our brothers and Sariel. I didn’t expect any backlash from them. After all, I was the one most likely to use Leon’s secret as an excuse to behead him and eliminate him as competition for the throne. I would have, if it weren’t for Ivetta. But Leon wouldn’t have told me if it weren’t for her, either.
I glanced over at her. She kept looking over at Arianna, who was steadfastly avoiding her gaze.
“Arianna, would you care to join me for tea later this afternoon in the gardens?” Ivetta finally asked politely.
Arianna’s hazel eyes lifted to meet Ivetta’s with surprise. “Yes, that would be lovely,” she said formally.
“Shall we say two thirty?” Ivetta continued, ignoring the curious looks from the rest of the table.
Arianna nodded.
“Perfect. Unfortunately, I have a lot of work to do, so I’ll have to take my leave.” She stood to go, and I rose to follow her.
“Leon, my office in five minutes,” I said coolly.
Ivetta’s guards were outside the door, as I expected. She turned to look up at me expectantly as we stepped out into the hallway.
“I may be working late. Don’t wait up.” I chucked her chin lightly, wishing her guards weren’t there, so I could kiss her without an audience. “You need your sleep.”
“So do you,” she replied. “You don’t want to miss breakfast tomorrow.”
“No, I don’t. Julius,” I said, changing my tone to be more authoritative as I looked over Ivetta’s shoulder to her guards, “see that she doesn’t work too hard.”
“Yes, your highness,” Julius replied obediently, a touch of amusement in his voice and in his gray eyes as he looked at her fondly.
She sighed with mock exasperation. “Have a good day and don’t worry about me,” she said firmly, standing up on tiptoe to kiss me on the cheek. She turned away and headed to the kitchens with her guards following close behind.
Thus ended the enjoyable part of my day. Now it was time to work.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIcwgU5ykhe
